Stunned

Bellefonte scores twice in final two minutes to steal the victory over Tyrone

There were some crucial calls Tyrone didn’t like in the second half of last night’s season-opener against Bellefonte at Rogers Stadium.

The Raiders seemed to jump offsides on an extra-point that was blocked in the third quarter, and there was a questionable pass interference call that kept a drive alive with less than a minute to play.

But at the end of it all, what you had as the clock wound down was one team making plays and another on its heels.

And it was the team making plays that won the day, as Bellefonte rallied from a 20-7 deficit to punch in a pair of touchdown in the final 1:43 and steal a victory over Tyrone in a Laurel Highlands crossover game.

“It’s a great lesson that you’ve got to play the entire game, and you’ve got to go 48 minutes in high school,” Tyrone coach John Franco said. “You can’t play 46 minutes or it’s going to come back and bite you.”

The Raiders used an onsides kick and that pass interference call on a fourth-down stop as the key plays in a final do-or-die drive, but to really understand where things started to unravel for the Golden Eagles, who had dominated the second half defensively for 21 minutes, you’d have to go back a little earlier, to the first time the Raiders faced a make-or-break fourth down.

With just over three minutes to play, Bellefonte was facing fourth-and-8 from its own 47. Quarterback Brennan Huntsinger had just been dropped for losses on consecutive plays, including a sack by Kyler Suhoney, but facing a curtain call on fourth down, he rolled out for this 18-yard scramble that moved the chains and extended the drive.

At the time, it didn’t seem like much, but before long it was everything, one in a parade of plays the Raiders made with the game on the line to keep themselves in contention.

Huntsinger would later lose another 11 yards when a snap went over his head, but he again recovered just a few plays later to gain 14 yards. One play after that, Ashten Howell broke free for 26 yards up the gut, and followed it up with a 1-yard run that pulled the Raiders within a touchdown at 20-14 with 1:43 remaining.

All that was left for the Eagles was to recover the onsides kick, a kick they knew was coming when they sent out their hands team.

But as the Raiders broke the huddle for the kick, Tyrone’s returners were still shifting into position, making an easy play for Jackson Long, who recovered the bouncing ball in stride without much resistance.

“We worked a lot on hands team and were set up, and we stood there and watched it,” Franco said of the crucial onsides kick. “They had a couple guys who made plays, and we didn’t. That was the frustrating part. It was as frustrating a loss as I’ve ever had.”

That recovery set the Raiders up at Tyrone’s 43 with just over a minute-and-a-half left. To that point, with the exception of the last couple plays on the previous drive, the Eagles’ defense had dominated Bellefonte in the second half, forcing punts on three of the Raiders’ four second half possessions and stopping six plays behind the line of scrimmage.

And they almost made one more big stop on fourth down from the 36 when Mason Emigh came up to separate Isaac Gall from the ball on a short pass to the sticks. But Emigh was flagged for interference, placing the ball on Tyrone’s 21.

Another bad snap moved the ball back to the 26, but on a second-down sack Tyrone was called for a facemask penalty. Three plays later, Huntsinger dropped back and calmly zipped a pass to Long in the front corner of the endzone to tie the game with 21 seconds left.

William Oskin then split the uprights with his third PAT kick of the game for what proved to be the deciding point.

“What can you do?” Franco said later. “Learn from it. Move on, and get better next week.”

Until those final moments, Tyrone had played about as well as Franco had hoped as the Eagles looked to avoid going 0-1 for the third straight season. Eli Woomer, in his first start at quarterback after two seasons playing wide receiver, was sharp, and showed a pinpoint accuracy that belied his experience under center. He completed 12 of 20 passes for 229 yards and a touchdown, with just one interception on Hail Mary throw on the game’s final play.

The Eagles got off to a quick start, receiving the opening kick and moving 53 yards in seven plays for the game’s first score. Woomer completed his first three passes, including a 16-yarder to Braden Parsons to get the ball into Bellefonte territory. A 9-yard screen to Ashton Emigh had Tyrone inside the Raiders’ 20.

Two plays later, Caleb Whitby broke a tackle in the backfield to score from the 9 and make it 7-0 following Titus Novak’s PAT kick.

Bellefonte answered quickly, when Ka’ven Smith-kirk found a seam off tackle on the Raiders’ first series and scampered 56 yards to tie it.

The game stayed deadlocked until Tyrone’s first possession of the second quarter, which began at their own 20 after Oskin came up just short on a 45-yard field goal attempt. \

On the first play of the drive, Woomer rolled to his left and unloaded a deep ball to Mason Emigh, who caught the pass in stride and went in for an 80-yard score to make it 14-7.

After limiting Bellefonte to 2 yards on the first series of the second half, Tyrone went to work, starting at its own 27. On second down, Woomer connected with sophomore John Stroup for a 37-yard gain to the Raiders’ 36 and went on to complete three more passes on the advance, including a 13-yarder to Ashton Emigh and a 17-yard gain to Whitby on a screen, which placed the ball on Bellefonte’s 4. One play later, Ashton Emigh went in untouched to stake the Eagles to a two-score lead.

On the PAT, Bellefonte’s Caleb Bartley appeared to come across early, but the end result was the Raiders’ blocked the kick.

It turned out to be a key play when the fourth quarter rolled around, but there were other factors at work, as well. After playing for three quarters with just one penalty, Tyrone was flagged four times in the fourth quarter, costing the Eagles 50 yards.

Tyrone also struggled on kick coverage most of the game. The Raiders’ first touchdown drive came on the heels of a 34-yard return by Long, and in the fourth quarter Long scooped up a 44-yard punt from Novak at the 15 and went 35 yards to midfield to set up Bellefonte’s second touchdown.

That was followed up by the onsides kick, giving the Raiders a distinct special teams edge.

“Our tackling was not good, especially on special teams,” Franco said. “Having said that, we had a lot of young guys on there because we had to get some guys a break.”

Tyrone also managed just 56 yards on the ground on 22 rushing attempts against a defensive front that pushed the Eagles’ experienced offensive line to its limits.

“They were very strong up front and it was hard to run, especially in the first half,” said Franco. “Our linemen didn’t pay as well as we were hoping, but they were against a pretty good front.”

The Eagles will open their home schedule next week with a Laurel Highlands crossover game against Westmont Hilltop, which lost to Forest Hills 42-13. Bellefonte, meanwhile, will travel to Forest Hills.