It’s not easy for someone who has been coaching as long as John Franco to see something new.
But in last night’s 50-37 loss to Bishop Guilfoyle at Gray-Veterans Memorial Field, the coach whose career has spanned parts of five decades did just that. Never before had a team he was coaching score 37 points and lose.
Chances are good there are plenty of coaches whose resumes aren’t quite as distinguished as Franco’s who can say the same thing. Thirty-seven points is a lot of scoring. In fact, it’s almost as many points as the Marauders had allowed the entire season up until last night.
But in a shootout that harkened back to a 1978 game where Tyrone outdueled BG 53-36, the Marauders had too many weapons and too much interior strength for the Golden Eagles, who lost in consecutive weeks for the first time this season. Now 2-4, Tyrone will look to use a soft schedule over the final three weeks to find a way into the postseason.
Guilfoyle, meanwhile, kept its unblemished record intact at 6-0 with its third Laurel Highlands East Section 1 victory of the season.
“I knew this was going to be a battle. Both offenses have been playing pretty well,” said BG coach Justin Wheeler. “I told the guys, I hate giving up any points. Defensively, we’re pretty good. We had a couple breakdowns. Sometimes you get misaligned, and we’ll figure that out. Better giving up 37 and winning than losing.”
The teams combined for more than 850 yards of total offense and 12 touchdowns, but a slow start in the first quarter put the Golden Eagles behind early in a game where it was going to be difficult to play from the rear.
“That was a wild game,” said Franco. “I don’t ever remember scoring 37 points and losing the game. We just don’t quit, but we’re so small up front, and teams know that, and they try to run the ball down our throats.”
There was more than a little of that. BG ground out 163 rushing yards, riding the power running of junior Taurean Consiglio, who had 18 carries for 157 yards.
But the real game-breaker was senior Hamilton Gates, who produced 158 yards in total offense and scored the Marauders’ first three touchdowns to stake BG to a 21-7 halftime lead.
Gates caught 5 passes for 137 yards and two touchdowns and ran for a pair of scores as part of 21 rushing yards, and in the first half he was more than Tyrone could handle.
The Marauders attacked the Golden Eagles’ undersized defensive line early in the first half with an 8-play, 58-yard drive that used nothing by running plays. Consiglio had big-gainers of 20 and 9 yards and two runs that went for 8, but it was Gates who got the first score on a 1-yard run. Carter Boland’s kick made it 7-0 midway through the first quarter.
BG opened things up on their second series, with Chase Kissell going 3-for-3 for 28 yards before Gates ran in his second touchdown from the 8 to make it 14-0.
After managing just 36 yards of total offense in the first quarter, Tyrone’s offense got out of the mud in the second with a 74-yard drive that featured a lot of quarterback Ashton Walk. While he completed 4 of 5 passes for 28 yards, he did most of his damage with his feet, including a 15-yard touchdown run where he dove and stretched to put the ball on the goal line for a score that cut the lead in half following Dante Novak’s PAT kick.
By then, just over two minutes remained in the half, but that was enough time for the Marauders to drive 80 yards for a score that stole the momentum back from the Golden Eagles heading into the locker room. Kissell was again sharp, completing 5 of his 9 passes, two of which converted third-and-long situations. Finally, on second down from Tyrone’s 36, he threw deep in double coverage to Gates, who maneuvered through Gayge Miller for the score with 29 seconds left in the second quarter.
“We were trying to work our two-minute drill,” said Wheeler. “(Tyrone’s) got some skill, so it’s hard to throw, but once we get a 1-on-1 matchup with someone with Gates, we always like to give him a shot because he makes plays.”
The Marauders went to Gates through the air again in the third quarter for a 59-yard touchdown that put BG up three scores at 27-7. The lead grew as large as 36-13 after a bad snap on a Tyrone punt went through the endzone for a safety on the first play of the fourth quarter.
But Tyrone battled back to cut the lead to a single score, starting with a 54-yard touchdown pass from Walk to Trent Adams, who was able to play a full game on offense after missing all but one series of the Eagles’ game against Bellwood-Antis last week with a shoulder injury.
