{"id":3598,"date":"2007-09-06T12:10:32","date_gmt":"2007-09-06T16:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/v3\/?p=3598"},"modified":"2008-09-11T12:12:32","modified_gmt":"2008-09-11T16:12:32","slug":"injuries-nothing-new-for-tyronehuntingdon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/?p=3598","title":{"rendered":"Injuries nothing new for Tyrone\/Huntingdon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Shayne Tate<\/td>\nShane Emigh<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

If there\u2019s a silver lining to Tyrone\u2019s early-season injury problems, it\u2019s that they\u2019ve been here before.
\nIf there\u2019s a dark cloud to Tyrone\u2019s early-season injury problems, it\u2019s that they\u2019ve been here before.
\nFor the second straight season, the Eagles head into their Week 2 showdown tomorrow against Huntingdon (1-0) without the services of two of their best players. Last season, it was all-conference players Tyler Gillmen and Doug Morrow who were forced to watch from the sidelines, saddled with injuries.
\nThis year, it\u2019s starting running back Johnny Franco and tight end-defensive-end Johnny Shaffer, and the experience of dealing with a similar situation in 2006 isn\u2019t making this any easier for Tyrone coach John Franco.
\n\u201cHaving it happen two years in a row\u2014this is getting a little old,\u201d Franco said.
\nJohnny Franco received a modicum of good news this week when he was told by doctors that his return may come sooner than the four to six weeks he was hearing a week ago. He suffered a small crack in his fibula during the preseason, but it\u2019s possible that he may be able to play in as few as one to two weeks. Coach Franco said he was a week-to-week-decision.
\nShaffer is day-to-day with an injured shoulder he likewise suffered in preseason camp. He will most likely be available for kicking duties tomorrow, but beyond that his status was unknown as of Wednesday night.
\nAdd in the broken arm suffered by junior OL-DL Dustin Weaver, and it\u2019s already been a dismal season from the standpoint of injuries for the Eagles.
\nBut Huntingdon coach Jim Zauzig sees where that could be turned into a positive for Tyrone, whose masterful head coach continues to find ways to motivate his team in the most dire of situations.
\n\u201cTime and again, over 30 years of coaching, I\u2019ve seen marquee players go down and the team rallies around them. You saw that last year when Gillmen and Morrow were injured and Tyrone came in and handled us,\u201d said Zauzig. \u201cI know John can rally his players around a situation like that. I know we do have a bit of an advantage with Johnny not being in there, but I almost feel as if we\u2019re at as much of a disadvantage because of the way John can rally his players around the situation.\u201d
\nWhile it\u2019s true that Tyrone dominated Huntingdon last year without its star players \u2013 the final was 35-13 \u2013 the one thing that team had that will be missing tomorrow was Johnny Franco, who in last season\u2019s game ran for 124 yards and two touchdowns and took a screen pass 65 yards for another score.
\nCoach Franco said he told his team that the injuries aren\u2019t too much to overcome, but they do necessitate a greater effort from everyone else.
\n\u201cI told the kids that these injuries mean everybody on the team has to do one more thing,\u201d said Franco. \u201cIf we can do that, then we\u2019re doing 35 extra things, and that more than makes up for the loss of one or two players.\u201d
\nZauzig would like to see his team do one or two more things, as well, but it\u2019s not necessarily to make up for injuries, although starting running back Joey Riley is nursing a sprained ankle. He\u2019d like to see a few players on his young team take a more emotional approach to the game.
\n\u201cWe don\u2019t have a lot of rah-rah guys,\u201d said Zauzig. \u201cBut I do see a team that will get better. We won\u2019t get worse from week to week. But they say your biggest improvement comes from Week 1 to Week 2. We\u2019re going to need that to be true Friday night.\u201d
\nIt\u2019s a building season for the Bearcats, who return only four starters from last year\u2019s team that won the MAC Seven Mountains Division championship. But there\u2019s a lot of talent there. Along with the speedy Riley, the \u2018Cats return senior RB-LB Andy Young, who last week gained 154 yards and scored twice in a 21-6 win over Mount Union.
\nHuntingdon also has a senior quarterback starting for the first time in his career in Eric Buza, who Zauzig said has the skills to develop into a fine high school quarterback.
\n\u201cThey actually match up very well with us. We\u2019re both in the developing stages. We are two teams trying to find ourselves,\u201d said Franco.
\nHolding the Line
\nFranco said he would like to see his team make improvement on the offensive and defensive lines, which he said did not put together complete performances in last week\u2019s 19-0 win over Bellwood-Antis.
\nThe offensive line was inconsistent in the first half, he said, but played much better in the second, when Tyrone pieced together two long scoring drives that culminated in rushing touchdowns.
\nThe defensive line, meanwhile, dominated the first half, but gave up several long plays in the second.
\n\u201cIt was a first step, but we made way too many mistakes,\u201d said Franco. \u201cThey\u2019re coming along well, and they\u2019ve worked very hard this week at practice. There\u2019s just a lot of work to do.\u201d
\nThe Sha(y)nes
\nFranco said the job of making up for the absence of the team\u2019s key players is something everyone must take on, and he credited senior Shayne Tate and Shane Emigh for doing it against B-A.
\nTate rushed for 122 yards despite having only one full day to practice at running back prior to the game. Emigh returned a fumble for a touchdown, intercepted a pass and caught three passes for 43 yards.
\nFranco also credited receiver-defensive back Brandon Gehret and running back Mark Mingle (17 carries, 77 yards).
\n\u201cI was pleased with the hustle, pleased with the desire and pleased with the hitting against Bellwood,\u201d Franco said. \u201cBut on offense, our execution was horrible. In Week 2, execution is more important than just emotion and excitement.\u201d<\/p>\n


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Shayne Tate Shane Emigh If there\u2019s a silver lining to Tyrone\u2019s early-season injury problems, it\u2019s that they\u2019ve been here before. If there\u2019s a dark cloud to Tyrone\u2019s early-season injury problems, it\u2019s that they\u2019ve been here before. For the second straight season, the Eagles head into their Week 2 showdown tomorrow against Huntingdon (1-0) without the […]<\/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-3598","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\/3598","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=3598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3598\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}