Raider Rushing Attack Too Much for Golden Eagles
Following wins against Bishop Carroll and Philipsburg, the Tyrone Golden Eagles faced one of the toughest opponents on their schedule on Friday. Bellefonte ran all over the injury depleted Golden Eagles for 475 yards and 7 rushing touchdowns in a 55-10 blowout win.
Tyrone Head Coach John Franco was not pleased with his team’s overall performance.
“I didn’t like how we played. We didn’t play hard enough or tough enough. I know we were down with injuries and I know we were hurting but that doesn’t explain why we shouldn’t be playing harder,” said Franco.
Bellefonte’s offense was red hot, rolling up 562 total yards on Tyrone. Bellefonte standout CJ Funk ran for 144 yards and had 4 of the Red Raiders 7 rushing touchdowns.
Funk scored his first touchdown of the game on a 20 yard run giving Bellefonte a 7-0 lead with 5:26 left in the first.
Funk added his second touchdown a little over four minutes later when he found the end zone from 10 yards out. Bellefonte jumped out to a 14-0 lead with 1:24 left in the first quarter.
Bellefonte kept their foot on the throat of the Golden Eagles when they added another touchdown to their already comfortable lead when Rossman connected with Nadolsky from 1 yard out to make it 21-0 with 7:10 left in the second quarter.
With Tyrone’s already weakened backfield the Golden Eagle offense once again funneled through junior quarterback Brandon Lucas. However, Lucas rushed for only 24 yards on 15 carries and went 9-19 through the air for 180 yards.
Tyrone got on the board with just over two minutes left in the half when Dean Grassi sacked the Bellefonte quarterback in the end zone for a safety, cutting Bellefonte’s lead to 21-2. That was it for scoring in the first half as the Golden Eagles trailed by 18.
“It felt great to help the team out and give us a little bit of momentum going into halftime,” said Dean Grassi who forced the safety along with junior Matt Clifton.
At the start of the third quarter Funk got loose again taking the hand off 37 yards for his third touchdown of the game, giving Bellefonte a 27-2 lead after the extra point was no good.
With a little over four minutes remaining in the quarter Tyrone got their lone touchdown of the game when Brandon Lucas found Damon Gripp. Gripp was off to the races as he outran the Bellefonte defense for a 73 yard touchdown cutting Bellefonte’s lead to 27-10 after the successful 2 point conversion.
Gripp was a bright spot for the Eagles offense as he continued to put up good numbers with 7 receptions for 153 yards and a touchdown.
In the fourth quarter Bellefonte continued to pound the ball, adding three more rushing touchdowns defeating Tyrone 55-10.
Franco was disappointed with his team’s defensive effort.
“A Tyrone team should always be a really good defensive team,” said Franco, “We did that one game this year against Central and we are still waiting for that team to come back.”
Tyrone looks to get their third win of the season as they welcome Bald Eagle to Gray Field in the homecoming game this Friday.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Bellefonte 14 7 13 21 — 55
Tyrone 0 2 8 10 — 10
First Quarter
BEL–Funk 20 run (Persiko kick), 5:26.
BEL–Funk 10 (Persiko kick), 1:24.
Second Quarter
BEL–Nadolsky 1 pass from Rossman (Persiko kick), 7:20.
TY–Tyrone tackles Rossman in end zone, 2:10.
Third Quarter
BEL–Funk 37 run (PAT wide left), 9:53.
TY–Gripp 73 pass from Lucas (Lucas pass to Zimmerman), 4:14.
BEL–Funk 3 run (Persiko kick), 1:25.
Fourth Quarter
BEL–Hummel 53 run (Persiko kick), 10:13.
BEL–Houser 48 run (Persiko kick), 7:48.
BEL–Kozel 7 run (Persiko kick), 2:39.
TEAM STATISTICS
First downs
B: 18
T: 6
Total yards
B: 562
T: 214
Rushes-yards
B: 48-475
T: 26-34
Yards passing
B: 87
T: 180
Passing (comp.-att.-int.)
B: 6-15-0
T: 9-22-1
Punts-avg.
B: 0-0
T: 5-30.4
Fumbles-lost 0-1 0-0
Penalties-yards 8-70 5-27
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
Bellefonte: Funk 11-144, Lehman 2-19, Capparelle 2-0, 9-57, Emel 3-53, Hummel 3-105, Way 2-13, Weaver 1-4, Kozel 1-7, Alterio 3-25, Houser 1-48.
Tyrone: Lucas 15-24, Clifton 4-0, Homan 1-4, Weaver 1-0, Sprankle 5-6.
PASSING
Bellefonte: Rossman 6-15-0 87.
Tyrone: Lucas 9-19-0 180; Gwinn 0-3-1.
RECEIVING
Bellefonte: Capparelle 1-6, Nadolsky 2-16, Zimmerman 1-5, Emel 1-36, Grey 1-24.
Tyrone: Zimmerman 1-19, Gripp 7-153, Homan 1-8.
Hi, I’m Michael Stoner. I’m currently a senior at Tyrone Area High School, and this is my third year as a member of the Eagle Eye staff. This year,...
