Round 2

Tyrone and Huntingdon play again, this time in the semis

One could easily look back at Tyrone’s game in Week 7 as a turning point in the Golden Eagles season.

In the two weeks prior, Tyrone had been manhandled by bigger and stronger offensive and defensive lines, and an offense that had shown tremendous promise throughout the first four weeks of the season was going nowhere.

And to top it all off, the notion of making the postseason was fading by the minute. Heading into their game against the Bearcats, Tyrone was a distant fifth in District 6 3A while Huntingdon, fresh off a 30-point win over Central, had climbed into the top spot.

But playing at home, in front of an energized crowd, the Golden Eagles put it all together. Behind 200 yards from Caleb Whitby, they rediscovered their running game while Eli Woomer, after running for his life for a couple of games, had time to set up and throw. He passed for 200 yards, and Tyrone won going away, 41-21.

That victory was the springboard to a 3-1 run through the month of October that not only pushed Tyrone into the playoffs but bumped them up to a No. 3 seed.

As the Eagles and Bearcats prepare to run that one back on Friday, the question for Tyrone will be whether the game was one instance where they played the best football they possibly could or if it was a reset that got them back to the levels they had displayed over the first four weeks of the season.

Tyrone (6-4) and Huntingdon (7-3) will square off in their fifth postseason pairing at War Vets Field in Huntingdon in the District 6 3A semifinals. The winner will play the victor of the other semifinal between No. 1 Penn Cambria and No. 4 Forest Hills, the team the Eagles jumped over last week with it 28-13 defeat of Chestnut Ridge.

They’re always much tougher at home. They’re probably thinking that they laid an egg the first time, so they’re going to do everything they can to beat us.

John Franco

“I think everybody would rather play a team that already beat them and have something to shoot for,” Tyrone coach John Franco said. “You’ve got to try to get through to (the team) that this is going to be a lot harder … and it’s because we’ve beaten them, and we’ve got to go down there, and they’re always much tougher at home. They’re probably thinking that they laid an egg the first time, so they’re going to do everything they can to beat us. We’ve practiced with that attitude all week, and we’ve had a great week of practice.”

When the teams played four weeks ago, there wasn’t much that didn’t go right for the Eagles. Tyrone scored on its first 5 possessions and held leads of 28-7 at halftime and 35-7 after their first series of the third quarter. The Eagles generated 457 yards of total offense compared to 212 produced by the ‘Cats.

From Franco’s point of view, it was all because of a resurgence of Tyrone’s offensive and defensive lines, which had taken their lumps in the two previous games. That’s something that will have to continue if the Eagles are to have any hope of winning, he said.

“That’s the foundation of the game plan,” he said. “That was our best running game of the year. Nobody else ran on them, including Bellwood. And there we were – we just had a heck of a night. You think of the last four or five teams we played. They were all big strong running teams. We’ve gone against some awfully good running teams, and everything starts with shutting down their inside running game. I would love to do what we did the first time against them and just give it to Caleb and let him run wild. We have to be prepared for that not happening.”

Tyrone’s running game has been a Jekyll and Hyde hide experience this season. When it’s been good, it’s been very good, and Whitby, who leads the team with 767 rushing yards on 132 carries, has had some big games. He followed up his 200-yard performance against the ‘Cats with 112 against Penn Cambria.

More than 300 yards on the ground against two of the top run defenses in the LHAC is pretty good, but there have also been weeks where Whitby was never able to get off the ground, like in the games against B-A and BG where he managed just 49 yards on 13 carries, combined.

If the ‘Cats would load the box in hopes of slowing Whitby, Tyrone has options, and since the emergence of junior Ben Walk three weeks ago, they’ve been expanded. There were initially plans of using him in the game against Huntingdon, but once Woomer got on a role there was no need to fix something that wasn’t broken. He appeared the next week at Penn Cambria to complete 6 of 13 passes for 77 yards and followed that up by going 4 for 5 for 89 yards and a touchdown against Philipsburg-Osceola.

Last week, in his most extensive action to date, Walk completed 6 of 12 passes for 110 yards and two scores in the win over Ridge.

Walk is a pure pocket passer, and when he comes on it gives Tyrone one more capable receiver because Woomer shifts into the slot. Last week, a 28-yard reception by Woomer led to a late score in the first half that put the Eagles up two touchdowns.

It’s not that Woomer necessarily needs the help. In his first season as the quarterback after playing two as a receiver. Woomer has completed 77 of 155 passes for 1,301 yards and 9 touchdowns, but his biggest strength is making plays, and Franco has been willing to give him those chances from anywhere on the field.

The efforts of both Woomer and Walk have been aided by a number of capable receivers – five of whom have more than 10 catches this season. Mason Emigh (22 for 467) and Brayden Parsons (17 for 377) have led the way, but Ashton Emigh, Dylan Robinson, and Whitby have also made major contributions in the passing game, which makes Tyrone difficult to defend when either quarterback has time to go through his progressions.

It’s an area where Franco sees his team with an advantage, even if the turf at Vets Field is soggy following a couple of days of heavy rain.

“They’re very strong against the run, but not as strong against the pass,” he said. “I think our receivers have an advantage if the field is slippery. That could be a strength for us because Ben has the big strong arm, and the pass rush won’t be as effective if it’s muddy as opposed to a dry field.”

Muddy conditions might be something that favors Huntingdon because their offensive game is centered on pounding the football, and it’s because the Bearcats have the horses to do it. Landon Erdman, who ran for 85 yards against the Eagles earlier this year, leads the team with 864 yards on 100 carries, while Evan Edmiston is second with 604 yards on 117 carries. When factoring in the passing game, the duo has accounted for 22 of Huntingdon’s 33 touchdowns.

One key factor will be the status of quarterback Elliott Guisler, who was injured against Tyrone and has had limited action since then. He returned last week against Richland, and the extent of his availability on offense will have a big impact on what the ‘Cats can do because Guisler is more than a passer. He a do-it-all weapon who runs and catches passes.

When he went down, Guisler had attempted just 27 passes and the weight of Huntingdon’s passing game was on junior Reese Hughes, who has completed 39 of 84 passes for 494 yards.

Against Tyrone, Hughes went 5-for-9 for 47 yards and threw a pair of interceptions, and some of his struggles came from the Eagles success in limiting the Bearcats’ running game. That gave a secondary that is already exceptional an edge.

To date, the Eagles have forced quarterbacks into 20 interceptions, and in the last two weeks they’ve been able to turn those picks into points, with both Woomer and Ashton Emigh running back interceptions.

In all, Tyrone’s defense has produced 26 turnovers and sacked the quarterback 15 times (Ashton Emigh is the leader with 4.5). Tyrone is plus-10 in the turnover ratio, marking the first time the Eagles have been on the plus side of the margin since Franco’s return to the borough in 2019.

Huntingdon rebounded from its loss to Tyrone with a pair of wins over Bedford and Penns Valley before losing their LHAC Week 10 crossover game against Richland last week, 42-13. However, during their 7-win season, the Bearcats never lost in consecutive weeks.

Tyrone, meanwhile, dropped its first game of the season to Bellefonte 21-20 following a fourth quarter collapse after being ahead 20-7. The Eagles went on to win three in a row but have not put together a winning streak that long since then. They have won their last two games.