{"id":3591,"date":"2007-09-06T12:07:46","date_gmt":"2007-09-06T16:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/v3\/?p=3591"},"modified":"2008-09-11T12:09:29","modified_gmt":"2008-09-11T16:09:29","slug":"pigskin-preview-franco-father-son-duo-lead-golden-eagles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/?p=3591","title":{"rendered":"Pigskin Preview: Franco father-son duo lead Golden Eagles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n2007 Golden Eagles<\/p>\n

First row (left to right) Ballboys: Kaleb Chronister, Zac Snyder and Stevie Franco. Second row: John Franco, Shane Emigh, Shayne Tate, Brock Anders, and Josh Bradley. Third row: Larry Glace, Matthew Murray, John Shaffer, Mark Mingle, Nick Wilson, Brandon Gehret, Dustin Rudasill, Jesse Walk and Corey Barnhart. Fourth row: Jordan Berry, Jarrod Good, Josh Graham, Travis Peterman, Cody Weaver, Jeremy Barlett, Ben Ingle, Ross Black and Jamar Stansbury. Fifth row: Dustin Weaver, Tyler Hertzler, Eric Desch, Levi Reihart, Dustin Lewis, Andrew Clark, Zach Gault, and Quinn Carter. Sixth row: Adam Bonsell, Cody Smith, Shane Walker, Drew Karlson, David Cherry, Mark Bryan and John Hoffman. Seventh row: Ethan Lewis, James Weston, Ridge Colyer, Jared Templeton, Daniel Benson, Thomas Sims and Kegan Fink. Eighth row: Coach Banas, Coach Hildebrand, Coach Yaniello, Coach Franco, equipment manager Al Shoenberger, Coach Guthoff, and Coach Wilson. Ninth row: Coach Verilla, Coach McMonigal, Coach Elvey, trainer Traci Mickey, Coach Gressler and Coach Palfey. (The Daily Herald\/Steve Michaels)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

For all of his talents as a runner, Tyrone senior Johnny Franco isn\u2019t too shabby as a passer, either.
\nLast season, the 5-10 running back threw two passes, and completed them both for touchdowns. One came against Bald Eagle Area when starting quarterback Tyler Golden went down with a minor knee injury that kept him out for one series. On a third-and-21 play, he connected with Shayne Tate for a 46-yard score that put BEA away.
\nA week later, in a 49-18 win over Bellefonte, he threw to Justin Schopp for a 54-yard touchdown on a halfback pass.
\nCall it a superior athlete putting all of his wares on display. Call it a player with an uncanny knack for the big play coming through in the clutch.
\nWhatever you call it, it\u2019s not something that will be on display in any great quantity in 2007, despite the seeming inevitability in the off-season that Franco would take over as the Eagles\u2019 new signal caller in his senior season.
\nConsidering Franco rushed for 1,651 yards and scored 27 touchdowns as Tyrone\u2019s feature back in 2006, it\u2019s hard to argue with coach John Franco\u2019s personnel decision. Instead of his son stepping in for the graduated Tyler Golden \u2013 who passed for over 1,400 yards and 14 touchdowns last season \u2013 it will be sophomore Levi Reihart taking the reins.
\nReihart will be the third sophomore to start at quarterback for Franco at Tyrone, joining Jarrod Anderson (1994) and Leonard Wilson (2003). And while each of them won two District 6 championships apiece and rewrote the Eagles\u2019 all-time passing records, no one is asking Reihart to do as much.
\n\\”He\u2019s got a long way to go, but all we\u2019re asking him to do is to progress little by little every practice,\\” said coach Franco. \\”He\u2019s done a good job with that so far.\\”
\nHe\u2019s done well enough that his position isn\u2019t even Franco\u2019s biggest concern. That, instead, would be the offensive line, where graduation took four regulars from the Eagles\u2019 rotation in 2006, including starting center Josh Wright along with Tyler Hoover, a three-year starter on offense who was also a two-time All-State defensive tackle.
\nIt\u2019s the group that will replace those faces that received the majority of Franco\u2019s attention through summer workouts.
\n\\”Our tradition has been great quarterbacks and great running backs, but we\u2019ve had some great offensive lines over the years, too,\\” said Franco. \\”This year, we\u2019re replacing five of our top six positions on the line and that\u2019s taken a lot of our focus.\\”
\nLuckily for the Eagles, they\u2019re not in the position of putting in four or five players who have never set foot on a varsity field before. Senior left tackle Nick Wilson has been a contributor on the line since he was a sophomore. Right guard Jarrod Good came on strong near the end of last season as a sophomore, mostly as a defensive tackle. Senior center Brock Anders spelled Wright at times in 2007, and senior left guard Josh Bradley \u2013 a converted running back \u2013 was a big part of Tyrone\u2019s defensive line as a junior.
\nAnd then there\u2019s junior Matt Murray, who emerged early in his sophomore season to start at right guard and become one of the top linemen on a team that featured two first team conference all-stars.
\nJuniors Larry Glace and Dustin Weaver will add depth to the line rotation.
\nSo while most of the group is new to starting at their current offensive positions, they\u2019re not new to the challenges of a 40-minute varsity football game.
\nBut that doesn\u2019t mean molding them into a cohesive unit hasn\u2019t been a challenge.
