Whitby goes for 188 as Eagles even record at 1-1
The last seven days weren’t easy ones for Tyrone’s offensive line.
Heralded in the preseason as the biggest and most experienced group since Coach John Franco’s return to the borough in 2019, the Golden Eagles’ front seven was put on blast by their coach after Tyrone managed just 18 yards on the ground in the fourth quarter last week in a narrow loss to Bellefonte.
Had they been able to run for a first down here or there, the Eagles may not have watched their 13-point lead crumble in the final minutes of a 21-20 loss to the Raiders, and that didn’t sit well with Franco.
“Coach Franco was yelling at us all week,” said senior tackle Owen Oakes. “We were really motivated to have a better game.”
So running the ball became a point of emphasis Friday against Westmont Hilltop at Gray-Veterans Memorial Field in a Laurel Highlands crossover game, and the motivated Eagles answered the bell, rushing for 265 yards and five touchdowns in a 49-6 mercy rule victory.
Junior Caleb Whitby ran for a career-best 188 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 14 carries to front the ground assault. He scored twice on runs of 30 and 36 yards in the third quarter, and his 62-yard run on his first attempt set up Tyrone’s first touchdown.
“Our line was really good,” said Whitby. “They were working hard, and we ran the ball really good. Coach was very frustrated about last week, but he was happy with today’s game.”
After averaging just 2.5 yards per carry against the Raiders, Tyrone went for 8.2 yards per run against the Hilltoppers and only once had a play stopped behind the line of scrimmage when Whitby dropped a pitch.
“We had to get our running game going,” said Franco. “We made progress. We still aren’t where we need to be. We’re getting better, and we have to because our schedule is so tough.”
The Eagles evened their record at 1-1 while the young Hilltoppers, who field just five seniors and employ underclassmen at every skill position, fell to 0-2.
In all, Tyrone produced 419 yards of total offense, aided by a strong first half from quarterback Eli Woomer, who completed 8 of 14 passes for 154 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
It was the kind of game the Eagles needed as they head into LHAC East Division I play.
“It was a nice week. We needed this,” said Franco. “But we still have a long way to go to get to where we need to be if we’re going to try to win a District championship.”
After limiting the Hilltoppers to 7 yards on the opening series and forcing a punt, Tyrone made a statement about its running game on its first play, when Whitby took a sweep to the right, sliced between two defenders, and bounced outside to the sideline on the longest play of the game, a 62-yard run that put the Eagles at Westmont’s 2.
Ashton Emigh scored the first of two touchdowns two plays later, and the first of Tytus Novak’s 7 PAT kicks made it 7-0 with less than three minutes expired in the first quarter.
The Hilltoppers put together a 38-yard drive in response, one jumpstarted by a 30-yard pass-and-run from Justin Ray to Tyler Galiote. The advance went as deep as Tyrone’s 25 where Westmont was faced with fourth-and-2. The Hilltoppers went with a run to bruising 200-pound back Bryce Goodman, but he could manage only a yard, and the ball turned over on downs.
On Tyrone’s first play following the change of possession, Woomer threw deep to Mason Emigh on a play-action bootleg, hooking up on a 30-yard gain to Westmont’s 40. It was one of seven plays for the Eagles that went for 28 or more yards.
An 11-yard run by Whitby later on got the ball to the 11, and two plays after that Woomer connected with Brayden Parsons in the front of the endzone for a 10-yard score that hiked the lead to 14-0.
It was an important exchange for the Hilltoppers, who a week ago fell behind Forest Hills in a similar fashion but battled from behind most of the first half to stay close.
“Anytime you’re playing a program the caliber of Tyrone, you need to start off well,” said Westmont coach Josh Rearick. “You need to start off fast. We moved the ball and hit a good play and just sort of stalled out. Credit to Tyrone. They scored their first possession, stopped us, and put another one in.”
Tyrone’s third score came off a 7-play, 60-yard drive in the second quarter that was fast-tracked by another deep reception by Mason Emigh, this one going for 36 yards to the 5. Ashton Emigh capped the drive with a 5-yard blast.
This time the Hilltoppers were able to answer back with a 13-play, 80-yard march extended when the Eagles were called for roughing the kicker on a Westmont punt. Later in the series, facing third-and-9 from his own 42, Ray unloaded a deep ball to Galiote, who had Mason Emigh draped on him in coverage. Emigh was able to bat the ball in the air, but Galiote maintained his concentration and snagged the ball while he was on the ground for a 39-yard gain to Tyrone’s 18.
