Senior forward Dan Parker has been waiting for his first high school varsity goal, which finally came early in the second half against Penns Valley on a cross from teammate Cory Johnson. 

Fortunately for Parker, the wait for his second varsity goal was considerably shorter – only about one minute.

Parker was barely done celebrating his first varsity goal when he added another on an assist from Johnson, helping his Golden Eagles to a 5-1 road victory.

Coming in to the game the Eagles had to make some changes to the lineup and positioning after losing starting center back Alex Taylor to a minor injury.  Despite being down a starter, Tyrone did an excellent job possessing the ball against Penns Valley. 

“So far in this season, it has been our best possession game by far. We were able to find the target and make plenty of layoffs, diagonal plays, and parallel balls that lead to our satisfying win,” said senior forward Nick Vasbinder.

The scoring began in the tenth minute of the first half when senior center attacking midfielder Corey Johnston found himself with plenty of time in the middle of the field on the 30-yard mark. Johnston took a shot uncontested and what seemed to be an easy save snuck through the keeper’s hands and into the back of the net.

With Tyrone in the lead 1-0, the Rams needed an answer. In the 21st minute after countering on a Tyrone corner kick, the Rams forward had a breakaway and ended up sending a shot on Tyrone’s senior keeper, Alex Roberts to the far post tying it up 1-1.

In the 42nd minute in the second half senior midfielder, Dan Parker took a shot 20 yards out on the right side and Johnston followed up the blocked shot and placed it into the near post giving Tyrone the lead 2-1.

Tyrone continued to high press and a minute later was gifted another goal. Johnston crossed the ball to the right side to Parker. Parker took a touch inside, beat a defender and floated the ball into the top right corner making it 3-1.

Parker found himself in the spotlight again and in the 45th minute Johnston sent Parker on the right side again and Parker drives the ball into the near post making it past the Rams keeper once again extending Tyrone’s lead 4-1.

With Tyrone’s extraordinary run of 3 goals in 5 minutes, they found Penns Valleys head hung low. Tyrone continued to defend well and kept possession. Tyrone’s defense only allowed 4 shots on goal in the second half and allowed Tyrone’s offense to have 7 shots on goal.

“Coming out fresh from halftime with our high pressure really caught Penns Valley off guard and that how we capitalized with three goals in five minutes,” said Parker.

The Golden Eagles went back to low press for the rest of the match and in the last minute of the game Vasbinder ended up scoring on a counterplay.

Vasbinder found the ball in the middle of the field and sent it wide for Parker to run onto. The ball bounced of Parker and the Rams left-back for a perfect ball for Vasbinder to run onto and finish. Vasbinder drilled the ball into the keeper and it bounced into the near post.

“We practiced finishing the ball this week and it felt great that we ended up executing what we did in practice into the game,” said senior center midfielder Keegan Raabe.

The Golden Eagles go against Bellefonte on the road this Thursday and are hoping to have a repeat of Penns Valley.