Mounties bounce Eagles from playoff contention
When Ben Walk released a short swing pass to Caleb Whitby midway through the first quarter of last night’s game against Philipsburg-Osceola, it looked for all intents and purposes like a whole lot of nothing.
The play was going to go nowhere as two defenders were ready to stop Whitby in his tracks, and the pass was low anyway, to the point where Whitby it barely went off Whitby’s fingers. For about two seconds, it looked like just another missed play in a high school football game. But what started like this:
Quickly ended like this:
P-O defensive end Mason Marlow alertly scooped up the ball that had been lateraled ever so slightly backwards and jetted 33 yards for a go-ahead score. It put the Mounties ahead 14-7, and while there were still points to be scored – many, many points to be scored – the Golden Eagles could never get that one back.
Tyrone played from behind the rest of the way and ultimately fell to the Mounties 42-39 at Philipsburg-Osceola Area Stadium.
It was a 3-point decision with major implications for both teams. While eliminating Tyrone from the playoff hunt in District 6 3A, it boosted P-O ahead of the Eagles into the No. 5 position. So with a win next week, the Mounties will be heading to the postseason.
The win also allowed the Mounties to snap a 19-game losing streak against Tyrone that dated back to 2004. No one playing on the field was even alive when the streak began, but P-O coach Jeff Vroman was in his first stint as the Mounties’ coach, so the win had a deeper meaning for him than most.
“This was a huge win for us. I needed to get that,” he said.
He needed it enough that, with the game on the line late in the fourth, Vroman went for the jugular.
Up three and facing fourth-and-1 with just over a minute to play, he had a decision to make. If the Mounties punted from the Tyrone 45, they would set the ball deep in Eagles territory, but they would also be giving the ball back to an offense that had been on fire in the second half.
But go for it and miss it and the Eagles are starting a comeback drive from midfield.
It’s lot to think about, but when you’re dealing with a losing streak that extends generations, the decision is clear.
Vroman went for it, and essentially put his Mounties in the final District 6 3A spot Tyrone was so desperately hoping to nail down.
“We were playing to win,” said Vroman, whose team improved to 5-4. “We had faith in the kids. There were a couple of plays we thought we could run, and we executed.”
Mason Vaughn powered for 3 yards on the play, the chains moved, and P-O earned a 3-point win to beat Tyrone for the first time since 2004.
“It’s been a lot of hard work to get it to where it is right now. But it’s worth it,” said Vroman.
It was a back and forth game that saw both teams’ defenses struggle against the other team’s bread and butter. For Tyrone, that meant surrendering rushing yards in chunks to a slew of Mountie runners. Demarcus Law finished with 167 yards on 16 carries and Aaron Davis added 50 on 15 as the P-O racked up 257 yards on the ground.
For the Mounties, it meant getting diced by quarterback Ben Walk and a cadre of pass catchers led by Mason Emigh. Walk completed 19 of 25 passes for 254 yards and 3 touchdowns, and Emigh caught 6 of them for 103 yards and a pair of scoring receptions.
Both teams capitalized off turnovers early to steal momentum.
P-O fumbled inside its own 20 on the first possession, giving Tyrone the ball at the 14. They scored on two runs by Reid Starr, the second of which went for 14 yards and a 7-0 lead.
The Eagles ensuing kick went short and P-O recovered at its own 47. After Demarcus Law broke off a 24-yard run on second down, the Mounties scored 2 plays later on a 23-yard pass from Archer Baughman to Connor Guenot. P-O couldn’t convert the try for 2 and trailed 7-6.
Tyrone’s lead would last about a minute longer until Marlow’s scoop and score completely changed the game.
“It was a lateral. We watched it back on film,” said Tyrone coach Jason Jones. “They earned every bit of it. They got us tonight. You can’t give up that many rushing yards.”
The Mounties made it 22-7 four minutes into the second quarter when Aaron Davis capped an 11-play, 69-yard drive with a 3-yard run to get it to 22-7.
The Golden Eagles got back into the game before halftime on the strength of a combination that has clicked for them all season. On Tyrone’s next series, Walk went to Emigh three times, twice for gains of 15 yards and then on a 13-yard touchdown pass with 3:06 left in the second that set the halftime score at 22-13.
