Tyrone earned a spot in the District finals for the first time since 2020 on Friday with a 44-0 victory over Forest Hills in Sidman.
Led by Seth Hoover, who ran for 249 yards and 4 touchdowns on 23 carries, the Golden Eagles piled up 416 yards of offense and scored on six of their eight possessions. But the biggest impact came on the other side of the football, where Tyrone limited the Rangers to 159 yards and forced five turnovers in recording their first shutout of the season.
Here are four takeaways from the game.
FIRST DOWN: Defensive performance of the year
Make no mistake, Forest Hills had a capable offense with plenty of weapons. Their quarterback had passed for 1,000 yards and running back Mason Papinchak had numbers similar to those of Seth Hoover. The Rangers were averaging 26.4 points per game and, like Tyrone, had won four in a row heading into the playoffs.
This was a team that was hot, and Tyrone’s defense completely stymied it when it mattered most.
Lots of things were working for the Golden Eagles on defense. While the Rangers showed the ability to run the ball for gains that allowed for manageable third downs, they were never able to break big runs. Outside of the 15- and 20-yard gains Brady Myers had on Forest Hills final possession – long after Tyrone’s starters had exited the game – their longest run was a 9-yarder by Papinchak in the first half.
Tyrone also had excellent pass coverage, as evidenced by quarterback Nate Cornell’s 3-for-11 performance and the two interceptions by Trent Adams.
But the biggest difference in the game defensively was Tyrone’s ability to get a pass rush on Cornell, who was never able to settle into the pocket and make a throw on time. The Golden Eagles sacked him three times, including one by Ashton Emigh at the end of the first half that resulted in a fumble and an immediate score by Tyrone.
The Golden Eagles hadn’t had a pass rush like that this season, and it was impressive considering the size of the Rangers’ offensive line. In a game where everything went right for Tyrone, a pass rush was something they had to earn, and they got it.
SECOND DOWN: Dynamic Duo
For all their struggles, the Eagles have made history on several occasions this season, and it hasn’t always been by Ashton Walk, Tyrone’s record-setting quarterback who seemingly exceeds another offensive milestone every week.
But none was quite as unique as the one established by Seth Hoover against the Rangers. With his career-best running total, he surpassed the 1,000-yard mark for the season, in the process making he and his father Scott the first father-son combination to get 1,000 yards for the Golden Eagles.
Scott did it during his senior season in 1988, when he totaled 1,028 yards during an 8-3 season that saw Tyrone fall in the District 6 2A seminfinals.
That season he had four 100-yard games, including a career-best 198 on 25 carries against Central Cambria.
Seth has four himself this season, and he’s been getting stronger as the campaign has progressed. He’s gone for 100 yards in three of his last four games (he ran for 92 against Chestnut Ridge), in that time totaling 656 rushing yards. His emergence in the running game has opened up a lot of possibilities for Tyrone’s offense, which is averaging 439 yards per game over its last seven.
Twenty-three Tyrone running backs have achieved 1,000-yard seasons a total of 29 times, but Seth Hoover’s run to the millennium club was special, and the father-son double-up may be something that never happens again at Tyrone.
THIRD DOWN: Defensive scoring
Considering the role Tyrone’s offense has been on, it’s not like the Eagles need any extra help, but when Ashton Emigh returned a fourth-quarter interception 27 yards for a touchdown against the Rangers, it was their fourth defensive touchdown this season.
Two others came two weeks ago in Tyrone’s record-setting 82-26 victory over Penns Valley when Kyler Suhoney ran back an interception for a score just minutes before Cian Hockenberry returned a fumble recovery for another.
The Eagles’ other defensive touchdown came in Week 1, when Klayten Moore took an interception to the house against Clearfield.
More important than the end result of the takeaways for Tyrone is the fact that the Eagles are getting takeaways and evening things up in the turnover department. There was a time this season when Tyrone’s opponents had twice as many takeaways as the Eagles, but after forcing five turnovers against Forest Hills, while coughing the ball up only once, Tyrone has evened it up and now has 22 takeaways to 22 turnovers.
Emigh leads the team with 4 takeaways, while Marshall Martin and Eli Woomer have 3 apiece.
FOURTH DOWN: Another rematch
Tyrone had won five in a row and was rolling last year when games against Forest Hills and Penn Cambria derailed a promising season.
The Rangers defeated Tyrone in the Week 10 crossover game, and a week later Penn Cambria eliminated the Eagles from the postseason in the semifinals.
In both games, Tyrone held two-score leads they failed to protect.
The Golden Eagles got a measure of revenge with their win over Forest Hills on Friday, and now they’ll look for something similar this week in the 3A championship at Mansion Park against the Panthers.
In last year’s game, Tyrone led at one point 21-6 and took a 28-19 lead into the fourth quarter but collapsed down the stretch. Penn Cambria blocked a punt it returned for a touchdown to cut the lead to 28-25 and then parlayed a long punt return into a 3-yard run by Garrett Harrold with 32 seconds left to seal the win.
The Golden Eagles had two chances to milk the clock late in the game, one following an interception by Luke Walk in the fourth quarter. After that one, Brady Ronan fumbled and the ball went back to the Panthers. Later, Walk took a big sack that set up the game-changing punt return by Carter McDermitt.
This season, Tyrone’s offense is more suited for moving the chains in situations where it has the lead, with plenty of options to keep the ball in its hands, but for that to matter the first thing the Eagles will have to do is get a lead.
Stopping the Panthers, who boast one of the top ground attacks in the area, won’t be easy. It’s not a team with which Tyrone matches up well, but the Eagles’ defense may only need to make one or two key stops if their offense can stay on the run its been on.
ORANGE AND BLACK 