It took five plays, but the Hilltoppers ultimately punched it in on a fourth-down plunge from the 1 from Goodman. Woomer blocked the PAT kick, but Westmont was on the board at 28-6 with 1:12 left in the half.
That was plenty of time for Woomer and company to punch in one more. Starting at his own 32, Woomer completed two consecutive passes to Mason Emigh for gains of 34 and 28 to Westmont’s 6 before firing this dart to Marshall Martin for a touchdown with 34 seconds left that set the halftime score at 28-6.
In the second half, Tyrone did what it had hoped to do last week in Bellefonte, relying almost exclusively on its running game to drain the clock and extend its lead. Whitby returned the kick to start the third 43 yards to the Westmont 32, ran for 12 yards on his first carry of the half, and then broke free on this 30-yard run to make it 35-6.
He scored again late in the period to get the mercy rule clock running, on the heels of a fumble recovery by Lucas Bonsell at the tail end of a Tyrone punt. Whitby took the handoff going off-tackle to the right, cut back against the grain, and weaved through a couple of blocks on a 36-yard score that grew the lead to 42-6.
Tyrone’s last score came after junior Jesse Parks picked off Ray at the Westmont 19 and returned it to the 11. Three straight carries by Reid Starr culminated with the freshman bouncing in from the 1 on the first play of the fourth quarter to set the final.
Perhaps lost in the success of the offensive line and a Tyrone’s running attack was the work of its defense, which limited Goodman to 16 yards on 9 carries one week after he ran for 94 yards and scored twice against Forest Hills.
“We knew coming into this week we had our work cut out for us,” Rearick said. “Tyrone’s front is really big, so we were a little outgunned. Their front four is really good. Their defensive ends, particularly No. 4 (Ashton Emigh) is a heck of a football player. They gave us all we could handle.”
The Eagles’ run defense in general was strong, holding Westmont as a team to 19 yards on 20 attempts. They ended six plays behind the line of scrimmage.
“Our defense is getting better each week,” Franco said. “It’s a bit of a new system. That’s one area where we’ll get better as the year goes on. We didn’t give up any big-time explosion plays. We definitely made progress this week.”
Tyrone will now face Central next Friday at Roaring Spring Athletic Field, while the Hilltoppers will seek their first win against Richland.
The Dragons evened their record Friday with a 14-6 win over Johnstown, and the Eagles know they will face a much stiffer test when they travel to the Cove.
“We executed well, but we obviously had some problems on a couple plays,” said Oakes. “Next week when we play Central, they have some pretty big guys, so we’re going to have to focus on our assignments and blocking well.”
TYRONE 49, WESTMONT HILLTOP 6
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Westmont Hilltop 0 6 0 0 – 6
Tyrone 14 14 14 7 – 49
SCORING SUMMARY
First Quarter
T – A. Emigh 2 run (Novak kick) 9:14
T – Parsons 10 pass from Woomer (Novak kick) 1:58
Second Quarter
T – A. Emigh 5 run (Novak kick) 7:52
W – Goodman 1 run (PAT kick blocked) 1:12
T – Martin 6 pass from Woomer (Novak kick) :34.7
Third Quarter
T – Whitby 30 run (Novak kick) 10:56
T – Whitby 36 run (Novak kick) 1:30
Fourth Quarter
T – Starr 1 run (Novak kick) 11:53
TEAM STATISTICS
T WH
First Downs 17 7
Yards Rushing 265 19
Passing Att-Comp.-Int 8-14-0 13-28-1
Yards Passing 154 151
Total Offense 419 170
Fumbles/Lost 1-1 2-1
Penalties/Yards 6-60 1-10
Punts/Avg. 1-27 4-31
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
TYRONE – Whitby 14-188; Starr 7-36; Rawlings 2-13; Johnson 2-7; Moore 2-2; Woomer 2-12; A. Emigh 3-7. WESTMONT HILLTOP – Goodman 9-16; Ray 4-(-6); Torquato 3-5; Johnson 3-5; Jashienski 1-(-2).
Passing
TYRONE – Woomer 8-14-154, 2 TDs, 0 Int. WESTMONT HILLTOP – Ray 10-22-142, 0 TD, 1 Int.; Subich 3-6-9, 0 TD, 0 Int.
Receiving
TYRONE – M. Emigh 3-98; Parsons 2-15; Whitby 1-0; A. Emigh 1-36; Martin 1-6. WESTMONT HILLTOP – Torquato 5-44; Galiote 3-65; Surloff 3-37; Strtton 1-5.
ORANGE AND BLACK 
Thank you Kerry for your time, commitment, and talent!!
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Thank you!
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