Tyrone closed its regular season on a winning note Friday, defeating Greater Johnstown 38-12 to complete a 5-5 split in Coach Jason Jones’ first campaign.
The Golden Eagles won 2 of their last 3 games but missed out on a spot in the District 6 3A playoffs by 12 points. The fourth and final spot went to Philipsburg-Osceola, which defeated Tyrone 42-39 two weeks ago.
Here are four takeaways from the game.
FIRST DOWN: JUST MISSED (PART 1)
While District 6 3A has been ultra-competitive in 2026, the Golden Eagles were inches away from not only making the field in the playoffs but claiming a top seed.
At 9-1, Central earned the No. 1 seed and will face P-O this week. In Week 3, Tyrone battled the Dragons into overtime and had them facing third-and-goal from the 15. It took a halfback throwback pass to get Central its game-winning touchdown in a 21-14 victory, but the bottom line is it was a game that was up for grabs until the end, and the Golden Eagles had an answer for everything the Dragons threw at them.
In Week 9, Tyrone scored first against P-O and after falling behind by two scores rallied twice to pull within a field goal’s reach. When it was all said and done, it was a defensive score and missed PAT opportunities that decided the game.
In the loss that really put the Eagles behind the eight ball – a 36-33 loss to Huntingdon in Week 7 – the game turned on a blown roughing the passer call after Tyrone had initially stopped the Bearcats on their final drive.
The point is, when you’re competing in a division as solid and balanced as 3A was in 2026, the margin for error is paper thin, and good teams are bond to get left out of the mix.
The Golden Eagles spent the last two seasons hanging around before edging their way into the postseason late. Their fortune ran dry in 2026, but the fact is they were right there with the best teams in the classification.
SECOND DOWN: JUST MISSED (PART 2)
Mason Emigh is going to go down as one of the top receivers in Tyrone football history. The numbers alone dictate that.
What Emigh accomplished over the last two seasons stack up with any of the top guys at Tyrone, and with 1,624 yards in his career he finishes as the Eagles’ fourth all-time leading receiver.
But just as the Eagles narrowly missed a playoff berth, Emigh narrowly missed his shot at history Friday in the win over the Trojans.
Needing 121 yards to become just the second receiver at Tyrone to reach 1,000 yards in a single season, Emigh had 5 receptions for 98 yards and a touchdown.
For most players on any level, that’s one heck of a night. But Emigh admitted afterwards he was a little disappointed he couldn’t reach the 1,000-yard plateau and that the pressure of reaching the number weighed on him during the game.
That much was evident in his six drops. The figure was an anomaly, and essentially doubled the number of drops he had all season up until Week 10.
But it also highlighted the kind of special player Emigh had been for Tyrone in two seasons as a featured receiver. In one of the more frustrating games of his career, he still nearly reached 100 yards, caught a touchdown pass, and added another score on defense with a pick-6 in the fourth quarter. Not bad for an off night.
What’s more, all of Emigh’s receiving yards came in the second quarter, when he dominated the Trojans’ secondary.
His pursuit of the record was hampered further by an odd second half where Tyrone barely possessed the ball and still managed to score three touchdowns. In fact, the Eagles had the ball for just one play in the fourth quarter while scoring two touchdowns. One was on Emigh’s interception and the other on a kickoff return by Coltyn Frye.
Put all those things together and it’s easy to say it just wasn’t meant to be, though that’s certainly little solace for Emigh.
THIRD DOWN: NOTABLE KICK
Because Tytus Novak spent most of his fall sports seasons tearing up the pitch as one of the top players on the soccer team, it’s easy to forget he’s a record setting kicker on the football team.
As a sophomore in 2024, Novak, filling in for his injured brother Dante, kicked 10 extra points in the Eagles’ wild 82-26 victory over Penns Valley. That gave him the single-game record for PATs.
He joined another elite group against Johnstown with a 43-yard field goal in the waning seconds of the first half. The kick allowed Novak to become just the fourth kicker in Tyrone history to hit from beyond 40 yards.
Dale Ellenberger is the record-holder with a 46-yard field goal against Lewistown in 1981. Scott Gummo made on from 45 yards out in the PIAA semifinals in 1999, and John Shaffer made a 44-yard kick against Huntingdon in 2007.
That makes Novak’s boot the fourth-longest in program history.
Novak also connected on 55 extra-point kicks over three seasons and consistently sent his kickoffs inside the 10-yard line.
FOURTH DOWN: SENIOR IMPACT
There have been plenty of classes over the years that came onto the scene with enough hoopla and expectations that you knew they were bound to accomplish something big.
The Class of 1997, with players like Marcus Owens and Jarrod Anderson was one, as was the Class of 2000, which won a state championship in 1999.
This year’s seniors weren’t heralded like any of those classes, but when you look back at how their careers progressed, especially over their senior season, it would be hard to deny they made significant contributions to the program, and the numbers they produced will be a challenge to duplicate.
Emigh’s numbers speak for themselves, but they couldn’t have been what they were without the growth of Ben Walk at quarterback. He finished the year with 1,542 passing yards and 17 touchdown passes, throwing for more than 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns over his last five games. Those numbers allowed him to climb into the top 10 among single-season passers at Tyrone.
Despite missing five games with a knee injury, Caleb Whitby was able to run for 312 yards, which included 100-yard games against Westmont Hilltop and Greater Johnstown. He ended his career with 1,200 rushing yards and 190 receiving yards.
Jesse Parks, with one season to play a big role in Tyrone’s offense, was second on the team with 241 yards and three touchdowns on 16 receptions.
The class’s impact on defense was significant, as well. Linebacker Dylan Robinson had 68 tackles in 2026 along with 9 tackles for loss.
Kyler Suhoney, meanwhile, led the team in tackles with 102, 12 of which came behind the line of scrimmage. In his 3-year career, he had 167 tackles and 21 tackles for loss.
Those are big numbers on both sides of the football, and they won’t be easy to replace.
The Class of 2027 might not have come into the program with huge expectations, but they certainly leave it with big shoes to fill.
