A game that meant nothing couldn’t have done more for the Tyrone Golden Eagles.
After two floundering victories against mid-tier opponents, the Eagles unloaded on Johnstown in a season finale that both Tyrone coach John Franco and Trojan coach Bob Arcurio would have rather not played.
But with an undefeated regular season on the line, the Golden Eagles returned to their midseason form to deliver Johnstown a 35-7 defeat at Gray Veterans Memorial Field on Senior Night.
For Franco, whose team will host Chestnut Ridge next week as the No. 1 seed in the first round of the Class AA playoffs, such a performance came at just the right time.
“Anytime you play a quality opponent, I think it is (a good tune up for the playoffs),” said Franco. “That’s why we wanted to get this game. Both teams were using this to get ready for the competition of the playoffs. We needed that. We needed to beat a quality opponent.”
When the season began, both coaches thought the game would be a way to secure better postseason positioning, but two weeks ago they were informed that it would not count for points in the District 6 playoff races.
That still left a lot on the line for Tyrone, which extended its regular season winning streak to 23 straight games. The Eagles (10-0) also nailed down the program’s 10th unbeaten regular season.
It was the first time an Eagle team completed back-to-back unbeaten regular seasons since 1996-1997, and the third time the feat was accomplished in school history.
Tyrone did it with a mix of ball control and big plays. Three of the Eagles’ touchdowns came on plays of 24 yards or longer, and they controlled the ground game with a 216-57 edge in rushing.
“We came together as an offensive line and said we have to block better than we did last week,” said Eagle senior lineman Tyler Hoover, referring to Tyrone’s 21-14 nail-biter against Penns Valley. “We knew if we could get four or five yards at a clip we could control it.”
“I think we moved the ball offensively, but they had three big plays against us in that first half that killed us,” Arcurio said.
Quarterback Tyler Golden and receiver Justin Schopp were the architects of most of Tyrone’s big plays, connecting in the first half for touchdowns of 56 and 24 yards, while hooking up once more for a 35-yard completion to set up another score.
”The passing game was clicking tonight pretty well,” Franco said. “Goldy did a nice job making his reads, but the one thing that goes unnoticed is the great job our offensive line did. They were blitzing up front and we were picking up just about everything.”
Golden finished the game 6-for-9 for 154 yards and two touchdowns, with Schopp hauling in four of his passes for 121 yards.
Senior Tyler Gillmen posted his fourth 100-yard game of the season, carrying 15 times for 105 yards and a pair of scores.
The Eagles’ defense, meanwhile, was able to bend without breaking against a speedy Johnstown offense that was averaging over 25 points per game. Tyrone made 10 stops behind the line of scrimmage, sacking Trojan quarterback Brandon Hody three times.
Hody completed 11 of 19 passes for 132 yards and a touchdown, but he also threw a pair of interceptions, one of which Tyrone converted into the game’s first touchdown.
On its first series, Johnstown used eight plays to move from its own 35 to the Tyrone 40 when, on third-and-7, Hody had a pass deflect off the fingers of Antwuan Reed into the hands of Schopp, who was on his back at the Tyrone 21.
It took Tyrone three plays to go up 7-0. On second-and-10, Johnny Franco rambled for 23 yards to the 44, and on the next play Golden rolled left off play-action and found Schopp wide open behind the defense for a 56-yard touchdown. Johnny Shaffer kicked the first of five extra points.
On the Trojans’ ensuing possession, Quadir Christian ran for five yards off left tackle and was met by linebacker James Updike, who stripped the ball from Christian as he fell to the ground. That gave the Eagles the ball at the Johnstown 49, and five plays later Golden and Schopp hooked up again, this time on a 24-yard touchdown strike down the right sideline to make it 14-0 with 1:41 left in the first quarter.
“You can’t win games like that,” Arcurio said of his team’s five turnovers. “When you do that, nobody wins.”
The Trojans (7-3) advanced the ball as far as the Tyrone 11 on their first series of the second quarter after a blocked punt allowed them to start at their own 47. Hody had two big completions on the drive – one for 23 yards to Demetrius Young and one for 15 to Adonis Jackson – and Reed ran for 10 to the Eagles’ 14. But on fourth-and-7 from the 11, Jordan Good planted Hody as he released the ball into the endzone and the pass fell incomplete.
