Tyrone got off to a slow start in a 28-14 loss to heavily favored Clearfield, but after giving up 28 unanswered points, the Golden Eagles played well in the second half, scoring 14 unanswered point of their own.

“I thought that fourth quarter was by far the best football we played all year,” said Tyrone Head Coach John Franco.

Tyrone was again led by junior quarterback Brandon Lucas who rushed for 106 yards on 26 carries and went 15-23 passing for 142 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Junior Damon Gripp and senior Broc Zimmerman each recorded over 50 receiving yards. Gripp had 66 yards on 6 receptions Zimmerman racked up 57 yards on three receptions.

Clearfield might have suffered the biggest loss of the game when star wide receiver and corner back Jake Lezzer went down with a non-contact knee injury on their fourth offensive play of the game. 

The Bison struck first on a 6 yard touchdown pass from Billotte to Pallo with 3:09 left in the first quarter giving Clearfield a 7-0 lead after a successful extra point.

Clearfield added two more touchdowns in the second quarter as their defense gave Tyrone little chance to gain momentum. The first half came to a close with Clearfield leading Tyrone 21-0.

Clearfield came out in the second half and marched straight down the field on their opening possession and added another touchdown to their lead. They held a 28-0 lead over Tyrone with 8:12 left in the third.

It was then that Tyrone woke up both sides of the ball, scoring 14 unanswered points of their own.

Tyrone’s defense held tough for the rest of the game as they didn’t allow Clearfield to score again.

Tyrone scored their first points of the game when Brandon Lucas hit Damon Gripp from 8 yards out cutting Clearfields lead to 28-7 with 1.9 seconds left in the third.

Tyrone scored another touchdown with 7:04 left in the game when Lucas found Gripp yet again this time from 23 yards out making the game closer than nobody outside of Tyrone expected it to be. 

Tyrone got the ball back with under a minute left but were unable to put any more points on the board solidifying the 28-14 Clearfield win for the Bison.

Tyrone falls to 2-5 on the year after the loss on Friday. They look to get back on track when they travel to Hollidaysburg to take on the Tigers.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Tyrone 0 0 7 7–14

Clearfield 7 14 7 0–28

First quarter

CL–Pallo 6 pass from Billotte, (Hess kick), 3:09.

Second quarter

CL–Zattoni 5 run, (Hess kick), 8:12.

CL–Kline 12 pass from O. Billotte, (Hess kick), 0:42.

Third quarter

CL–Zattoni 6 run, (Hess kick), 7:10.

T–Gripp 8 pass from Lucas, (Raabe kick), 0:1.9.

Fourth quarter

T–Gripp 23 pass from Lucas, (Raabe kick), 7:04.

TEAM STATISTICS T C

First downs

T 16

C 21

Rushes-yards

T28-126

C 45-274

Comp-Att-Int

T 15-23-0 

C 8-13-0

Passing Yards 

T 142

C 83

Total Plays-Yards

T 51-268

C 58-357

Fumbles-Lost

T 2-0 

C 1-0

Punts

T 4-32.3

C 2-22.0

Penalties-Yards

T 6-64

C 5-55

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–Tyrone, Lucas 22-106, Homan 2-20, Zimmerman 1-1, Clifton 2-0, Beck 1-(-1). Clearfield, Zattoni 24-131, O.Billotte 8-66, Plubell 8-53, I. Billotte 2-13, Firanski 2-6, Kline 1-5.

PASSING–Tyrone, Lucas 15-23-0-142. Clearfield, O. Billotte 8-13-0-83.

RECEIVING–Tyrone, Gripp 6-66, B. Zimmerman 3-57, Clifton 2-3, Grassi 2-1, N. Zimmerman 1-9, Homan 1-6. Clearfield, Pallo 5-41, Lezzer 1-23, Kline 1-12, Zattoni 1-7.