{"id":3385,"date":"2007-09-20T10:35:05","date_gmt":"2007-09-20T14:35:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/v3\/?p=3385"},"modified":"2008-09-09T10:38:49","modified_gmt":"2008-09-09T14:38:49","slug":"undefeated-golden-eagles-journey-to-wingate-to-play-winless-bald-eagle-area-franco-ready-to-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/?p=3385","title":{"rendered":"Undefeated Golden Eagles journey to Wingate to play winless Bald Eagle Area; Franco ready to play"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Jarrod Good<\/td>\nJesse Walk<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

For anyone who was happy to see the Penns Valley Rams roll out of Tyrone last Friday, content that the Eagles had survived a scare, there\u2019s some bad news.
\nTyrone\u2019s next opponent was molded from the same cookie cutter.
\nSo if last week\u2019s game against the Rams didn\u2019t do it for you \u2013 if a straight-ahead, basic rushing attack and stick-it-in-your ear defense isn\u2019t your cup of tea \u2013 you may want to think twice about making that trip to Wingate when the Eagles face Bald Eagle Area Friday at 7 p.m.
\nBut if you\u2019re looking for some incentive to stop by, here\u2019s a little nugget: senior Johnny Franco may see his first action of the season after being cleared by doctors on Monday, according to his father, head coach John Franco. Johnny Franco was able to begin participating in running drills on Monday, coach Franco said, and has steadily progressed to the point where playing a snap or two against BEA is now quite possible.
\n\u201cThe doctor assured us there\u2019s no further risk of injury,\u201d coach Franco said. \u201cHe thinks he could be 80 percent by Friday. The biggest problem is how painful it is, but that\u2019s gotten better every day this week. So we\u2019re cautiously optimistic.\u201d
\nIn his absence, Tyrone has been pretty good \u2013 undefeated at 3-0, atop the MAC Nittany Division with a 2-0 record, and boasting a defense that has allowed three points all season.
\nWith numbers like those, his return is most likely something BEA coach John Bathurst would like to delay for at least another week. After all, it was against BEA last season that running back Tyler Gillmen made his return from an early-season absence and scored three touchdowns while accumulating 132 yards of total offense in a 35-14 victory.
\n\u201cObviously, our kids know him and have seen him in basketball and track, and they know what kind of athlete he is,\u201d said Bathurst. \u201cWe have to expect that he will be playing, but Tyrone is more than just Johnny Franco. They\u2019re allowed to have 11 guys on the field, and so are we.\u201d
\nSo far, BEA\u2019s 11 has been competitive, but not successful in terms of wins and losses. Bald Eagle is 0-3 after last week\u2019s 27-22 loss to Lewistown, and it\u2019s averaging just 18 points per game. Its defense is allowing 19 points per game, and it hasn\u2019t allowed a 100-yard rusher yet this season.
\n\u201cThey\u2019re one tough defense, and we know they\u2019ll be a challenge,\u201d said Franco. \u201cThey\u2019re almost identical to Penns Valley, and they have eight starters back.\u201d
\nBEA\u2019s proclivity for stopping the run makes for an interesting match up against Tyrone, which has run the ball as well as anyone this season, even without their 1,600-yard rusher from a year ago.
\nBehind senior Shayne Tate \u2013 a receiver who has filled in for Franco all three games this season \u2013 the Eagles are averaging 240 rushing yards per game. Tate has rushed for 516 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 8.7 yards per carry.
\n\u201cThey\u2019re the same as they\u2019ve ever been,\u201d said Bathurst. \u201cThey\u2019re very good. Franco reloads so quickly. It\u2019s going to be a great challenge.\u201d
\nBut it hasn\u2019t been easy, and it certainly wasn\u2019t easy last week in a 10-3 win over the Rams, a game in which Tyrone was flagged nine times and had two touchdowns called back in penalties.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve addressed it,\u201d Franco said of his team\u2019s penalties.
\nBald Eagle\u2019s problem hasn\u2019t been penalties, but turnovers. In a 10-0 loss to Penns Valley, two BEA turnovers led directly to scores, and last week against the Panthers, a snap over the punter\u2019s head set up another.
\n\u201cEven though they\u2019re 0-3, we can\u2019t take them lightly,\u201d said Franco. \u201cThey\u2019ve been one play away in each game from being 3-0. Our kids realize that if they\u2019re not better this week, they\u2019ll have a tough time winning this game.\u201d
\nOne reason Bald Eagle has been in every game has been the play of running back Justin Koleno, who last week set a single-game school record with 297 yards on 33 carries. For the season, he\u2019s rushed for 434 yards, an average of 144.6 yards per game.
\n\u201cHe\u2019s got enough shiftiness that if you give him a crack, he can make guys miss,\u201d said Bathurst. \u201cAnd he has enough speed that he can score if he can get outside. I never even realized last week how many yards he had, but I\u2019ll tell you what: he would trade them all to win that game.\u201d
\nFranco is hoping that his defense, which allowed 200 yards rushing against Valley last week, can rebound against BEA.
\n\u201cWe made big plays when we needed them, but that was probably the worst defense we\u2019ve played all season,\u201d Franco said. \u201cOur great desire brought us through in the end. Different guys came through, whether it was Nick Wilson, Shayne Tate, Shane Emigh, Larry Glace or Johnny Shaffer. Our backs were to the wall and we were able to rise to the occasion. We benefited from that.\u201d
\nEmigh Stepping Up
\nWith Johnny Franco out, other players have been forced to take on additional roles. One who has adjusted well has been Shane Emigh, a senior wide receiver-defensive back.
\nIn his first season as an offensive starter, Emigh has found a variety of ways to ignite the Eagles\u2019 offense. As a receiver, he\u2019s caught 6 passes for 73 yards, including a key 13-yard reception on third down on Tyrone\u2019s first series last week that kept alive a drive that resulted in the game\u2019s only touchdown.
\nHe\u2019s also run the ball 6 times for 59 yards and a 17-yard touchdown.
\nIn Week 1, it was his work on defense that got things rolling for Tyrone when he stripped a ball and ran 20-yards for a score.
\n\u201cEarly in the season we identified him as someone who could be a playmaker,\u201d said Franco. \u201cHe\u2019s proven us correct.\u201d
\nNOTES: Ben Ingle\u2019s fumble recovery last week gave Tyrone 9 takeaways this season, an average of 3 per game \u2026 the Eagles were 1-for-2 in the red zone against Penns Valley. A missed field goal in the second quarter was the first time this season Tyrone failed to score inside an opponent\u2019s 20 \u2026 BEA hasn\u2019t beaten Tyrone since 1994, Franco\u2019s first season \u2026 sophomore Levi Reihart started the game against Valley completing three straight passes. He finished 6-for-11 for 36 yards \u2026 Reihart also averaged 37.5 yards on four punts, including a long of 46.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jarrod Good Jesse Walk For anyone who was happy to see the Penns Valley Rams roll out of Tyrone last Friday, content that the Eagles had survived a scare, there\u2019s some bad news. Tyrone\u2019s next opponent was molded from the same cookie cutter. So if last week\u2019s game against the Rams didn\u2019t do it for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area","category-excerpts-from-the-tyrone-daily-herald"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3385\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}