The Tyrone junior high football team staged a fourth-quarter rally against Bellefonte on Thursday that fell just short in a 28-24 loss to BEA.
Tyler Gillman had a super performance rushing 25 times for 173 yards and two TDs and completed three-of-three pass attempts for 60 yards, including a 45-yard TD pass to T. J. Albright that drew the Little Eagles to within four points of Bellefonte late in the contest.
Bellefonte jumped out to an 8-0 lead with the only tally of the first quarter.
Donnie Conrad completed two of four passes for Tyrone, one to Jason Reese for 28 yards and one to Josh Shaffer for six.
Tyrone actually had the lead at the half after scoring 16 second-quarter points on scores of three and 35 yards by Gillman, but the Little Red Raiders scored 20 in the third and early fourth quarters to take a 28-16 advantage. Tyrone scored to cut the lead, but didn’t have the time to mount another drive.
“We were trying to come back in the fourth quarter, but we ran out of time,” said Tyrone coach Dan Plummer. This is two weeks in a row where a win was well within our reach and we couldn’t put it together. We lost to a good team today. Last week we played two good quarters and ended up in a tie. Today we played three good quarters. We just need to play ‘Tyrone tough’ for four quarters if we expect to beat good teams.
“We are young and inexperienced this year. We have several first-year players and several others who are back after taking a couple years off from football. I’m confident this team will develop as the season goes on into a team to be reckoned with.”
Tyrone (0-2-1) will travel to Bald Eagle Area next Thursday in a 6:30 p.m. start.
