The 2015 football season for the Tyrone Golden Eagles kicks off with the much anticipated match up on the road tonight against arch rival Bellwood Antis.

The Eagle’s won last year’s Backyard Brawl with Tyrone senior Ricky Reader’s game saving sack of Bellwood’s quarterback Jake Burch as time expired.

Fortunately for the Eagles, Reader and returning starters Colby Pannebaker and Nick Bonsell are all back on the defensive side of the ball.  The Eagles hope to use their experience to keep Bellwood’s offense on their heels. In the defensive backfield the Eagles also have seniors Cullen Raftery and Zack Soellner who started most of the season last year and will be key players as the Eagles move forward.

The strength of Tyrone’s offense will likely be its offensive line.  The line returns most of their starters from last year’s district championship squad.  They will definitely put pressure on Bellwood’s defensive line. With senior Drew Hunter and receivers Parker Mitchell and Cullen Raftery, the Eagles have a well balanced attack coming into this young season.

As for Bellwood, they return quite a few of their starters from the 2014 season; most importantly senior quarterback Jake Burch. Burch was a major part of the success that the Blue Devils had last season. He is a dual threat quarterback as he can run and pass the ball. The Eagles will have to keep a close eye on him if they hope to pull out the victory this year.

On defense, the Blue Devils will likely try to make the Eagles rely on their young skilled position players by stacking the box. This approach puts both team’s strengths on display; which should make for an interesting game. So come out to Memorial Stadium tonight at 7:00 pm, to see this classic “Backyard Brawl” matchup between the Tyrone Golden Eagles and the Bellwood-Antis Blue Devils.