For the first time all season, Tyrone came up a play or two short, while the program modeled on the Golden Eagles had an answer for everything it saw.
\nThe Bishop McCort Crimson Crushers, whose coach, Ken Salem, has said on numerous occasions he has tried to imitate the success of John Franco at Tyrone, handed Tyrone its first District finals loss under Franco last night at Mansion Park Stadium in Altoona, defeating the Eagles 37-28 to claim their second Class AA championship.
\nAnd they did it the way Tyrone had done it so many times before: big plays, an unrelenting running attack, and a hard-hitting style of play that mirrored its opponent.
\nThe Crushers scored on two pass plays of 47 yards or more, outran the Eagles 202-105, and responded each time Tyrone seemed poised to turn the game in its favor. As a result, McCort will play at least one more game, next week against the winner of tomorrow\u2019s District 10 championship between Wilmington and Fairview.
\nTyrone, meanwhile, ended its season 12-1, eliminated for the second straight season by the Crushers.
\n\u201cTyrone has a great football team and was very tough to deal with on both sides of the ball,\u201d said McCort coach Ken Salem. \u201cI thought the difference in tonight\u2019s game was we were able to make a few more big plays than they were at crucial times.\u201d
\nDefensively, none was more crucial than McCort\u2019s goal line stand at the end of the first quarter that sent Tyrone away scoreless after four cracks inside the Crushers\u2019 7-yard line. On second-and-goal from the 1, Johnny Franco was thrown for a two-yard loss to the 3. Quarterback Tyler Golden just missed the endzone on a quarterback sneak one play later, gaining two, and on fourth down he was stopped for no gain.
\nThat allowed the Crushers to hang on to a 10-0 lead into the second quarter, and while the lead would evaporate in the offensive flurry that followed, they were points lost that the Eagles sorely needed as the game wound to a close.
\n\u201cI thought we were in (on third down),\u201d Franco said. \u201cI thought we were in twice. Everybody in the press box said we were over. That was the key play in the game \u2013 the turning point. But we had four downs. We have to get in there. I was afraid that might come back to haunt us in the end.\u201d
\nIt did. On the Eagles\u2019 final drive, trailing by nine, Tyrone was forced to play for a touchdown and hope to recover an onsides kick, rather than driving for field goal position and a game-winning kick. That drive ended at McCort\u2019s 35 with an incompletion.
\nIt was one of several big plays on both sides of the ball from a pair of teams that refused to relent.
\nGolden completed 15 of 29 passes for 204 yards and two touchdowns, and he was matched every step of the way by Crusher quarterback Jordan DeFrances, who finished 9-for-12 for 208 yards and three touchdowns.
\nJustin Schopp caught 8 passes for 132 yards and two scores, in the process setting a new Tyrone single-season receiving record, while his counterpart Chris Seidel hauled in three passes for 127 yards and three scores.
\nThe biggest difference maker in a game of near equals was Crusher running back Scott Lewis, who bruised his way to 169 yards rushing and one score on 26 carries. He had six carries of 13 yards or more, five of which came in the second half to keep drives going when Tyrone needed the ball most.
\n\u201cOur offense was able to move the ball and put points up,\u201d Salem said. \u201cWe felt it was important to make them chase us, and not us have to chase them.\u201d
\nIn fact, the Eagles were chasing McCort most of the night, and led for only 49 seconds. On the third play of the game, DeFrances found Seidel open behind the coverage after a double move at the sideline on a play that covered 47 yards and put the Crushers ahead 7-0.
\nOn McCort\u2019s second series, the Crushers moved the ball 48 yards to the Tyrone 19 before the drive stalled. Freshman Marc Domonkos came on to boot a 37-yard field goal that gave McCort a 10-0 lead with 3:47 left in the first quarter.
\nAfter the Crushers were flagged twice on the ensuing kickoff for kicking the ball out of bounds, the Eagles started their next series at their own 47 and marched to the McCort 1-yard line, sparked by completions of 13 and 15 yards from Golden to Schopp. But the Crushers\u2019 goal line stand turned Tyrone away with 48 seconds left in the period.
\n\u201cDefense wins championships, and we\u2019ve leaned on our defense the entire season,\u201d said Salem. \u201cThat was a huge stop and it really helped to keep ourselves in control of the game at that point.\u201d
\nTyrone finally got on the board after holding McCort to three plays and a punt on their next possession, taking over at their own 41. On second-and-two from their own 49, Johnny Franco burst through a seam in the middle of the Crushers\u2019 defense, and won a footrace to the endzone with cornerback Josh McClain on a 51-yard touchdown that made it 10-7.
\nThe Eagles then went ahead two series later with a 9-play, 58-yard drive. Golden went 4-for-4, hooking up with Shayne Tate once for 15 yards and Schopp twice for 19, including a 3-yard touchdown in the front corner of the endzone on third-and-goal, giving Tyrone a 14-10 lead with 1:01 left in the half.
