Eagles close season with odd win in Johnstown
Tyrone got the win it needed last night in Johnstown, but it wasn’t the win many of the coaches and players wanted.
The Golden Eagles defeated Greater Johnstown 38-12 at Trojan Stadium in a Laurel Highlands Week 10 crossover game, and it was enough to allow Tyrone to finish with a 5-5 split in Coach Jason Jones’ first season.
That’s an important milestone for a young coach who had lost 4 of 5 games heading into the season finale, but he couldn’t hide his disappointment over senior Mason Emigh coming up short in his pursuit of a 1,000-yard receiving season.
“It’s bitter-sweet,” said Jones. “There were a couple of things we would have liked to do. I would have liked to have gotten Mason 1,000. I’m disappointed to see these seniors go. I’m disappointed it’s over.”
Emigh needed 129 yards to reach the mark, but after racking up 98 by halftime he didn’t have a reception in the second half and finished the season with 969.
It’s the third-best single season a Tyrone pass catcher has ever had, but just shy of the point he was hoping for.
“It was a great game overall,” said Emigh. “I wish I would have been able to accomplish the thousand yards, but overall this season, as a team, we did amazing.”
Emigh said he felt the pressure of reaching the unreachable number – no Tyrone receiver has ever gotten to 1,000 during the regular season and only one has done it in a single season – and that may have contributed to his uncharacteristic night. The senior had six drops, more than the rest of the season combined, and only looked in sync with the offense during two second-quarter scoring drives.
“It was a big game for me, so I think I thought about it too much,” he said. “I thought this was my last high school game, and I was just thinking about it every single time I came off the field.”
Most receivers would gladly take Emigh’s 98-yard performance, but he may have left another 60 on the field in drops, and that was just one of the areas of the game that seemed rather weird. Another was the disjointed flow of the contest once it reached the second half, when the teams combined for 15 penalties, seven of which were for personal fouls or unsportsmanlike conduct.
Then there was the odd imbalance in time of possession. There was never a chance for Emigh to put one final run into the record in the fourth quarter because Tyrone only had the ball for one play in the period, and that was a punt.
It was all a bit strange, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the Golden Eagles from logging their second win in the last three games.
“We did some things out of our element,” said Jones. “We kind of got away from our game plan a little bit. It got choppy, but I wouldn’t trade anything. I wish I had one more drive to get him (1,000).”
One player who didn’t miss a beat was senior Caleb Whitby, who in his second game back from a knee injury that sidelined him for five weeks, ran for 102 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries.
It was Whitby who got the Eagles on the board first, when he broke free around the right end for an 11-yard touchdown run that made it 7-0 with 45 seconds left in the first quarter following the first of 5 PAT kicks from Tytus Novak.
Johnstown responded with a sustained drive of its own, moving 72 yards on 14 plays. Along the way, starting quarterback Ranson Goggans left the game with an injury, to be replaced by Stephon Hill-Goodman. After a pass interference call got the ball to Tyrone’s 7, the Trojans used three straight running plays to get to the 1, but they were stuffed there, with the Eagles defense smothering two Cordell Porter runs up the middle to take the ball back on downs.
That was when Emigh came to life, after going without a reception in the first quarter. He pulled in a 27-yarder to get the Eagles away from their own goal line, and later had a 21-yard reception to move the ball to the Trojans’ 30.
That set up this touchdown pass, with Ben Walk threading a needle through Johnstown’s zone to find his favorite target.
Emigh later had a 19-yard touchdown wiped away on a penalty, but Tytus Novak came on to kick a 43-yard field goal to make it 17-0 at the break.
“They’re a good ball club, and they have some really good athletes,” said Greater Johnstown coach Tony Penna Jr., whose team finished the season 1-9. “You see when they get spread out in that passing game, they’re tough to stop.”
Adding to the strangeness, offensive lineman Kyler Suhoney extended the lead to 24-0 with 7:15 left in the third when he ran 9 yards on a hook-and-lateral toss from Jon Stroup.
It was the second career touchdown for Suhoney, who returned an interception for a score last season against Bald Eagle Area. But his unsportsmanlike conduct penalty at the end of the play began a bizarre quarter-and-a-half that was riddled with flags.
Emigh got back into the action in the fourth quarter after Stephon Hill-Goodman had scored on a 15-yard run to cut the lead to 24-6. It didn’t get him any closer to 1,000, but it did earn him his second pick 6 of the year – a 24-yard score that made it 31-6 with 11:02 left in the game.
The touchdown was Emigh’s 17th of the season. Along with his 13 touchdown receptions, he also had touchdowns by way of the run and a kickoff return.
But the turnover and score was in a small way a part of Emigh’s undoing in his pursuit of 1,000 yards. The Trojans got the ball back and possessed it for almost five minutes on a 9-play drive that was extended by a pass interference penalty and a personal foul and and ended when Hill-Goodman scored on a 7-yard run halfway with 6:04 to play.
But there was still plenty of time to get Emigh another pass or two, or so it seemed.
Junior Coltyn Frye, who opened the season for Tyrone by returning the first kickoff against Bellefonte for a score, returned the ensuing kick 80 yards for another touchdown that set the final.
It was a tremendous effort play by Frye, who had to shake off a facemask around the 50, but it also essentially assured Emigh wouldn’t get any more shots at making history because the Trojans held the ball for the remainder of the game.
“It’s good to finish .500 for our seniors,” said Jones. “It’s good to send these guys out with a win. But I’d be lying if I’d say we’re going to be happy waking up tomorrow morning, finishing 5-5 and not getting prepared to play in the District playoffs, which is where ultimately I think we should be.”
Cordell Porter led the Trojans with 107 yards on 24 carries. He also added 52 yards on 6 receptions.
Walk finished 6-for-23 for 102 yards, giving him 1,537 for the season and allowing him to crack the top 10 at Tyrone for single-season passing yards.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Tyrone 7 10 7 14 – 38
Greater Johnstown 0 0 6 6 – 12
First Quarter
T – Whitby 11 run (Novak kick) :45
Second Quarter
T – Emigh 30 pass from Walk (Novak kick) 1:50
T – Novak 43 FG :00
Third Quarter
T – Suhoney 9 run (Novak kick)
J – Hill-Goodman 15 run (PAT kick blocked) 1:10
Fourth Quarter
T – Emigh 24 interception return (Novak kick) 11:02
J – Hill-Godman 7 run (PAT kick blocked) 6:04
T – Frye 80 kickoff return (Novak kick) 5:46
TEAM STATISTICS T J
First downs 11 22
Total yards 213 197
Rushes-yards 18-111 42-114
Yards passing 102 83
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 6-23-1 10-19-1
Punts-avg. 2-31.5 3-27.6
Fumbles-lost 0-0 3-1
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Tyrone – Whitby17-102, Suhoney 1-9. Greater Johnstown – Porter 24-107, Goggans 5-8, Hill-Goodman 11-26, Armour 1-(-2), Team 1-(-25).
PASSING—Tyrone – Walk 6-23-102, 1 TD, 1 Int. Greater Johnstown – Goggans 4-8-27, 0 TD, 0 Int.; Hill-Goodman 6-11-56, 0 TD, 1 Int.
RECEIVING—Tyrone – Emigh 5-98, Stroup 1-4. Greater Johnstown – Hill-Goodman 2-14, Porter 6-52, Harris 2-17.
