Tyrone’s postseason hopes rest on one thing
If there’s any benefit to Tyrone’s current football situation, it’s that the season has been simplified down to its essence.
Keep on winning and you just might get into the District 6 3A playoffs. Lose at any time over the next two weeks and you’re done before November hits.
That might seem like a lot of pressure to place on a team of high school kids, but Tyrone coach Jason Jones said it’s the reality his players have been living with for weeks.
“It’s win or go home,” he said. “That’s what we’ve been telling the guys for the last couple of games. We’ve had to approach each game like it was a playoff.”
The playoffs before the playoffs continue Friday when Tyrone travels to Philipsburg to face Philipsburg-Osceola. At 4-4, both teams are hanging around in the postseason mix, with the Golden Eagles less than four points away from Penn Cambria and the No. 4 spot. The Mounties are a little further back, trailing Tyrone by six points, but there’s still a path for them to get into the field with a win and some help.
Tyrone’s start-the-playoffs-early approach has worked in terms of the Golden Eagles’ performance on the field. They’ve played their best football over the last two weeks, but with mixed results in terms of the final product.
Against Huntingdon in Week 7, Tyrone had its most productive offensive performance of the season, scoring five touchdowns on more than 370 yards of total offense, but a controversial roughing the passer call in the final minute of play set the stage for a 36-33 loss that severely hampered the Eagles’ playoff hopes.
They rebounded a week ago to down Penn Cambria 17-14 with a resurgent defense that played with the kind of aggression it showed in the month of September, when the unit allowed just 34 points over the first four games.
In a 3A field that’s as strong and balanced as any in recent memory, any team that makes it into the bracket has a legitimate shot of winning it all.
“I was talking to some coaching friends this week, and I said we’re 4-4, but we’re two plays away from being 6-2,” Jones said.
P-O was one of the teams in 3A that got out to a hot start, posting a 4-1 record through the first month of the season. But the Mounties are yet to win a game in October and have allowed 33 or more points in two of their last three games.
The main thing teams have done to bring the Mountie back down to earth has been to limit a running game that is one of the most effective in the Laurel Highlands. P-O averages 224 rushing yards per game, but three of the four teams that have defeated the Mounties have found a way to keep their explosive rushers under wraps. In those games, the Mounties averaged 105 rushing yards per game.
The lone exception was last week’s 43-38 loss to Bishop McCort where the Mounties gained 347 yards on the ground, with both Demarcus Law and Connor Guenot going over 100 individually.
Guenot is averaging almost 13 yards per carry, while Law leads P-O with 780 yards.
“They like to run the ball. That’s a big part of their game,” said Jones. “Law is dangerous in the open field, and he’s a special talent. But you can’t completely sell out to stop the run. I’ve watched their quarterback fake a handoff on first down and hit a receiver down the seam for big gains.”
Archer Baughman has been effective for P-O, completing 47.3 percent of his passes, but his 431 passing yards are a small chunk of the Mounties’ offense, which is nearing 1,800 yards on the ground.
Tyrone’s all-or-nothing approach will see the return of a key piece of their offense as senior Caleb Whitby attempts to come back from a knee injury that had placed his season in jeopardy. As recently as Week 6, Jones had expected Whitby to miss the remainder of the season, but he’s cleared for the game against P-O, and his coach is hoping his presence can add an extra spark to an offense that has been trending upward since bottoming out in a 3-14 loss the B-A in Week 5.
Quarterback Ben Walk has played a significant role in Tyrone’s success of late. He’s completed 75 of 160 passes for 1,179 yards and 12 touchdowns, and 672 of those yards have come in the last three games.
Mason Emigh is Walk’s top target, with 31 catches for 767 yards, but the real key has been the increased production of Jon Stroup and Jesse Parks, who have combined this season for 31 catches and 301 yards. With those players becoming more consistent as possession receivers on short and intermediate routes, Emigh has been free to make more plays downfield, and the dynamic has paid dividends for three weeks.
Another added bonus has been the rugged running of sophomore Reid Starr, who against the Panthers had his first 100-yard game with 132 yards on 20 carries.
If Whitby is healthy enough to provide snaps on offense, his breakaway speed would be a strong compliment for Starr’s straight-ahead, bruising attack. Jones said Whitby would also be a valuable target for the passing game out of the backfield.
As good as the Mounties have been pushing teams for rushing yards when they have the ball, they’ve struggled to stop teams defensively. They’re allowing 27.3 points per game along with just over 300 yards in total offense.
P-O has surrendered almost 1,400 yards through the air and just over 1,000 on the ground, which certainly gives Tyrone plenty of options as their own offense continues to evolve.
But numbers are only numbers, and while there are plenty of them to consider as Week 9 gets into swing – playoff points, power points, and on and on – there’s only one that really matters and that’s 1.
If Tyrone wins one game a week every week for the next two weeks, chances are likely it will extend its season. Lose one, and it’s all over after Week 10.
