After a tough loss to unbeaten Bellefonte last week, the 4-1 Tyrone Golden Eagles look to get back in the win column against the 5-0 Bald Eagle Area Eagles this Friday night at BEA.

While this game will have playoff implications for both teams, Tyrone head coach Jason Wilson has taken a “business as usual” mentality into this week of practice.

“We need to prepare as we have been and treat them like any other opponent that we play,” said Wilson, “We need a good week of practice with mental focus on each rep.”

“Control what we can control and give it our all each play. We know what we are capable of accomplishing. We need to make sure we walk away each day knowing that we got better and fixed our mistakes from the day before,” said Wilson.

Last week the Golden Eagles lost to Bellefonte 31-14 but played them tough into the 4th quarter.  A combination of lack of focus and aggression with a slew of questionable calls by the officiating crew culminated in Tyrone’s first loss of the season.

Led by senior defensive end Braeden Nevling-Ray’s three sacks and eight tackles, the Tyrone defense had a solid performance last Friday, keeping the sixth-ranked AAAA team in the state at bay for most of the game. On the offensive side, Tyrone lived on a few big plays in the first half, but in the second half the Tyrone offense was stagnant.

One positive takeaway from last week’s match is that the Tyrone defense held standout Bellefonte senior Celeb Rockey to just one sack, something that no other team has done thus far this season.

While Bald Eagle is 5-0, they haven’t played a difficult schedule to this point, facing only one opponent with a winning record.

That being said, BEA has been putting a lot of points on the board. Last week against Central, junior quarterback Jaden Jones played a roll in four touchdowns en route to a 54-28 victory.

The BEA defense has been a more shaky, giving up 28 points in two of their last three contests. Some key BEA defensive players to watch are senior Kael Gardner, who is coming off an 11 tackle performance and junior Kaden Bittinger who had seven tackles of his own last week.

“Bald Eagle is very fast and has a lot of talent,” said Coach Wilson, “It will be very difficult to defend their offense that is very explosive and a defense that flies to the ball. They have an extremely talented group of athletes that make plays.”

In the end, the Tyrone Golden Eagles must stay focused and fast, physical, and violent football on Friday night if they are to walk away with a victory.

Kickoff will be at 7:00 PM EST this Friday night at Bald Eagle.