That began an 89-yard, 7-play drive that put Tyrone ahead 21-0. Gillmen started it with runs of 10 and 17 yards, but the big play was a 35-yard completion from Golden to Schopp that put the ball on the Johnstown 14. On the next play, Franco blasted up the middle for a 14-yard touchdown at the 2:29 mark.
Johnstown answered, going 71 yards in 9 plays to score with 6.2 seconds left in the half. Hody was 6-for-8 on the drive, including a 25-yard completion to Pete Bayback that put the ball on the Tyrone 35. Five plays later, Hody found Jackson in the back of the endzone for a 5-yard touchdown pass to draw the Trojans within 21-7 at halftime.
After Johnstown failed to convert on fourth-and-7 from the Tyrone 35 to start the second half, the Golden Eagles moved 65 yards in nine plays to go ahead 28-7. Gilmen was the workhorse on the drive, carrying the ball five times for 34 yards, including the last seven at the 6:11 mark.
Tyrone’s next possession began at the Johnstown 38 after a 27 yard punt from the Trojan 11. On first down from the 25, Gillmen burst up the middle, broke one tackle and raced to the endzone for his second score to set the final.
“We didn’t play two of our best kids tonight, and that hurt us,” Arcurio said. “Now, we have to see what these kids are made of. If they’re going to rebound, how bad do they want it?”
The game allowed Tyrone’s senior class to complete its varsity career 25-1 in the regular season without ever losing a regular season game at home.
“You always want to go out on top on senior night,” Hoover said. “Now we’re looking forward to playing Chestnut Ridge. We didn’t look good against them in our scrimmage (following the first week of practice in August) and we want to show we can play well against them in a game that means something.”
GRID TIDBITS: Franco’s touchdown gave him 20 on the season … Golden eclipsed the 1,000-yard passing mark, making him the sixth quarterback under Franco to reach the milestone. Since 1995, Eagle quarterbacks have reached 1,000 yards in a season 10 times … Young finished with four receptions for 64 yards … Jason Reese posted his eighth sack of the season, while Hoover’s two tied him for the team lead with Reese … Johnstown’s Vaun Miller had a sack for a 7-yard loss in the second quarter … the Trojans face Hollidaysburg next week.
Tyrone 35 Johnstown 7
Tyrone 14 7 14 0 – 35
Johnstown 0 7 0 0 – 7
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
T – Schopp 56 pass from Golden (Shaffer kick) 5:18
T – Schopp 24 pass from Golden (Shaffer kick) 1:41
Second Quarter
T – Franco 14 run (Shaffer kick) 2:29
J – Jackson 5 pass from Hody (Landis Kick) :6.2
Third Quarter
T – Gillmen 7 run (Shaffer kick) 6:11
T – Gillmen 25 run (Shaffer kick) 2:53
Team T J
First Downs 17 13
Yards Rushing 216 57
Pass Att.-Comp. 6-9 14-24
Yards Passing 154 139
Total Offense 370 196
Fumble-Rec. 1-1 2-2
Interceptions 0 3
Pen./Yards 6-40 4-20
Punts/Avg. 2-18.5 2-27
Individual
Rushing
Tyrone – Gillmen 15-105; Franco 6-59; Barlett 5-23; Bradley 4-16; Golden 5-5; Williams 2-5; Ingle 3-4; Shaffer 1-(-1).
Johnstown – Reed 10-45; Kmett 6-10; Barnes 6-9; Curcjia 1-4; Christian 2-2; Stephens-Howling 2-0; Hody 4-(-13).
Passing
Tyrone – Golden 6-9-154, 2 TD, 0 Int.
Johnstown – Hody 11-19-132, 1 TD, 2 Int.; Lehman 3-5-7, 0 TD, 1 Int.
Receiving
Tyrone – Schopp 4-121; Franco 2-33.
Johnstown – Young 4-64; Bayback 2-40; A. Jackson 2-20; Christian 1-15; Huddleston; Reed 1-7; Wyatt 1-1; Duranko 2-1; M. Jackson 1-(-1).
