Sun Sets on the Mounties

Despite a first half scare, the Golden Eagles extended their unbeaten streak to four against Philipsburg

By Michael Stoner, Sports Editor|September 19, 2018

The Tyrone Golden Eagles were tested by Philipsburg early but thanks to another solid defensive effort they continued their win streak, defeating P.O. 32-14 Friday night.

“We didn’t play as good as we should have. We moved the ball on offense but didn’t finish drives. Although we held them on several series on defense, we gave up too many big plays on defense. If we want to be a top level team and reach our goals, we need to play better football to the level that we can play at against all teams,” said head coach Jason Wilson after the game.

“

It wasn’t our best game but we stuck to it, never gave up and still fought for the win we learned from our mistakes and are going to make sure it never happens again,

— Cory Lehman

 

Tyrone’s defensive charge was led by sophomore Matthew Clifton and senior Braeden Nevling-Ray. Both defensive ends wreaked havoc on the Mounties, racking up three sacks on one drive. Sophomore corner Damon Gripp also played his part with his second pick-six of the year.

On the first play of the game, the Golden Eagles reached into their bag of tricks as Cory Lehman came around the outside and took a pitch from Denver Light. Instead of running the sweep Lehman pulled back and launched a 41-yard bomb to Tommy Hicks to open the game.

But unfortunately the drive stalled and for most of the first quarter, both teams were deadlocked, with neither making any mistakes to allow the other to capitalize. At the end of the first Light scrambled and ran around the P.O. defense, scoring on a 22-yard run giving Tyrone a 6-0 lead with 2:26 left in the quarter.

However, the Mounties were not intimidated and marched down the field on two consecutive drives, scoring two touchdowns, taking a 14-6 lead with less than 10 minutes left in the first half.

But that would be it for PO.  The Golden Eagles woke up and the rest of the game was all Tyrone.

On Tyrone’s next drive Light found Lehman wide open for the 26-yard touchdown cutting P.O.’s lead to 14-12 with 6:34 left in the first half.

After a big defensive stop by the Tyrone D, the Golden Eagle’s drove down the field and the drive was capped off by a 10-yard rushing TD by Zac Albright. Tyrone went up 20-14 after Brandon Lucas rushed for the 2 point conversion.

Tyrone capped off their big second quarter when Damon Gripp picked off Whitehead and raced back, burning past all the P.O. tacklers scoring giving Tyrone a 26-14 lead going into the half.

Tyrone added one more touchdown in the second half when Zac Albright capped off a long drive by scoring on a 12-yard run giving Tyrone 32-14 lead after a missed extra point.

Tyrone’s defense held the P.O. offense for the rest of the third quarter while the Golden Eagle offense stalled and the third as the quarter ended 32-14 Tyrone leading.

Tyrone’s defense held strong throughout the fourth quarter but once again their offense could not put any more points up on the board. With the 32-14 victory, Tyrone’s record improves to 4-0 on the season and 3-0 in the Mountain League.

“It wasn’t our best game but we stuck to it, never gave up and still fought for the win we learned from our mistakes and are going to make sure it never happens again,”

Tyrone looks to keep the streak going in maybe the Mountain League game of the year as they take on the Bellefonte Red Raiders in Bald Eagle.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Tyrone 6 20 6 0 — 32

Philipsburg-Osceola 0 14 0 0 — 14

First Quarter

T–Light, 22 run (kick blocked), 2:26

Second Quarter

PO–Thompson 3 pass from Slogosky, (Parks kick), 11:31

PO–Keith 19 pass from Whitehead, (Parks kick), 9:29

T–Lehman 26 pass from Light, (run failed), 6:34

T–Albright 10 run, (Lucas run), 2:34

T–Gripp 45 interception return, (pass failed), 1:18.

Third Quarter

T –Albright 6 run, (pass failed), 5:22

TEAM STATS

1st downs

Tyrone 15

P.O. 10

Total yards

Tyrone 369

P.O. 150

Rushes/Yds

Tyrone 31-218

P.O. 27-17

Pass Yds

Tyrone 151

P.O. 117

Com-Att-Int.

Tyrone 12-21-2

P.O. 9-19-2

Fumbles-Lost

Tyrone  0-0

P.O. 0-0

Penalties-Yds

Tyrone 7-57

P.O. 6-46

Punts-Avg

Tyrone 2-28

P.O. 5-30

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing

Tyrone, Albright 20-114; Light, 7-54, Homan, 1-20, Hicks, 3-30;

Philipsburg-Osceola, McDonald, 15-39, Whitehead, 6-(minus) 24, Slogosky, 5-13, Chapman, 1-(minus) 1.

Passing

Tyrone, Light, 12-20-1-151; Lucas, 0-1-0-1

Philipsburg-Osceola, Whitehead, 5-9-1-109; Slogosky 10-4-1-0.24

Receiving

Tyrone, Albright, 2-18, Gripp, 3-43, Lehman, 5-45, Hicks, 1-5, Zimmerman, 1-20

Philipsburg-Osceola, Thompson, 2-20, McDonald, 1-6, Depto, 1-27, Keith, 2-61, Chapman, 2-20.