\n\\”It\u2019s been a big project, but everyone has worked extremely hard,\\” Franco said. \\”I appreciate how hard they\u2019ve worked. I told them that I think they will eventually develop into a pretty good unit, but with our schedule, you can\u2019t wait too long.\\”
\nOne thing the group has in its advantage is the player they will be blocking for most, because as Johnny Franco demonstrated as a junior, he doesn\u2019t need much more than a crease to take a simple dive and turn it into a big play.
\nHis numbers from a year ago are even more impressive when you consider that for 10 of the 13 games he started, Franco split carries with Tyler Gillmen, who ran for nearly 1,000 yards himself after missing the start of the season with mono. He ran for over 100 yards 10 times, including a career-high 222 yards on 23 carries in a rain-soaked 21-14 victory over Penns Valley in Week 9.
\nIn a year of highlight reel plays, Franco best showed the skills he\u2019ll need in the early part of 2007 in Week 7 against Bishop Guilfoyle, when, with the Eagles backed to the three-yard line, he took a simple off-tackle play designed to give Tyrone room to punt and broke containment. He then out-sprinted the defense on the way to a 97-yard touchdown \u2013 the longest of his career.
\nHe will be joined in the backfield by junior fullback Mark Mingle, who ran for 151 yards on 33 carries last season, when he started two games after Johnny Barlett went down with a season-ending injury, along with senior Jesse Walk and junior Jeremy Barlett.
\nAt receiver, the Eagles return three players with game experience, including Tate, who last season hauled in 11 passes for 255 yards and two touchdowns opposite record-setter Justin Schopp. Shane Emigh and Brandon Gehret will also see action at receiver.
\nJunior Johnny Shaffer \u2013 who last season kicked 54 extra-points and three field goals \u2013 will be the Eagles\u2019 starting tight end after coming in on double-tight situations as a sophomore. Junior Ben Ingle will play opposite Shaffer in Tyrone\u2019s double-tight formations this seasons.
\nBut while coach Franco\u2019s offense has the potential to be something special, he\u2019s \\”excited about the defense\\” because even more experience returns on that side of the ball. But again, he said, \\”the key is getting the line intact.\\”
\nWho will fill out the defensive line, and when they will play, could change from series to series or play to play, because Franco and defensive coordinator Steve Guthoff have for years committed to putting their best players in key positions at the right time. Shaffer, Good and Bradley all started on the defensive line at one time or another last season, while Emigh, Tate and Johnny Franco started every game as part of Tyrone\u2019s secondary.
\nThis season, Ingle and Gehret will also see time in the secondary, while coach Franco said Emigh will \\”be playing everywhere,\\” as will Tate and Johnny Franco.
\n\\”Emigh is so versatile, he can play anywhere,\\” Franco said. \\”You might see him lining up at strong safety, linebacker, or safety. The same goes for Johnny and Shayne Tate. All three of them are hybrid-type players. Their abilities allow them to play just about anywhere.
\nMingle and Walk will play at linebacker, as will Shaffer in certain situations.
\n\\”On defense, we try to say, \u2018Who are the 11 best players and how can we get them on the field?\u2019 That kind of approach gives you flexibility.\\”
\nThe numbers on that defensive philosophy don\u2019t lie. In 2006, Tate had five tackles for loss, a sack and two interceptions. Franco had four tackles for loss, a sack and five takeaways, and Emigh had six tackles for loss, an interception and one sack.
\nShaffer, meanwhile, was second on the team only to Hoover in tackles for loss (12) and sacks (6).
\nThe initial challenge for Tyrone will be an always daunting early-season schedule, which opens with backyard rival Bellwood-Antis on the road, and shifts to Class AAA power Huntingdon at home in Week 2.
\nIf the Eagles can make it past those two games unscathed, they\u2019ll be set up to challenge the school record for consecutive wins, which currently stands at 29 (1946-1948). Tyrone\u2019s last regular season loss was September 30, 2004, on the road against Philipsburg-Osceola, giving them a streak that stood at 23 when the regular season ended last year with a 35-7 win over Johnstown.
\nThe second challenge will be traversing a newly aligned MAC Nittany Division schedule that now includes a trip to Roaring Spring to play Central on October 26.
\nOther challenges will come off the field and in the athletic office. Tyrone will have to find a replacement game in Week 10 for the Trojans, who reneged on their two-year contract with the Eagles, and, according to Franco, never contacted the school about the switch. He learned of it in mid-July when a reporter contacted him to say Johnstown\u2019s schedule didn\u2019t include the Eagles.
\nThis season, unlike a year ago, Week 10 games will count as points towards the playoffs, so it\u2019s a conundrum that could cost the Eagles dearly.
\n\\”Right now, we don\u2019t have a Week 10 game,\\” said Franco. We have one or two possibilities, but they are remote at best.\\”
\nFranco said the team was considering a Week 10 game at home against a parochial school from Brooklyn, N.Y., or possibly looking to a Class A school that fails to make the playoffs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2007 Golden Eagles First row (left to right) Ballboys: Kaleb Chronister, Zac Snyder and Stevie Franco. Second row: John Franco, Shane Emigh, Shayne Tate, Brock Anders, and Josh Bradley. Third row: Larry Glace, Matthew Murray, John Shaffer, Mark Mingle, Nick Wilson, Brandon Gehret, Dustin Rudasill, Jesse Walk and Corey Barnhart. Fourth row: Jordan Berry, Jarrod […]<\/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-3591","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\/3591","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=3591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3591\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}