In 1998, when a youthful Tyrone team that was expected to do little made it to the District 6-AA semifinals, there was little for them to draw on to keep their feet on the ground.
After all, the players knew nothing but success from the time they were in junior high. Tyrone had just completed a run of three consecutive Big 8 and District championships, gone to the state finals in 1996 and been a major player in Pennsylvania small school football for several years.
That made the Eagles’ pleasantly surprising 9-1 start seem almost like the natural way of things in Tyrone, along with a trip to Mansion Park for the Class AA finals and a spot in the state playoffs.
Then along came United to deliver a message in cruel fashion. The Lions’ 20-0 win at Gray Memorial Field not only stunned Tyrone, but also reaffirmed an adage coach John Franco has preached from Day One in the borough – overlook no one.
That’s why, if ever there was an appropriate playoff pairing for the Golden Eagles in the first round, it’s this year’s opponent: the United Lions.
At 8-1, and holding down the No. 1 seed, Tyrone has every reason to look past the 4-5 Lions, an 8-seed that barely snuck into the postseason last week by coming from 12 points down to defeat Marion Center and leapfrog three teams into the playoffs.
“I have the 1998 season highlight tape in front of me right now,” said Franco Wednesday during his weekly telephone interview. “It’s all we’ve talked about all week.”
Tyrone and United will tangle tomorrow at 7 p.m. at Gray Veterans Memorial Field.
This year’s version of the Lions is strikingly different from the 1998 team that went on to win the District 6-AA championship. While the ’98 Lions were unbeaten with a multitalented offense that could run and pass with the best of them, this year’s squad played .500 football for just one week this season, while scoring 10 points per game.
But if there’s one similarity, it’s in the area that counts most come playoff time – defense. While surrendering 13 points per game, United has allowed just 807 yards rushing in nine games and held four teams to a single score.
In all, United is allowing just 186 yards per game.
“They’re a very good defensive team, and in that way they’re similar to us,” said Franco. “But we can’t worry too much about them. We have to worry about ourselves getting better each week. In the playoffs, you expect to play good teams.”
The concern for Franco is that, while his players may expect the best of the best as the second season begins, many of them have simply never been there before. Seniors Tommy Crowl and Justin Clark are the only players with two years of playoff experience and none have been on a team that was expected to be successful in the postseason.
“When you’re as young as we are, you’re susceptible to people in the community telling you how good you are and discussing other teams in the playoffs and potential matchups,” Franco said. “A couple of years ago, people talked about Forest Hills and a rematch between us and them in the finals. But someone forgot to tell United about that. In high school football, you have to be good just to get into the playoffs. So the people in the community have a responsibility as well to say to these kids, ‘Take one game at a time. Don’t look past anyone.’”
To address his concern of overlooking United, Franco went to work early in the week. On Monday, he took down the names of previous opponents from the Eagles’ ladder of success, which hangs in the locker room and displays the results of all of Tyrone’s games.
“I told them there are no points awarded to them for being the No. 1 seed,” Franco said. “United will still be allowed to play with 11 players and we won’t get an automatic lead. We wanted to show them that United now has the same record as us. The kids knew right away why I did that.”
But while attitude has been a major focus point for Franco, he knows his team has been built to make a run like the one they hope to begin tomorrow. If playoff games are won on defense, the Eagle have shown through nine games they have plenty of that.
Tyrone is allowing just 8.6 points and 156 yards per game behind a defensive line as dominant as any in recent Golden Eagle history. Only one team has gained more than 100 yards on the ground against Tyrone, and after a slow start the Eagles now have a plus-nine turnover ratio, forcing 22 turnovers.
“Our team is a defensive team,” Franco said. “The majority of our success has been due to our defense and offensive line.”
A week ago against Penns Valley – a team that led Centre County schools with over 300 yards per game – the Golden Eagle defense proved worthy of its laurels. Tyrone held the Rams 19 points below their average in a 40-6 win, forced four turnovers and limited Valley’s offense to 84 total yards.
A defensive effort similar to that may be expected against the Lions. The real test will be in how well the Eagles’ move the ball against United’s stingy defense.
So far, Tyrone has had its way with teams on the ground. The Eagles are averaging 221 rushing yards per game and have scored 27 rushing touchdowns led by Junior running back Brice Mertiff, who alone has totaled 1,172 yards on 188 carries with 16 scores.
At the same time, Tyrone’s passing attack, behind sophomore quarterback Leonard Wilson, has slowly come around late in the season. That’s due in large part to the emergence of receivers Tommy Crowl and Max Soellner, who have combined for 310 receiving yards, 55 percent of Tyrone’s passing production.
More than statistics – where Tyrone overmatches the Lions every time – Franco is hoping attitude will drive the Eagles through the playoffs, unlike happened in 1998.
“We were at a passing camp at Mansion Park this summer and I took the players inside the home locker room,” Franco said.
“We said then our goal was to win the District 6 finals in mid-November and to be in the home locker room. The only way to do that was by getting the top seed. We’re getting closer to the goal we set and we’ll continue working towards it.”
GRID TIDBITS: The Lions average 140 rushing yards per game, led by Adam Mack’s 558 yards on 128 carries…. United is minus-2 in turnovers, having given the ball away 25 times….after being shut out six times during an 0-9 season in 2002, the Lions have scored more than one touchdown in a game only twice this season….United is 2-1 against Tyrone all-time, with all three games coming in the postseason.
