Tyrone surprised almost everyone in attendance at Mansion Park on Friday night with a thrilling 28-27 win against the Bishop Guilfoyle Marauders.
BG came into the game looking like the stronger team on paper. Tyrone struggled to get anything going against Central, losing 42-7, while the Marauders lost to the Dragons in a 10-7 overtime thriller. Likewise, BEA beat Tyrone by 19 while BG lost to BEA by only one point, 28-27.
But the Eagles were determined to show that they are a better team, and showed up with their best performance of the season.
“Our players did a fantastic job in executing when we needed them the most. The best part of the game, and the main reason for our victory was the great intensity and effort from all of our players,” Tyrone Head Coach John Franco added.
An early pick-six by Bishop Guilfoyle gave the Marauders a 7-0 lead, and Tyrone junior quarterback Ashton Walk was picked off again on the very next drive. At that point, it looked like the prognosticators were right and BG might just bury the Golden Eagles early.
But the Tyrone defense responded and forced a punt.
On the next drive Tyrone’s Brady Ronan tied the game 7-7 on a 39-yard touchdown run and gave Tyrone a sense of enthusiasm.
Guilfoyle responded to the Golden Eagles’ score with a 4-minute long drive that resulted in a touchdown for the Marauders and made the score 14-7.
Unfortunately for the Marauders, the Golden Eagle offense caught fire and Brady Ronan once again turned nothing into something, scoring a 16-yard touchdown to tie the game at 14-14.
The Tyrone defense was starting to become dominant as the game went on, forcing another Marauder turnover and giving the ball to the hands of Ashton Walk and The Golden Eagle offense.
With 10 seconds left in the first half, Ashton walk converted to Andrew Weaver right over a Bishop Guilfoyle defender for a 27-yard touchdown, which gave the Golden Eagles a 21-14 lead going into the half.
“Andrew’s touchdown catch gave us a wave of momentum that we needed to carry into the half,” senior Running back Brady Ronan remarked.
Coming out the half with a lot of energy the Golden Eagles forced a punt on the Maruader’s first drive. Tyrone then drove down the field for a long 6 minute drive, and Ronan once again punched it in to give the Golden Eagles a comfortable 28-14 lead.
Bishop Guilfoyle responded with a Hamilton Gates touchdown reception to shorten the Golden Eagle lead to 7.
With the ball back in Tyrone’s hands, they hoped to once again drive down the field and score. But they were stopped on third down and were forced to punt.
With about 3 minutes left to play, Bishop Guilfoyle had all the time in the world to score. After being stopped on third down, the Golden Eagles forced a fourth down and short, in which the Marauders went for it and didn’t seem to get it. But the referees determined that Bishop Guilfoyle had the first down and it left the Golden Eagle defense flustered.
This showed as the Marauders were able to convert to Hamilton Gates for a TD with just 1 minute left in the game.
Instead of kicking an extra point, BG Heaed Coach Justin Wheeler decided to go for the win with a two point conversion try.
As Marauder quarterback Kissell rolled out towards the end zone, he was met by Tyrone linebacker Austin Lucas at the 1-yard line, clinching the win for the Golden Eagles.
Tyrone was not expected to win this game by any means, but they showed up to play and improved their record to a respectable 3-3.
Tyrone will face off against the 1-5 Huntington Bearcats at 7 P.m.. at Gray’s Memorial Field this Friday.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Tyrone 0 21 7 0–28
Bishop Guilfoyle 7 7 0 13–27
First quarter
BG–Adams 36 interception return (Boland kick), 11:08.
Second quarter
T–Ronan 39 run (Romani kick), 11:02.
BG–Wyandt 1 run (Cacciotti kick), 7:20.
T–Ronan 16 run (Romani kick), 6:16.
T–Weaver 27 pass form A. Walk (Romani kick), 0:04.
Third quarter
T–Ronan 1 run (Ronan kick), 4:14.
Fourth quarter
BG–Gates 40 pass from C. Kissell (Boland kick), 11:51.
BG–Gates 10 pass from C. Kissell (run failed), 1:03.
TEAM STATISTICS
First downs
T: 16
BG: 17
Total yards
T: 317
BG: 325
Rushes-yards
T: 30-171
BG: 27-67
Yards passing
T: 146
BG: 258
Passing (comp.-att.-int.)
T:8-10-2
BG: 17-23-1-258.
Punts/avg.
T: 2-35.5
BG: 2-23.5
Fumbles-lost
T: 0-0
BG: 2-1
Penalties-yards
T: 7-72
BG: 6-50
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
Tyrone, Ronan 19-170, Hoover 3-7, A. Walk 8-(-6).
Bishop Guilfoyle, C. Kissell 11-34, Gates 10-29, Wyandt 6-4.
PASSING
Tyrone, A. Walk 8-10-2-146.
Bishop Guilfoyle, C. Kissell 17-23-1-258.
RECEIVING
Tyrone, Weaver 4-111, L. Walk 2-27, Hoover 2-8.
Bishop Guilfoyle, Reilly 5-100, Gates 4-66, Adams 4-35, J. Kissell 3-41, Wyandt 1-16.
