28-7 victory clinches spot in 3A playoffs
Caleb Whitby has a motor on him. There’s no denying that.
He’s also got a special ability to score from anywhere on the field in a variety of ways.
That’s why it was odd last night at Gray-Veterans Memorial Field when the junior running back/defensive back asked for a play off in the third quarter, right after Philipsburg-Osceola had scored to cut a 14-0 Tyrone lead in half.
Luckily for the Golden Eagles, no one was listening.
“My back was starting to hurt, and I asked if I could get a break,” said Whitby. “(Coach John Franco) said, ‘No. You’re staying in. You don’t need a break.’”
Whitby returned to the field, and within 15 seconds restored Tyrone’s two-touchdown lead with a kickoff return that demonstrated everything that makes him a special back – vision, the ability to cut on a dime, and breakaway speed that’s unmatched by most players in the Laurel Highlands.
The play also brought to the surface all that is good and bad with the Mounties’ offense. In a half where P-O dominated in terms of yardage and time of possession, they couldn’t keep pace with the Golden Eagles on the scoreboard in a 28-7 loss that locked Tyrone into the fourth and final playoff spot in the District 6 3A classification.
The Mounties possessed the football most of the third and fourth quarters, running 31 plays to Tyrone’s 10 while outgaining the Eagles 123-40, but it never really mattered because Tyrone was always able to stay ahead by two scores.
For P-O’s plodding, methodical, ground-based offense, to overcome a 14-point deficit was a big ask, and it was made even tougher by the Mounties’ own miscues. P-O turned the ball over four times on interceptions – one of which went the other way for a touchdown in the fourth quarter – and was penalized 10 times for 90 yards.
“We shot ourselves in the foot with a lot of penalties, but we did everything we wanted with the run game. We attacked where we wanted to attack, and we did it effectively,” said Mountie coach Jeff Vroman.
Behind 161 yards on 32 carries from senior Colton Chapman, P-O outgained Tyrone on the ground 162-117, but the Mounties struggled finishing out drives and could never keep pace with the Eagles when it came to breaking big plays.
Big plays like the kickoff return by Whitby.
Just seconds before, Chapman concluded a 39-yard drive with this 7-yard burst to get the Mounties within 14-7 with 3:32 left in the third quarter.
By then, though they trailed by 7, it would have been hard to argue that the Mounties weren’t shifting momentum in their favor. But Whitby stole it right back in an instant, soon after his give-and-take with Franco.
Franco said when Whitby made his request, he sent him onto the field with a deal to rest him following the return.
“I said, ‘Go out and return this kick for a touchdown, and I’ll give you a break on PAT and kickoff,’” Franco said. “He just kind of chuckled and laughed and went out. Once he got the ball, I knew he was fine.”
It was one of many big plays for Tyrone, whose scores all came on plays that were 25 yards and longer.
But in it all the key was establishing a two-score lead and turning the Mounties into chasers with an offense built for playing from in front. It happened first right before halftime, when Tyrone switched starting quarterback Eli Woomer to receiver and brought in junior Ben Walk in a manner similar to the Eagles’ game last week against Penn Cambria.
The Golden Eagles took possession at their own 31 following an interception by Dylan Robinson, and two plays into the ensuing drive Walk popped a quick pass to the outside to Mason Emigh, who broke contain and went 30 yards to the 34. After a couple of short gains set up third-and-8 with less than a minute left in the second quarter, Walk once again looked to Emigh on a double-move. He was hit as he threw, and Emigh was forced to come back and fight for the pass, but he made the grab at the 9 and raced in for the score with 46.7 left.
“We were trying to go deep to him, and we knew he could beat the guy one-on-one,” Franco said. “Ben made a really nice throw out of it and Mase came back and just made a fantastic play.”
The second of Tytus Novak’s four PAT kicks made it 14-0 at intermission, but when the Mounties scored with relative ease on their first possession of the second half, Tyrone’s lead looked like it was in peril.
Whitby changed that, and Ashton Emigh later slammed the door.
After the teams traded punts to get into the final frame, the Mounties made it as far as the 49 before consecutive procedure penalties and a loss in the backfield backed them up to their own 37. On second-and-12, P-O looked to set up a screen, but quarterback Warren Rafferty tossed the ball in the direction of Ashton Emigh, who jumped high in the air for this pick and score.
