Hoover runs for 249 in win over Rangers
Last night in the District 6 3A semifinals, Forest Hills coach Justin Myers was left with a dilemma many coaches have experienced when facing Tyrone over the last five weeks or so: the Golden Eagles have enough talent in their passing game to win with that component alone, but their emerging running game means focusing on their aerial attack comes with risks.
They’re risks most teams have been willing to live with because quarterback Ashton Walk and Tyrone’s seemingly endless reserve of receivers have been so effective.
That was the route the Rangers took as well, and on the one hand, they accomplished something no other defense has this season. Forest Hills limited Walk to season-lows in completions and yards, but that was only because Seth Hoover took over the game in a fashion that made the Golden Eagles’ passing game almost unnecessary.
Hoover carried 23 times for a career-high 249 yards and four touchdowns to lead Tyrone to an eye-opening 44-0 victory at G.H. Miller Memorial Field in Sidman. The win sends the No. 3 Eagles to the program’s 15th District 6 championship game, where they will take on No. 1 Penn Cambria.
“They had a thousand-yard rusher. We knew they were going to run the ball,” said Rangers coach Justin Myers. “But we were trying to take away what they do best. Ashton is a phenomenal quarterback. He sits in the pocket and makes throws. We wanted to take away the passing game first, but they started gashing us with the run game. It really hard. We’re a good football team, We weren’t a great football team. It’s hard to stop both.”
We wanted to take away the passing game first, but they started gashing us with the run game. It really hard. We’re a good football team, We weren’t a great football team. It’s hard to stop both.
Forest Hills coach Justin Myers
Hoover’s production meant Walk needed to throw only 13 passes, and he never attempted a throw in the second half after Tyrone had built a 23-0 halftime lead. It wasn’t a strategy Coach John Franco and the had planned, but one they were more than willing to roll with as Hoover heated up.
“We came out thinking we’ve got to be ready for an air attack, but we needed to implement Seth,” Franco said. “We try to get the ball to our playmakers, and Seth is one of them, and we have a couple others we think are pretty good. That’s the way it’s been all year. I don’t think we did throw the ball in the second half, did we? I can’t believe that.”
Hoover’s totals pushed him over 1,000 yards for the season and gave the Eagles their first 200-yard rushing game since Gary Weaver did it twice in 2015. It’s the 29th 1,000-yard season in program history, and it places Hoover, whose father Scott ran for 1,028 yards in 1988, in a category all by himself. No other father-son duo at Tyrone had ever accomplished the feat.
“Every run was there,” said Hoover. “The holes were wide open. They were way too focused on our passing game, and that opened up the run for us.”
Hoover’s numbers also highlighted the turnaround of the Eagles’ offensive line, which through the first three games of the season struggled with pass protection a gave little space for Hoover and the running game.
“Seth is great at bouncing it out. If you take away his inside, he’s going to bounce it out,” Franco said. “He’s a very instinctive runner. He takes after his dad. Our run blocking by this offensive line was the best it’s been all year.”
As big an impact as Hoover had on the game, Tyrone’s defense played as big. The Golden Eagles forced 5 turnovers, including two interceptions from Trent Adams, and limited the Rangers to 159 total yards. Forest Hills managed just 32 yards in the first half and had six plays stopped behind the line of scrimmage.
Everything was working for the Eagles in what was easily their most complete game of the season.
“Tyrone was the better team tonight, obviously,” said Coach Myers. “They thumped us pretty good.”
Tyrone had scored on 22 of its last 24 complete possessions in the three games prior to the semifinals, and the offense stayed on that roll against the Rangers, getting points on four of its five first-half touches. It began with a 58-yard drive after Tyrone received the opening kickoff, a series highlighted by a 14-yard scramble from Walk to convert on third-and-10. The march ended with a 23-yard field goal off the toe of Dante Novak after Tyrone stalled at the Forest Hills 6.
Forest Hills came back with an 11-play advance that reached as deep as Tyrone’s 18, but on third down Ranger quarterback Nate Cornell was sacked by Ian Gibbons and Ashton Emigh. One play later, Adams got his first pick to end the threat.
The Eagles went 81 yards on the ensuing series thanks to big plays in the passing game from Adams, who had a 29-yard reception, and Eli Woomer, who caught a pass for 13 yards on third-and-14 to set up a fourth-down try at the Rangers’ 31.
With Forest Hills stacked to stop the run, Hoover found a crack and raced in for the score on the second play of the second quarter to put Tyrone ahead 10-0 after the first of 4 PAT kicks by Novak.
