One thing that has defined Tyrone’s season thus far is overcoming adversity. Beginning with senior lineman Steve Colyer, injuries to key players and backups continue to plague the Golden Eagles. 

Coming into this week, the Eagles were already down starting running back Gary Weaver. The injury trend continued Friday as sophomore quarterback Denver went down early in game with an apparent ankle injury. Despite the early exit, Light still managed to throw for 137 yards and two TDs to Parker Mitchell.

Fortunately for the Eagles junior running back Brandon Loose has emerged in relief of Weaver as one of the top running backs in the Mountain League.  And Friday night it was also junior backup quarterback RaShawn Hicks turn, as he stepped up for the injured Light to earn his first career varsity win, a 37-7 romp against Philipsburg-Osceola.

Hicks successfully orchestrated the ground and pound offense racking up a team high 108 yards and 2 touchdowns on just 7 carries. Loose also had another stellar night in the backfield finishing with 95 yards and a TD on 21 carries.

“I was really nervous at first but after my first rush I just tried to  play like it was just another JV game,” said Hicks.  

“A quote that has been on my whiteboard for the last 20 years is ‘Expect Daily Adversity’. We’ve experienced that quite often this season,” said Tyrone Head Coach Jason Wilson. “This is part of athletics and the life lessons you learn from sports. That’s what makes me proud of this team; they continue to battle and never back down no matter what situation is in front of them.”

Tyrone’s offense finished the game with 449 total yards; 274 yards rushing and 175 yards passing. Tyrone’s first team defense also had a strong showing, holding the Mountie offense scoreless for three quarters. Philipsburg did manage to score once in the fourth quarter against Tyrone’s second team defense.  

“The defensive line played very aggressive and caused a lot of problems in the backfield. We must continue to improve each week on both sides of the ball to have a successful season,” said Wilson.

The Golden Eagles look to make it three in a row Friday night against the Red Raiders of Bellefonte who are coming off of a 21-24 loss to Central Mountain.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Tyrone: 14 14 6 3 –37

Philipsburg-Osceola: 0 0 0 7 – 7

First quarter

Tyrone – Mitchell 36 pass from Light (Vipond kick), 10:48

Tyrone – Mitchell 48 pass from Light (Vipond kick), 4:25.

Second quarter

Tyrone – Loose 4 run (Vipond kick), 11:55

Tyrone – R. Hicks 1 run (Vipond kick), 9:27

Third quarter

Tyrone – R. Hicks 20 run (kick failed), 6:33

Fourth quarter

Tyrone – Vipond 21 FG, 11:55

Philipsburg-Osceola – Thompson 5 pass from Slogosky (Soltis kick), 5:40

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING:

Tyrone – R. Hicks 7-108, Loose 21-95, Light 1-32, Davis 3-23, J. Hicks 3-9, Plummer 1-5, Meredith 1-2.

Philipsburg-Osceola – Johnson 18-53, McDonald 1-4, Swartwood 1-3, Anderson 3-0, Hughes 3-(-4), Slogosky 2-(-10).

PASSING:

Tyrone – Light 5-6-0-137, R. Hicks 2-6-1-38.

Philipsburg-Osceola – Slogosky 5-6-0-53, Anderson 3-12-0-33, Hughes 1-1-0-15.

RECEIVING:

Tyrone – Mitchell 3-91, Lewis 2-46, Loose 2-38.

Philipsburg-Osceola – Keith 2-42, McDonald 3-30, Thompson 2-23, Johnson 2-6.

INTERCEPTIONS:

Tyrone-none

Philipsburg-Osceola-Thompson.

TEAM STATISTICS

First downs – Tyrone: 18, P-O: 7

Yards rushing – Tyrone: 37-274, P-O: 28-46

Passing (comp.-att.-int) – Tyrone: 7-12-1 P-O: 9-19-0

Passing yards – Tyrone: 175, P-O: 101

Total yards – Tyrone: 449 P-O: 147

Fumbles-lost – Tyrone 2-1, P-O: 1-0

Penalties-yards – Tyrone 6-40, P-O: 2-20

Punts-avg. – Tyrone: 1-30, P-O: 6-26.8