The play covered 35 yards and set P-O back 28-7 with 8:10 left i the game.
“This was a night for the Emighs because Ashton, not only did he have the pick-6, but he also came in and gave us some needed power running,” Franco said.
Tyrone closed out the game with a fourth interception, this one by Woomer in the endzone with just over two minutes left after P-O had advanced as far as Tyrone’s 7.
It was Woomer’s second interception of the game and Tyrone’s 19th of the season.
“It’s always a tough game when people are trying to run it down your throat,” Ashton Emigh said. “You’ve just got to persevere and try to stop them at the line. Our defensive backs and our D line, everyone can step up to make plays when we need them.”
Tyrone had put pressure on the Mounties to hold serve early on, scoring on its first possession after limiting P-O to a three-and-out series on its opening drive. The Eagles benefitted from a 15-yard facemask penalty on the 66-yard drive, but the big play was a sweep by Whitby, who had taken the snap in wildcat formation and scored from the 35.
Whitby finished with 75 yards on 10 carries, though he only touched the ball once in the second half as Tyrone withstood the onslaught of P-O’s power running game.
“They used to be a wing-t team,” said Franco. “They’ve kept elements of the wing-t, and that is such a tough offense to stop. It’s tough to stop the running game. You have to load the box and play a lot of cover zero and hope you can cover the guys and get a lot of pressure on. They’ve always had that real tough running game, and they push you around. We’re not always at our best when a team is bigger than us and stronger, but we came through and made the plays when we had to.”
For Vroman, who was playing without his starting quarterback among a slew of other injuries, the game provided him with an opportunity to see what his young kids were made of, and he liked what he saw.
“We’re playing some young kids, but that’s where we’re at. I’m proud of the kids for their effort,” said Vroman, who returned to P-O in 2020, one year after the Mounties had cut their 2019 season off after eight games after voting to end the campaign early. “When you’re battling injuries, you’ve got to have some young kids fill in, and they did an admirable job. I’m very happy with some of the younger kids we put in. It’s hard to do it every Friday because in this conference, every game is tough.”
Both teams will play their Laurel Highlands Week 10 crossover game next week, paired with a team with a similar record from the West Division.
Tyrone will then have the postseason to look forward to. Before the game, Tyrone led P-O by just 30 points in the race for the final spot in 3A.
Just three weeks ago, the Eagles were on the outside looking in, trailing the Mounties with a 3-3 record. They’re now 5-4 while the Mounties, who started the season 3-1, dipped to 4-5.
“After where we were a couple of weeks ago, you were looking at Forest Hills and Penn Cambria and Huntingdon and Philipsburg. And we were at the bottom of the barrel,” said Tyrone coach John Franco. “To be able to come back and win a couple and get back into the playoffs … from what I’m told we clinched it tonight.”
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Philipsburg-Osceola 0 0 7 0 – 7
Tyrone 7 7 7 7 – 28
First Quarter
T – Whitby 35 run (Novak kick) 8:17
Second Quarter
T – M. Emigh 26 pass from Walk (Novak kick) :46.7
Third Quarter
P – Chapman 7 run (Phillips kick) 3:32
T – Whitby 90 kick return (Novak kick) 3:17
Fourth Quarter
T – A. Emigh 35 interception return (Novak kick)8:10
TEAM STATISTICS P T
First downs 14 10
Total yards 240 223
Rushes-yards 18-117 46-162
Yards passing 123 61
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 7-15-0 8-17-4
Punts-avg. 3-34.6 2-38
Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-0
Penalties-yards 3-25 10-90
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Tyrone Whitby 10-75, A. Emigh 3-31, Woomer 4-12, Team 1-(-1). Philipsburg-Osceola Chapman 32-161, Jones 7-6, Rafferty 4-(-7), McClenehan 2-3, Team 1-(-1)
PASSING—Tyrone Woomer 3-10-34, 0 TD, 0 Int; Walk 4-5-89, 1 TD, 0 Int. Philipsburg-Osceola Rafferty 8-17-61, 0 TD, 4 Ints.
RECEIVING—Tyrone Harris 1-4, Robinson 1-1, M. Emigh 3-69, Parsons 1-17, Woomer 1-2. Philipsburg-Osceola Guenot 6-42, Jones 1-14, Chapman 1-5.
ORANGE AND BLACK 