A third-down sack by Austin Lucas and Marshall Martin forced a Rangers punt on their next drive, setting up a short field and another scoring march for the Eagles, this one covering 53 yards. Hoover ignited it with a 21-yard run before Woomer got open for a 24-yard pass to the 8. Hoover then carried two straight times, with the second resulting in a four-yard touchdown and a 17-0 lead with 6:47 left in the half.
Before the half ended, the teams exchanged fumbles in quick fashion, but the ultimate result was a late touchdown for the Eagles to go ahead 23-0. First Woomer turned the ball over at the end of a 24-yard gain where he looked to have been down before the ball came out.
That gave Forest Hills the ball at their own 8 with under two minutes to play, but three plays later Ashton Emigh got in for a strip sack of Cornell and recovered the loose change at the 18.
On the first play after the change of possession, Walk lofted a pass to Adams on a fade route in the back corner of the endzone, lifting the Eagles to their big lead at the break.
“I believe we have the best offense in the area when we’re on,” Hoover said. “We’ve just got to play like it next week.”
Tyrone kept its foot on the gas in the second half, placing the ball back in the hands of Hoover, who broke loose for a 55-yard gain to the 5 on his first carry of the third quarter. Two plays later he banged in from the 1 and it was 30-0.
The Rangers came back with their best sustained drive of the night, moving 52 yards in 15 plays, converting twice on fourth downs. But on second down from the 22, Adams picked off Cornell for the second time right at the goal line.
Three plays later Hoover scored on a 60-yard run, and it was 37-0 with 11:50 to go in the game.
Tyrone’s defense got its third score in the last three games almost two minutes later when Emigh intercepted an attempted screen pass that was batted in the air by Lucas. He returned it 27 yards for the score, and Titus Novak kicked the PAT to set the final.
It was the most lopsided victory in the 12-game series between the District 6 rivals, topping the 35-7 victory the Golden Eagles posted in 2014.
Tyrone will now run it back with the Panthers in a rematch of last season’s 3A semifinals, a game the Eagles led 21-6 at halftime and 28-19 heading into the fourth quarter. Penn Cambria ultimately rallied two score with 32 seconds left and advance to the 2023 championship.
The Panthers are 11-0 after defeating Central last night 33-0.
“We’ve had so much adversity all year,” Franco said, “with things that have kept us away from playing with our full team. Once we got our full team back, we thought we had a shot to be pretty goo.”
NOTES: Hoover now has 1,166 yards … the Eagles limited Mason Papinchak to 55 yards rushing … Cornell was 3-for-11 for 20 yards and two interceptions … Rhys Rawlings had a fourth-quartrer fumble recovery on a kickoff … the Eagles improved to 7-4 … the Rangers finished their season 6-5 … it was Tyrone’s first win in three tries at G.H. Miller Memorial Field.
SCORE BY QUARTER
Tyrone 3 20 7 14 – 44
Forest Hills 0 0 0 0 – 0
First Quarter
T – Novak 23 field goal 8:53
Second Quarter
T – Hoover 31 run (D. Novak kick) 11:39
T – Hoover 4 run (D. Novak kick) 6:47
T – Adams 18 pass from Walk (PAT blocked) :41
Third Quarter
T – Hoover 1 run (D. Novak kick)
Fourth Quarter
T – Hoover 60 run (D. Novak kick)11:50
T – Emigh 27 interception return (T. Novak kick) 10:04
TEAM STATISTICS T F
First downs 16 11
Total yards 426 159
Rushes-yards 32-299 35-123
Yards passing 127 36
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 8-13-0 5-15-3
Punts-avg. 0-0 2-25.5
Fumbles-lost 1-1 2-2
Penalties-yards 5-40 2-15
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Tyrone: Hoover 23-249; A. Walk 1-14; Whitby 4-28; Robinson 2-1; B. Walk 2-7. Forest Hills: Papincak 17-55; Cornell 8-(-5); Mayes 8-69; Chumley 1-5; Team 1-(-1).
PASSING—Tyrone: Walk 8-13-127, 1 TD, 0 Int. Forest Hills: Cornell 3-11-20, 0 TD, 2 Ints.; Pramuk 1-2-6, 0 TD, 1 Int.; Myers 1-2-10.
RECEIVING—Tyrone: Weston 1-2; Woomer 3-61; Hoover 2-17; Adams 2-47. Forest Hills: Williamson 1-12; McGough 2-10; Papinchak 1-4; Russell 1-10.
ORANGE AND BLACK 