The Tyrone football team exploded in the fourth quarter on Friday, scoring 15 points in three minutes to defeat Bald Eagle Area 15-6 and hand the Eagles their first loss of the season.
As is fast becoming characteristic of the Golden Eagles, their defense held steady and made plays long enough for the offense to figure things out and punch in a score.
The win pushed Tyrone ahead three spots in the District 6 3A rankings to No. 3.
Here are four takeaways from the game.
FIRST DOWN: HIGH RISK HIGH REWARD
The difference in Tyrone’s defensive philosophy this season as opposed to most seasons over the last 30 years is fairly clear.
Where in year’s past the idea under coordinators like Jason Wilson was to keep the play in front of you and limit mistakes, this season it’s all about pressure and aggressiveness under new defensive coordinator John Shelton.
Both have one commonality at their heart: mistake-free football is tough on the high school level. Coaches like Wilson understood that short gains weren’t fatal when forcing a team to drive the length of the field because somewhere along the way, someone was going to mess up. That’s the nature of 16- and 17-year-old kids.
The same goes for Shelton’s ultra-aggressive play, where linebackers are blitzing left and right. Picking up blitzes is not an easy thing for high school linemen, nor is recognizing hot receivers or calling correct audibles for high school quarterbacks.
Both styles have their merit, but it’s hard to deny how effective the new approach has been for Shelton and Tyrone’s defense. Against BEA, for example, the Golden Eagles got to first-year starter Chase Cane four times, with two sacks from Dylan Robinson and one each from Connor Zupon and Porter Jones.
The biggest was Robinson’s sack in the endzone that resulted in a safety in the fourth quarter. At a time when the Golden Eagles could have sat back and allowed BEA to run itself into a punt trying to get out of the shadow of its own goal line, Shelton brought the house, and Robinson’s sack changed the game. The ensuing free kick gave the Golden Eagles prime field position and set up their second touchdown.
But the aggressive play has led to more than sacks. Tyrone had 12 stops behind the line of scrimmage against Bald Eagle, giving the team 29 for the season, almost six per game.
The amount of blitzing Tyrone does has its risks, but in building from an ethos of aggression and attack the defense has forged an identity well in line with what Coach Jason Jones had hoped for leading into the season: playing free and without fear.
SECOND DOWN: BIG PLAYS CONTINUE
Tyrone’s offense has faced its share of challenges this season, and even after the win over BEA it’s still averaging just over 15 points per game when adjusted to take out special teams and defensive scores.
But it continues to show a capability for big plays that’s up there with offenses averaging far more points.
After scoring on two long pass plays against BEA, Tyrone now has 10 plays that have gone for at least 22 yards.
Most of those plays come from the passing game, and most involve senior receiver Mason Emigh, who against Bald Eagle scored on an 81-yard pass from Ben Walk and another that went 54 yards.
But Tyrone has broken a few long runs as well. Caleb Whitby has two runs to his credit over 30 yards, and Emigh scored on a 42-yard reverse play against Westmont Hilltop.
The big-play capability is there, and in most circumstances the difference between a long gainer and a flop has been missed blocking assignments or dropped passes. That’s not surprising considering Tyrone’s line was completely rebuilt this season while three of the five regular receivers in the rotation are playing big minutes for the first time.
The result has been that more often than not the Golden Eagles’ offense has taken on the complexion of an 80s grind-it-out team, but that’s not the limit of the talent on the field or Jones’s vision for his offense.
There will come a week when all of those pieces figure it out. And when that happens, points will come in bunches.
THIRD DOWN: KICKING GAME CONTINUES TO THRIVE
In Week 1, Whitby was the star of the game in a win over Bellefonte, even though he never made a game-changing run or scored a touchdown. Instead, he averaged almost 50 yards per punt, shifting field position for the Golden Eagles’ defense and getting the offense out of some tight situations.
Tyrone’s success with its kicking game has been as consistent as its stifling defense, and it’s been a job accomplished by committee, demonstrating a depth on special teams uncommon in high school football.
With Whitby sidelined Friday, Tytus Novak, the team’s place kicker and kicker, took over punting responsibilities, and he averaged over 45 yards per punt, including two that went for more than 50. Ben Walk also punted twice, with one downed inside the 10.
Novak was solid on kickoffs, as well. None was bigger or more important that the one he angled towards the sideline following the Golden Eagles’ first score, which went through the hands of Isaac Johnson and out of bounds at the 1.
As a placekicker, Novak has made all but one PAT attempt, and against BEA he just missed a 40-yard field goal attempt before halftime that fell just a few feet short, despite being on line.
Tyrone’s game through the first half of the season has been to keep things close with defense until the offense finds a way to break through and score. That style of play would be impossible without a kicking game that’s not just good but exceptional, and that’s exactly what the Golden Eagles have gotten from three players who have been quite adept at booting the ball when called upon.
FOURTH DOWN: POSITION TO BE IN POSITION
Since the Laurel Highlands expanded in 2023 to absorb what had once been the Mountain League (and before that the Big 8), the sentiment among most coaches on week to week play is fairly consistent across the board: it’s a gauntlet.
That’s true for every team, but none more so than Tyrone, who after playing 3A leading Central in Week 3 hosted undefeated Bald Eagle Area last Friday, one week before traveling to Bellwood-Antis for a rivalry game against one of the top Blue Devil squads in a decade.
The Golden Eagles will follow that one up with a game against 2025 1A state runner-up Bishop Guilfoyle. After that, it’s on to games against Philipsburg-Osceola and Penn Cambria, which each enter Week 5 3-1.
It’s almost become cliche to hear coaches say, but there are no easy weeks in the Laurel Highlands.
That made Tyrone’s win over Bald Eagle so important. Clearly, the goal is to win every time out, but by defeating BEA the Golden Eagles gave themselves a little breathing room to where they won’t necessarily have to go undefeated over the next 3 to 4 weeks.
A playoff spot isn’t a lock with the win over BEA, and in fact there’s still a lot of work to be done. Like the last two years, Tyrone will have to have a strong finish to earn a spot, and the teams on the back end of the schedule are quality squads.
But if nothing else, Tyrone’s win put the Eagles in a position to get in position.
The next several weeks will tell the tell the tale of Tyrone’s playoff aspirations, but its game against BEA allowed the Golden Eagles to control part of the narrative.