\nBut the Crushers answered, following a 38-yard kickoff return by Seidel that set them up at their own 49. A pass interference call on first down moved the ball to the Tyrone 35, and after a procedure penalty DeFrances connected with tight end Mike Cruz for 10 yards to the 30. Lewis rumbled for 13 to the 10, and DeFrances hit Seidel for 10 yards over the middle with a dart that made it 17-10 with 12 seconds left in the first half.
\nMcCort upped its lead to 10 on its first series of the third quarter on a 70-yard touchdown pass from DeFrances to Seidel on a fly pattern down the left sideline, making it 24-14 three minutes in. But Tyrone responded in similar fashion when Golden hit Schopp on a fly pattern for a 45-yard touchdown on its ensuing possession to make it 24-21.
\nThe Crushers then ground out an 8-play, 54-yard drive that used seven running plays, with Lewis carrying the load. He had 36 yards on four carries, including a 1-yard touchdown at the 4:37 mark to make it 31-21.
\nAgain, Tyrone answered, this time on defense, when Franco stepped in front of a DeFrances pass at the McCort 13 and returned it all the way for a score that cut it to 31-28.
\nThe Eagles had a shot to take the lead in the fourth following a Lewis fumble, which Franco recovered at the Tyrone 34. Tyrone moved the ball as far as the McCort 35, but on fourth and 11, France was stopped after 10 yards on a pass over the middle from Golden, and McCort took over at the 25.
\nThat began a long and time consuming drive for the Crushers, who moved 75 yards in 9 plays to put the game away. Along the way, McCort converted twice on third down, once on a 34-yard completion from DeFrances to Barbin, and again when the Eagles jumped off sides on third-and-4. Barbin capped the drive with a 16-yard run off left tackle to set the final at 2:20.
\n\u201cI couldn\u2019t be more proud of a team that maybe achieved more of its potential than any team I\u2019ve ever coached,\u201d said Franco. \u201cI told them they do not have to hang their heads. They do not have to cry. We gave everything we had tonight. We just fell a little bit short.
\n\u201cSeveral times, I looked at my assistant coaches and said what a great game this is. Both teams spilling themselves. This was a great high school football game. I hope (McCort) goes far in the playoffs. They deserve it. They\u2019ve earned it.\u201d
\nGRID TIDBITS: Schopp finished the season with 39 receptions for 908 yards \u2026 his 10 touchdown receptions tied a single-season school record set by Buddy Daughenbaugh in 1995 \u2026 Tyrone is now 8-2 in District championship games \u2026 Golden finished his season completing 79 of 142 passes for 1,472 yards, the second highest single-season passing total in school history \u2026 it was the first game Tyrone lost in two season when Johnny Franco had scored a touchdown.
\nBishop McCort 37 Tyrone 28
\nBishop McCort 10 7 14 6 \u2013 37
\nTyrone 0 14 14 0 \u2013 28
\nScoring Summary
\nFirst Quarter
\nB \u2013 Seidel 47 pass from DeFrances (Domonkos kick) 9:12
\nB \u2013 Domonkos 37 field goal 3:47
\nSecond Quarter
\nT \u2013 Franco 51 run (Shaffer kick) 9:48
\nT \u2013 Schopp 3 pass from Golden (Shaffer kick) 1:01
\nB \u2013 Seidel 10 pass from DeFrances (Domonkos kick) :12
\nThird Quarter
\nB \u2013 Seidel 70 pass from DeFrances (Domonkos kick) 9:11
\nT \u2013 Schopp 45 pass from Golden (Shaffer kick) 8:19
\nB \u2013 Lewis 1 run (Domonkos kick) 4:37
\nT \u2013 Franco 13 interception return (Shaffer kick) 1:04
\nFourth Quarter
\nBarbin 16 run (PAT failed) 2:20
\nTeam
\n \t\t\t\t\t\t T BM
\nFirst Downs 15 18
\nYards Rushing 105 202
\nPass Att.-Comp. 15-30 9-12
\nYards Passing 204 208
\nTotal Offense 309 410
\nFumble-Rec. 0-0 2-1
\nInterceptions 1 0
\nPen.\/Yards 8-50 8-52
\nPunts\/Avg. 4-33.5 2-35
\nIndividual
\nRushing
\nTyrone \u2013 Gillmen 10-35, Franco 10-79, Golden 6-(-9).
\nBishop McCort \u2013 Lewis 26-169, Barbin 7-39, DeFrances 5-(-4), McClain 1-(-2).
\nPassing
\nTyrone \u2013 Golden 15-29-204, 2 TD, 0 Int.; Gillmen 0-1-0.
\nBishop McCort \u2013 DeFrances 9-12-208, 3 TD, 1 Int.
\nReceiving
\nTyrone \u2013 Schopp 8-132, Tate 4-50, Gillmen 2-14, Franco 1-10.
\nBishop McCort \u2013 Seidel 3-127, Reynolds 2-51, McClain 2-10, Cruz 1-10, Kubinsky 1-10. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For the first time all season, Tyrone came up a play or two short, while the program modeled on the Golden Eagles had an answer for everything it saw. The Bishop McCort Crimson Crushers, whose coach, Ken Salem, has said on numerous occasions he has tried to imitate the success of John Franco at Tyrone, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40046","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=40046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40046\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}