Even if Grove City coach Jeff Bell had guessed wrong, his fourth down call against Tyrone in the PIAA Western Final Saturday would have gone down as one of the gutsiest decision in PIAA history.
The Eagles trailed Tyrone 17-14 with less than two minutes to play, and after driving 44 yards to the 20 against one of the Pennsylvania’s top defenses, Bell was faced with fourth-and-1.
Kicker Andy Hay had made two 40-yard field goals in a District playoff game two weeks earlier, but his only extra-point attempt of the day was blocked by a swarm of Tyrone defenders on a jail-break up the middle. That made Bell’s choice even tougher.
“A smart coach probably would have kicked a field goal there,” said Bell. “But I told the kids, we didn’t come here to tie. We came here to win.”
After a time-out, Dan Wise bounced a run off left tackle, broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage, and squirmed for precious extra inches. In a controversial call, he was awarded the first down, and two plays later he ran in with the go-ahead score from 10 yards out with 1:11 remaining.
Grove City held on to defeat Tyrone 21-17 at State College’s Memorial Field, and advance to the PIAA Class AA championship game next week against Landsdale Catholic.
“I knew he was close,” said Bell of Wise’s fourth-down run. “Thank goodness for me that we made it.”
The Golden Eagles initially thought they had stopped Wise just inches short of the sticks when the officials brought the chains out for a measurement. But on a second review, the head referee – down on hands and knees – used an index card to measure the distance between the ball and the stick, and awarded Grove City the first down.
“He said the paper touched the ball,” said Tyrone coach John Franco, who was coaching in his fourth Western Final at Tyrone. “I’ve never heard of that. But we should have made the play in the backfield and we didn’t make it … they were so close. Maybe a paper’s width away from going to Hershey.”
Instead, the Eagles end what was Tyrone’s best season since the state championship year of 1999, and the best run for an individual class since the class of 2001 went 35-5 from 1998-2000. The Golden Eagles’ senior class of 2005 ends its career with back-to-back District 5-6 AA championships and a 23-4 record over the last two seasons.
Factor in 2002, when most of the class was thrust into significant playing time, and the class’s career mark stands at 30-8 with an 8-3 record in the postseason.
But despite its accomplishments, the moment the class may remember most from its senior season will be the time in between the initial fourth-down measurement and the re-try. It was a time when Franco felt the District 7 officiating crew needed to take charge of the situation.
“It took really a long time,” said Franco. “I didn’t agree with it, but if it would have gone the other way, their coach probably would have said the same thing.”
Franco used a time-out after the decision to settle his defense, but on the play after the break in action, Grove City quarterback Jim Jaskowak ran for seven yards to the 10. One play later, Wise took a hand-off on a reverse, ran left and cut up inside for the score.
The touchdown deflated Tyrone after the close-call on fourth down, but the Golden Eagles still had 1:11 to work with, and their two-minute offense had worked like a gem already in the first half.
Starting at his own 20-yard line, Tyrone quarterback Leonard Wilson worked the sidelines with Ben Gummo, hitting the senior receiver three time for gains of 11, 13 and 14 yards, eventually moving as far as the GC-39. But on first down, Wilson’s next attempt to Gummo near the chalk was read perfectly by GC safety Adam Rudolph, who picked off the pass near the 25.
It was Wilson’s first interception since the Philipsburg-Osceola game in Week 5, and it dampened one of the junior’s top performances in two seasons as Tyrone’s starter. He ended the game completing 12 of 20 passes for 131 yards, rushing for 35 yards and scoring the Golden Eagles’ go-ahead touchdown with 5:00 left in the fourth quarter.
That added to an offensive attack that actually had Tyrone ahead in total yards 343 to 262. Tyrone rushed for 212 yards, led by senior Brice Mertiff’s 127 on 18 carries, boosting him beyond the 2,000-yard mark for the season, and carried the lead in time of possession.
Where Tyrone erred was in its ability to limit Grove City on third-and-long. The Eagles converted six times when they needed seven or more yards on third down, including once on their final drive when it was third-and-10. It was scenario Bell said his team was trying to avoid, but one it capitalized on when it had to.
“We were trying not to get into a third-and-long, and trying not to throw the ball when it was a throwing down,” said Bell. “We got trapped into it a couple of times, but our goal was to throw on first and second down, and run on third down.”
That strategy was in stark contrast to the Eagles’ first scoring drive, when they passed just once on a 71-yard march in the first quarter. It was a key play – a 16-yard completion to Tim Waxenfelter on third-and-12 – and it was followed four plays later by a 12-yard Jaskowak run on third-and-nine.
The drive culminated in a 12-yard scoring run by Jack Vallely, and after the PAT was blocked GC led 6-0 at the 5:09 mark.
Tyrone answered with an 80-yard drive that ended when Mertiff broke off a 51-yard run for a score with 2:51 left in the first. Gummo’s kick gave Tyrone a lead that would last until the last two minutes of the half.
Grove City reclaimed the lead with a 13-play, 80-yard drive on which the Eagles converted a big third-and-long on a 14-yard completion to Waxenfelter when he needed nine, putting the ball at the T-36. Jaskowak put GC ahead on an eight-yard keeper, and made it 14-7 when he scored on another keeper from a muddle-huddle formation on the PAT attempt.
“They converted third downs on us like nobody else has all year,” said Franco. “That’s a tribute to them.”
Tyrone pulled within 14-10 on the final play of the half when Gummo booted his sixth field goal of the season, a 15-yarder set up by a masterful two-minute drill that moved the ball 75 yards in five plays. Wilson threw for 69 yards on the drive, including two for 28 to Gummo and a 24-yarder to Mertiff.
But until Grove City’s last heroic effort, the key drive in the game was Tyrone’s 14-play, seven-minute, 69-yard scoring drive to start the fourth quarter. On it, the Golden Eagles converted three times on third down and once on fourth, and never attempted a pass.
Junior Brinton Mingle kept the drive alive with a three-yard run on fourth-and-three, moving the ball to the GC 34, and Wilson ran for 20 on third-and-four down to the nine. Then, on third-and-goal from the one, Wilson kept the ball on a quarterback sneak and muscled his way in for the go-ahead score, giving Tyrone a 17-14 lead with 5:00 left.
“We had a couple good conversions,” said Franco. “I didn’t think they would be able to drive on our defense like that, so give them credit.”
It was a drive to be remembered, although it was soon overshadowed by the game’s outcome, and a controversial call.
“You could tell this was going to go down to the wire,” said Franco. “It was going to be one of the great, classic football games. The only difference is I was pretty certain we were going to come out on top.”