Adams caught the try for two following his touchdown to make it 36-21.
On the first play of the ensuing series, an errant shotgun snap from center was wrapped up by Eli Woomer, handing the ball to Tyrone at BG’s 37. Two minute and five plays later, Walk connected with Woomer on an 8-yard scoring toss, and Adams again got the two-point conversion pass to make it 36-29 with just over 8 minutes to play.
With the game in the balance, Wheeler said his coaching staff had a word with the offense before it next took the field.
“We got the guys together and said, ‘If you guys want to play for championships, this is what we call a championship drive,’” Wheeler said. “We thought they did a great job, and Consiglio is just really good. It took the air out of the place.”
Consiglio’s 48-yard touchdown run, capping a four-play march, restored a two-touchdown lead, and Nick McCloskey added a dagger soon after when he stepped in front of a pass by Walk and returned it 60 yards for a score that made it 50-29.
It was the most a Tyrone opponent had scored since Penns Valley hung 62 on the Golden Eagles in 2019.
Still, Tyrone continued to fight, answering with a 73-yard drive that ended when Seth Hoover scored from the 4.
But by then, all that was left was for the Marauders to grind out a first down or two and kill some clock, which they did with four straight runs by Consiglio.
In a duel between two of the top quarterbacks in the Laurel Highlands Conference, Walk completed 22 of 35 passes for 303 yards, but was picked off twice, both leading to scores. Kissell went 12-for-19 for 294 yards and did not throw an interception for the fifth time in six games.
NOTES: Adams had 6 receptions for 111 yards, including a 2-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter … Woomer had 7 grabs for 84 yards … until last night, the most points Tyrone had ever scored under Franco in a loss was 34, which came in a 35-34 defeat at the hands of Clearfield in 2008 … Tyrone travels to winless Huntingdon next Friday, while BG hosts 5-1 Bellwood-Antis on Saturday at Mansion Park ,,, thanks to Terry McCaulley for the photos.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Bishop Guilfoyle 14 7 12 16 – 50
Tyrone 0 7 6 24 – 37
First Quarter
B – Gates 1 run (Boland kick) 6:56
B – Gates 8 run (Cacciotti kick) 1:16
Second Quarter
T – Walk 15 run (Novak kick) 2:06
B – Gates 36 pass from Kissell (Boland kick) :29.4
Third Quarter
B – Gates 59 pass from Kissell (PAT run failed) 7:19
T – Adams 2 pass from Walk (PAT failed) 3:34
B – Lestochi 79 pass from Kissell (Boland kick) 2:19
Fourth Quarter
B – Safety (Snap out of endzone) 11:55
T – Adams 54 pass from Walk (Walk pass to Adams) 10:15
T – Woomer 8 pass from Walk (Walk pass to Adams) 8:03
B – Consiglio 48 run (Cacciotti kick) 6:26
B – McCloskey 60 interception return (Boland kick) 5:02
T – Hoover 4 run (Walk pass to Woomer) 3:57
TEAM STATISTICS B T
First downs 20 16
Total yards 457 400
Rushes-yards 28-163 28-97
Yards passing 294 303
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 12-19-0 22-35-2
Punts-avg. 4-29.2 3-38.6
Fumbles-lost 2-1 1-0
Penalties-yards 4-15 4-27
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
Tyrone – Hoover 17-62; Walk 9-51; Team 2-(-17). Bishop Guilfoyle – Consiglio 18-157; Kissell 4-(-6); Gates 5-21; Team 1-(-9).
PASSING
Tyrone – Walk 22-35-303, 3 TDs, 2 Ints. Bishop Guilfoyle – Kissell 12-19-294, 3 TDs, 0 Ints.
RECEIVING
Tyrone – Moore 3-26; Adams 6-111; Hoover 2-21; Weston 1-2; Miller 3-59; Woomer 7-84. Bishop Guilfoyle – Gates 5-137; Lestochi 1-79; Reilly 2-19; J. Kissell 1-25; Consiglio 2-26; McCloskey 1-8.
ORANGE AND BLACK 