A chaotic fourth quarter with a controversial ending were the backdrop for Tyrone’s 36-33 loss to Huntingdon at War Vets Field on Friday.
It was the third straight loss for the Golden Eagles, who fell below .500 for the first time this season.
Despite the loss, Tyrone’s offense, led by quarterback Ben Walk, was as potent as its through seven games.
Here are four takeaways from the game.
FIRST DOWN: Ken Fagan or flash card?
In more than 100 years of playing each other, Tyrone and Huntingdon have had crazy finishes that rival the strange turn of events that occurred Friday, when an apparent interception to end the game was overturned on a penalty, paving the way for the Bearcats to score the game-winner with 34 seconds left.
The story of Ken Fagan is probably the closest when it comes to improbable endings.
In 1965, the teams clashed in Week 4, and while the Eagles were the overwhelming favorite, neither team had scored as the clock wound to zeroes. Huntingdon had possession at its own 30, and at 1-2 would have been just fine accepting a tie. The Eagles, however, had championship aspirations, so a tie in the Western Conference as points were tabulated then would have been as good as a loss.
On the last play of the game, Bearcat quarterback Ken Fagan took the snap and went headfirst into the line, twisting as he did so his back was to the defense. Tyrone defensive tackle Gary DiDomenico saw an opportunity, snatched the ball from Fagan’s hands, and ran 30 yards for the game-winning score.
It became one of seven straight shutouts for the Eagles’ defense that season, and it had to have been devastating for Fagan. But with time, the wild ending became just a really good story.
Several years later, while serving in the Army, Fagan found himself on a ship in the Mediterranean where he ran into Terry Varner, whose eventual brother-in-law, Don Friday, had played in the crazy game in 1965. The two talked, and eventually realized they were from towns just a few miles apart, and talk turned to football. Varner was anxious to tell the tale of the quarterback who lost the ball and the game on a wild last-second play.
According to Friday, who shared the story in Volume I of The Tyrone Football Story, Fagan said, ‘You SOB! I’m 3,000 miles from home and I run into the one guy who knows about that play!”
Stories like those are the kinds of timeless tales that can only spring from the gridiron, but there’s another side to them. In 1965, there were no playoffs. No District or state championship brackets or rankings were affected by the outcome.
Years later, in 2005, the Golden Eagles fielded a team many believe rivaled the 1999 state championship team and the 1996 PIAA runner-up, two squads widely regarded as the most talented to ever suit up at Tyrone.
The Eagles made it all the way to the PIAA semifinals, a game played in State College against Grove City just one week after they had manhandled Seton LaSalle, which had the most explosive offense in Pennsylvania.
In a back-and-forth battle, Tyrone held a 17-14 lead late in the fourth quarter when they stonewalled Grove City on fourth down. Officials brought out the chains for a measurement. They signaled first down for Tyrone. Tyrone’s crowd and bench were euphoric.
But within seconds of the initial ruling, a second referee went to the chains with an index card, measured the distance between the ball and the sticks, and awarded Grove City a first down. Shellshocked, Tyrone surrendered the game-winning touchdown just a few seconds later.
No one on Tyrone’s sidelines that day looks back on the play with particular fondness, and it’s still brought up frequently at games when a close measurement occurs.
Speaking of the game in 2021 for Volume II of The Tyrone Football Story, Coach John Franco recalled, “That still bugs me to no end. There may not be a worse call in the history of Tyrone football, maybe Blair County sports, than that call because it was just out and out wrong … I remember saying to the official, ‘You can’t do that. If the card’s there, that’s space.’ After that year, the PIAA came out and said you may not use any device to put between a ball and a marker. It all has to be visual.”
Only time will tell how Friday’s ending will be recalled down the road, but there’s no denying the immediate impact. The Golden Eagles now have a mountain to climb to make the postseason, and it’s a challenge that is no longer completely in their own hands. Tyrone will need an awful lot of help.
The Golden Eagles do, however, play two of the teams above them in the standings over the next two weeks.
SECOND DOWN: Explosive and consistent
The Golden Eagles had their top offensive performance of the season against the Bearcats, with 373 yards of total offense and a season-high 33 points.
It was highlighted by a number of explosive plays in the passing game, none bigger than the 60-yard bomb from Ben Walk to Mason Emigh on fourth-and-25 that gave Tyrone the lead with 1:58 to play.
But the fact is the Eagles had consistent, time-consuming drives that converted third and fourth downs with regularity and got as much from secondary receivers as from their home run hitter.
In the first half, Tyrone scored on two seven-play drives and one that lasted eight plays, converting two touchdowns on fourth downs and another on third.
In the second half, their scores came on a 15-play drive and a 10-play drive, and the Eagles were forced to overcome penalties on their series three times.
There’s no question the long ball was a huge part of Tyrone’s offensive success against the ‘Cats. They had 13 plays that went for 12 yards or more and six longer than 20.
But their consistency in staying the course and moving the chains behind catches from players like Jesse Parks, Jon Stroup, and Reid Starr, was just as valuable and certainly a positive sign for the offense.
THIRD DOWN: BrothersX1000
Two seasons ago, Seth Hoover ran for over 1,000 yards, putting him in a special group at Tyrone that includes his father Scott and no one else. Scott had accomplished a 1,000-yard season as a senior in 1988, so when Seth hit the mark more than 30 years later, they became the only father-son duo in school history to register thousand-yard seasons.
Ben Walk did something similar with his huge game against Huntingdon.
Walk completed 16 of 33 passes for 340 yards, which in itself is the third-best single game a passer has ever had for the Eagles. But in doing so, he went over 1,000 passing yards for the season.
That’s a number his brother Ashton hit four times in his record-setting career from 2021-2024, including his unparalleled 3,000-yard season as a senior.
Sixteen quarterbacks have now accounted for 27 1,000-yard passing seasons at Tyrone, but only one set of brothers has accomplished the feat.
Since hitting a low point with a 4-for-14 passing performance against Bellwood-Antis that included two interceptions, Walk has thrown for 588 yards in the last two games.
FOURTH DOWN: So close
Tyrone’s loss to Huntingdon will go down as one of two near-misses for the Golden Eagles this season that, in and of themselves, were highly-spirited, highly-competitive classics, but that in the larger scheme of a season shaped the course of a campaign that may not include games in November.
The other was Tyrone’s 21-14 loss in overtime to Central in Week 3. The Golden Eagles battled to send the game into the extra frame with a fourth quarter touchdown and had Central backed to the 15 on third down when the Dragons used a halfback throwback pass to get the go-ahead score. Jesse Muthler later picked off Walk in the endzone to end it.
Win those two games, and Tyrone’s heading into the home stretch 5-2 with a little wiggle room.
The Dragons themselves are currently No. 2 in 3A at 6-1, while Tyrone’s opponent this week – Penn Cambria – is fourth at 5-2.
The classification is as competitive as its ever been. Where in recent years a plus-.500 record was frequently enough to get into the playoffs, this season Philipsburg-Osceola is the first team out in Week 8 with a 4-3 record.
But it goes to show how the expanded Laurel highlands has raised the level of play in District 6 2A and 3A. Every week becomes a playoff game, and positioning begins earlier than ever.
It also demonstrates how close the Eagles are to the teams currently at the upper echelon of 3A. In essence, they’re on the outside of the bubble now by less than two touchdowns.
