Woomer joins elite group with 1,000-yard passing season

Sometimes records are born out of sheer talent. Jesse Jones is a clear example.

From the minute he first took the field as a starter at Tyrone as a freshman in 1997, it was obvious Jones was something special. On one of the most offensively gifted teams in school history, he stood out, and despite waiting five games to make his debut as a starter, he finished the season with almost 800 yards on the ground. It was the appetizer for a career that included two 2,000-yard seasons and a record for career yards that lasted 25 seasons.

But there are other records formed from necessity every bit as much as talent. Levi Reihart showed this in 2009. As a junior in 2008, he passed for 1,481 yards, which at the time was the second-best single season a quarterback at Tyrone had ever had. But the following year, the Golden Eagles needed a running back, and with Stevie Franco waiting in the wings, the quarterback position wasn’t an issue.

So in Week 2, Reihart made the switch, and 10 weeks later he became the first player in Tyrone history to etch his name into two 1,000-yard clubs. He finished the season with 1,199 yards and 14 rushing touchdowns, leading the Eagles to a spot in the District 6 2A championship game.

Last week, in Tyrone’s 41-21 victory over Huntingdon at Gray-Veterans Memorial Field, current Eagle quarterback Eli Woomer completed a similar journey, and like Reihart 16 years ago, necessity played a major role.

Woomer, in his first season as Tyrone’s starter at quarterback, completed 12 of 18 passes for 200 yards, in the process eclipsing the 1,000-yard passing mark. It’s the 26th 1,000-yard passing season on the books at Tyrone, but it’s unique, nonetheless. That’s because last season, when he had more than 800 receiving yards, Woomer became the Golden Eagles’ ninth receiver to reach 1,000 yards.

Now, like Reihart, he’s a member of two 1,000-yard clubs, putting him in an elite group that includes just two players over 104 years of Tyrone football.

“It’s definitely a blessing that I have had the opportunity to be able to do it,” said Woomer, who currently has 1,103 passing yards with a 51.6 completion percentage. “It’s an amazing accomplishment.”

Woomer’s versatility and adaptability has played a major role in his success. Growing up, he said, he was never a skill player on the youth level. Instead, because he was always one of the biggest players on his teams, he was a lineman. Then in junior high, Coach Steve Johnson saw something in him and moved him to quarterback.

When Woomer moved to the varsity team in 2023, Ashton Walk was beginning the third season of what would become a record-setting career, but his athleticism was apparent, and he needed to be on the field. So Coach John Franco placed him at receiver, while also keeping him in the mix as QB2.

He was good enough that season to finish second on the team in receiving yards with 389 on 20 receptions for an average of 19.5 yards per catch. Last season, he led the team in receptions with 53 and was second in yardage only to Trent Adams with 811.

However, with Walk graduated, camp opened in August with a conundrum similar to that of 2009 – Ben Walk was waiting in the wings at quarterback, but Woomer offered a dynamic option at the position that would allow more scrambling and throwing on the move. On top of that, the Eagles had plenty of players who could catch the ball, so they wouldn’t have to rely on Woomer as a receiver if they didn’t want to.

Eli is one of the best athletes I have ever coached. And he’s not just an athlete. He’s a player. He makes plays. He finds ways to win.

John Franco

He assumed the starting role at quarterback, and it would be hard to argue with the results.

“Eli is one of the best athletes I have ever coached,” Franco said. “And he’s not just an athlete. He’s a player. He makes plays. He finds ways to win. He’s like having a coach on the field. No matter what phase of the game we’re talking about, he will understand it completely. It’s different not to just understand the game, but to understand what we’re trying to accomplish. That’s tough a lot of the times for a high school player to do, but he can do it.”

Woomer’s career as a passer couldn’t have started much better. Against Bellefonte in the season-opener, he completed 11 of 20 passes for 229 yards and a touchdown. He continued his steady play over the next four weeks, never passing for fewer than 134 yards in a single game. Those numbers put him among the top quarterbacks in the region, but he hit a wall in Week 6 against Bishop Guilfoyle when he completed just 7 of 18 passes for 64 yards in a 26-0 loss.

But with the competitive spirit Franco saw in him when he was watching him play junior high just a few seasons ago, Woomer rebounded last week to complete 12 of 18 passes for 200 yards against Huntingdon in a game Tyrone had to have if it was going to keep its playoff hopes alive.

“I’ve watched him for four years now. I’ve seen him in several sports, and he always finds ways to be successful,” said Franco. “That shows me he’s not just a great athlete, but he’s a great competitor.”

For his part, Woomer gave high praise to his receiving group for helping him to achieve his milestone, and he’s got a lot of them. Last week, he spread the ball around to six different players, and his touchdown pass went to fullback Dylan Robinson out of the backfield. In all, he’s completed passes to nine different players, and four of them – Mason Emigh, Brayden Parsons, Caleb Whitby, and Ashton Emigh – have more than 100 receiving yards.

“There’s definitely a lot of versatility out there,” Woomer said. “We have a lot of young guys jumping in, like Johnny Stroup. Mason and Brayden are just a pleasure to have out there. Sometimes, when I’m scrambling back there in the pocket just running for my life, I’ll just throw the ball up and think in my head, ‘Hey, Mason’s down there somewhere.'”

The versatility Woomer admires in his receivers is something he’s well versed in from his own athletic journey. Outside of football, he’s been an integral part of the varsity basketball team since his sophomore season. He’s also one of the top jumpers on the track and field team, as well as one of the baseball team’s ace pitchers. As a junior he appeared in 7 games for the Golden Eagles, going 4-1 with a 1.85 ERA and a pair of saves.

There’s not much Woomer can’t do where sports are concerned, and he’s planning to continue that in college. His plans are to play football on the next level, but for now his number one priority is winning football games and leading the Eagles back to the District 6 championship game, just as Reihart did in 2009.

Last week’s victory propelled Tyrone into the No. 4 position in 3A, but just like 2023 and 2024, it’s going to take a strong finish to get into the bracket after Week 10.

“We can go as far as we want to go,” he said. “We have all the talent in the world. We have a senior offensive line and senior backups we can throw in at any time. It’s all a mindset we have to have throughout the rest of the season. We’ve put ourselves in tough positions the last three years, but we always somehow seem to pull it out. I think that’s the special thing about our guys. We can turn it on when we have to. When our backs are against the wall, we can come through.”

That quest will continue Friday in Cresson with a game against Penn Cambria, the team that defeated Tyrone in the 3A championship last November.