“I liked our matchup with them,” said Vroman. “The only matchup I didn’t like was us against 6 (Emigh). But as far as our offense versus their defense, I liked that matchup.”
You could see why after halftime when Law sparked P-O with a 40-yard run on the first play of the third quarter.
Four plays later, Davis scored his second touchdown to make it 28-13, but before the Mounties could get comfortable Emigh returned the following kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown to cut the deficit back to 9 at 28-19.
Four minutes later, following one of the Eagles’ few defensive stops, Walk connected with Jesse Parks on a crossing route on third-and-7 from the 33, and Parks was able to break containment to the outside and race for a 67-yard score that cut it to 28-26.
P-O came back with a haymaker of its own, using a 40-yard connection from Baughman to Guenot to get to the Eagles’ 16. Law ran for 13 yards on first down, and on the next play Davis had another touchdown on a 3-yard blast to make it 34-26.
Tyrone trimmed the lead to 2 one more time before the third was finished with a 56-yard scoring drive ignited by a 41-yard completion from Walk to Emigh. Walk later moved the chains with a third-and-12 scramble to get to the 2, and Starr capped it off with a 2-yard run that made it 34-32.
But as was the case throughout the second half, the Mounties had an answer. Starting at their own 32 on the ensuing drive, P-O moved 68 yards on 10 plays, converting once on fourth-and-3 before Law broke loose up the middle on third-and-10 to score on a 26-yard run to put the Mounties ahead 42-32.
“We didn’t make timely plays, and when you don’t do that, this is what happens against a pretty good team,” said Jones.
Tyrone took over with 7:36 to play, and moved the ball well during a 75-yard drive that lasted 13 plays, but by then the long march was in P-O’s favor as time drained off the clock. Walk had big completions of 13 and 17 yards to Parks and Whitby, respectively, and he ended to drive with a 3-yard flip to Emigh in the endzone to make it 42-39, but when the Eagles couldn’t corral the onsides kick, it came down to one run for the game by Marlow.
It was a wild second half that saw the teams combine for 46 points and 410 yards, but in a lot of ways everything led back to P-O’s hot start in the first and into the second quarter.
“We started to look good (offensively), but I think we needed to score a little more early,” said Jones. “We were in a hole 22-7, so it’s not just on the defense. It’s on the offense a little bit, as well. When it clicks, it clicks, but sometimes it takes a little while.”
Tyrone will now travel to Johnstown to close its season against the Trojans in a Laurel Highlands crossover game. The Mounties will head to Bedford looking to secure a spot in the postseason.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Tyrone 7 6 19 7 – 39
Philipsburg-Osceola 14 8 12 8 – 42
First Quarter
T – Starr 14 run (Novak kick) 8:37
P – Guenot 23 pass from Baughman (PAT run failed) 7:16
P – Marlow 33 fumble return (Law run) 6:23
Second Quarter
P – Davis 3 run (Law run) 8:37
T – Emigh 13 pass from Walk (PAT run failed) 3:06
Third Quarter
P – Davis 1 run (PAT pass failed) 9:50
T – Emigh 75 kickoff return (PAT blocked) 9:39
T – Parks 67 pass from Walk (Novak kick) 5:27
P – Davis 3 run (PAT run failed) 3:57
T – Starr 2 run (PAT pass failed) 1:17
Fourth Quarter
P – Law 26 run (Baughman pass to McClenehan) 7:49
T – Emigh 3 pass from Walk (Novak kick) 2:17
TEAM STATISTICS T P
First downs 15 16
Total yards 335 333
Rushes-yards 25-81 45-257
Yards passing 254 81
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 19-25-6 4-4-0
Punts-avg. 1-46 2-29.5
Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-1
Penalties-yards 3-35 1-5
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Tyrone – Whitby 6-4, Starr 15-43, Walk 5-34. Philipsburg-Osceola – Davis 16-50, Law 16-167, Vaughn 9-30, Guenot 3-10, Baughman 1-1, Team 1-(-1).
PASSING—Tyrone – Walk 19-26-254, 3 TDs, 1 Int. Philipsburg-Osceola – Baughman 4-4-81, 1 TD, 0 Int.
RECEIVING—Tyrone – Emigh 6-103, Stroup 6-30, Parks 4-92, Gwinn 1-5, Whitby 2-14. Philipsburg-Osceola – Guenot 4-81.
