Eagle Eye: How did you think your team performed against Richland?

Coach Steve Guthoff: I thought the game was a lot closer than the score indicated. In the last five minutes or so it got away. But our guys played tough.

We beat everybody we should have beat throughout the year. The three teams that we lost to have a combined record of 34-2. Clearfield is undefeated, Richland is 12-0 and Central is 10-2 and playing Richland [for the district championship].

EE: How did the offensive line hold up against Richland?

CG: I thought our offensive line played well. Throughout the year I was impressed by their play. Certainly Friday night I was impressed. James ran for around 150 and Eli had some nice runs behind the line. The [offensive line] were the group of guys that came the furthest this year. I thought they did a great job with run blocking.

We were down by 9 or ten by halftime. Coming in at halftime, I felt, and I think our guys felt like these guys aren’t super heroes. This is a very good high school football team, but we can go play for play and hit for hit with these guys.

EE: Are you satisfied with this season?

CG: Satisfied? Yes. We always want to get to our number one goal, which every year is to get to Mansion [Park].  We came about 24 minutes shy of that.

But it wasn’t as if we lost to a team that we felt we should have beat. I felt that given the right circumstances we could have won that game, but we were not a team picked to beat them, nor do I agree we should have been the favorite to beat them.

Did we accomplish all our goals? No. But we have some pretty high goals at Tyrone football.

EE: Who will be your key returning players?

CG: Garrett Hunter is going to be an exceptional quarterback next year and I hope that Drew Hunter challenges him for the job. Aleic Hunter, our halfback behind James Oliver, would have started on probably two-thirds of the teams we played this year. The guys we have coming back on the offensive line are pretty good. And we have some pretty good ninth graders coming up, so I think we’re set for the next season.

Of the teams we lost to, Clearfield is losing a bunch of guys. Richland is losing a bunch of guys and so is Central. Those are senior dominated teams and I like our guys coming back next year.

EE: What are some of your goals for next season?

CG: The goals always remain the same: to win the conference, make the playoffs. Be a number one or two seed. Then after we accomplish that then we make goals for playoffs…

Oh yeah, we have to beat Bellwood! That is the number one goal! I don’t know how I forgot to put that as the first goal. Beat Bellwood, then the rest of the goals! [laughter].

EE: Does one win over the others stand out this season?

CG: Good question. Besides the Bellwood win, which obviously is the most important win of the regular season, I’m going to say when we had to come from behind against Bald Eagle.

That was an incredible display of character and competitiveness and a great lesson for our guys to take with them from their playing experience. It could be something that they apply anywhere else in life regardless of the situation; you can always come back if your back is against the wall.

EE: Any words about the graduating seniors?

CG: Unbelievable leadership. Really, really good leadership. Leading by example on the field. They understood the culture and they were committed to making sure that the football culture at Tyrone was going to be left the way they felt it needed to be, and the way it should remain at Tyrone.

Jared Muir is a senior that we’re losing, Erik Wagner, James Oliver, Seth Umholtz, and Ryan Cox. Those guys are the seniors that played the most and made the largest contributions to the team on Friday nights. Of course, guys like Johnny Payne, and we had a new kid in Will Sessamen who contributed too. Even guys like Brandon Plowman and Nate Yeager, they helped us out in practice by being on the scout team.

EE: How was the fan support this year?

CG: I thought the fan support was good. Tyrone fans always outdraw the competitor’s fans. I think overall, some of them need to get a little bit better grip. This is high school football, not the Steelers. The three bucks they pay to get in does not come with the license to yell at the coaches or players. I heard about an incident at the Bald Eagle game, where one of our fans yelled at a player. First of all, if I am a parent sitting next to them I’m going to tell them to shut up or… well, let’s just leave it at that.

But overall 99% of the people that attend are positive. They understand it’s high school football and everyone’s doing their best. But our fan support overall is the best in the conference; wherever we go our fans are lined up before the gates open and its 99% positive.

EE: James is the leading rusher in the conference; do you expect to see him playing on Saturdays?

CG: Absolutely, that is the process we’ll start right now. Schools that are looking at him and schools that he is interested in, we will reach out to them. He is an outstanding running back and he will really be an asset wherever he goes because of his football play and his character.

EE: Do you think any other players will be playing on Saturdays?

CG: I think all our seniors can be playing somewhere. Seth Umholtz has already committed to Liberty, which is a division one program, so size wise it is not something that is going to be realistic. Guys also have to make the decision if they want to go somewhere to play immediately and be considered for some playing time as freshmen, or do they want to go somewhere like Penn State where they are looking at being on the scout team or special teams or working for some playing time, where they might be redshirted as a sophomore or junior.

It depends on what their goals are and how soon they want to play or academics. They can all be contributors to a football team next year, if they pick the right school in the right division.

EE: Any last comments?

CG: You guys did a great job covering us. Good questions. It was fun.

We came away feeling that we did better this season than a lot of people thought we were going to do given our challenges up front on the line. That’s a testament to the Tyrone toughness that’s instilled in the football program. Our guys will beat any team that we are evenly or closely matched.