It\u2019s a good thing Tyrone wide receiver-defensive back Justin Schopp isn\u2019t a vindictive person.
\nHe\u2019s not the kind of player to say \u2018I told you so,\u2019 and he\u2019s definitely not going to rub an opponent\u2019s nose in the grass when he makes a big catch, which he\u2019s done often this season.
\nIf he was, then Chestnut Ridge may have been in even deeper trouble than it found itself in last night against the Golden Eagles at Gray-Veterans Memorial Field in the quarterfinals of the District 5-6 AA playoffs.
\nFresh off a Mountain Athletic Conference Nittany Division snub that saw Schopp \u2013 who leads the conference in receiving yards and interceptions \u2013 left off both the first team offensive and defensive all-star squads at Wednesday\u2019s awards banquet, the 6-foot senior hauled in four passes for 60 yards and came up with a pair of interceptions as the No. 1 Golden Eagles steamrolled the 8-seeded Lions 35-0.
\nTwo third down receptions by Schopp set up Eagle touchdowns, while one interception led to another, and the Golden Eagles advanced to the District semifinals for the 11th time under coach John Franco.
\n\u201cNot bad for second team all-conference,\u201d Franco said wryly of Schopp\u2019s performance. \u201cJustin Schopp is as good a defensive back and receiver as there is in our bracket. But (awards) don\u2019t matter to us. We\u2019ve never preached individual awards and we really don\u2019t care about it. The only thing that\u2019s important is a team award.\u201d
\nThe understated Schopp said he tried to take the second-team placement and make it a positive.
\n\u201cIt really didn\u2019t (bother me) at first, but the coaches and my parents just told me to take it as motivation for the rest of the season,\u201d he said.
\nThe advice worked, but it wasn\u2019t just Schopp who was posting numbers against the Lions. Quarterback Tyler Golden completed 8 of 14 passes for 115 yards without throwing an interception, and junior Johnny Franco rambled for 175 yards on 18 carries, scoring three touchdowns.
\nThat allowed the Eagles to outgain Chestnut Ridge 324-111 in total offense.
\nTyrone\u2019s defense registered 15 plays of zero or negative yards, sacking Lions quarterback Jason Deffibaugh three times while forcing three interceptions.
\nThe unbeaten Golden Eagles (11-0) now await the winner of tomorrow\u2019s game between No. 4 Forest Hills and No. 5 Marion Center. Chestnut Ridge finished its season 7-4.
\n\u201cFlat out, we got beat by a better football team tonight,\u201d said Chestnut Ridge coach Dan Wilkins. \u201cThere\u2019s no ands, ifs or buts about it. Our kids played hard as long as they could. A few big plays early certainly helped to speed up the result.\u201d
\nOne big one came on the Eagles\u2019 first series, a 13-play, six-and-a-half minute drive that went 67 yards. After Golden was sacked for a 10-yard loss on first down, Tyrone faced third-and-15 from its own 42 when Golden found Schopp open over the middle. Schopp broke one tackle and fought for extra yards on a 19-yard gain to the Lions\u2019 39.
\nSchopp had a 9-yard reception later in the series, and Franco blasted for 16 yards to the 1 before carrying it from there to make it 7-0 at the 5:29 mark.
\nIt stayed that way until the start of the second quarter when junior Shayne Tate intercepted Deffibaugh at the Ridge 34 and raced down the left sideline for a touchdown. The second of Johnny Shaffer\u2019s five PATs made it 14-0.
\n\u201cTo get the interception for a touchdown really gave us momentum and put us in the driver\u2019s seat,\u201d said Franco.
\nTyrone scored once more before the half, going 88 yards in nine plays. Schopp kept the drive going early with a 14-yard catch on third-and-10 from the 22, and Tyler Gillmen put the Eagles in the red zone when he scampered 41 yards on a middle screen to the Chestnut Ridge 11. One play later, Franco broke containment along the sideline and scored to make it 21-0 with a minute left in the half.
\n\u201cEvery time you looked, they were making a play, and that\u2019s a tribute to their kids,\u201d Wilkins said. \u201cThey\u2019re a complete team. There\u2019s not anywhere you can isolate and pick on them to try to get something going. That\u2019s why they are where they are.\u201d
\nThe Eagles scored on their first series of the third quarter to go ahead 28-0. It was a 62-yard drive punctuated by a 40-yard touchdown run by Franco at the 5:49 mark.
\nTyrone\u2019s last score came after a one-handed interception by Schopp, who was giving help on a fade pass from Deffibaugh to Mike Tomovich. The Eagles went 51 yards in six running plays, capped by a three-yard run by Gillmen.
\n\u201cIn the playoffs, you play with a little more intensity,\u201d Franco said. \u201cI think that\u2019s what you saw.\u201d
\nGRID TIDBITS: Schopp now has 755 receiving yards this season and eight interceptions \u2026 Tyler Hoover had two sacks and three tackles for loss. Franco credited sophomore Jarrod Good with occupying two blockers to free up Hoover \u2026 the Eagles limited the Lions to one first down in the first half and five total \u2026 Tyrone recorded its sixth playoff shutout under Franco, and its first since a 34-0 win over Philipsburg-Osceola in 2004 \u2026 it was Tyrone\u2019s fifth shutout this season. The Eagles are now allowing 6.5 points per game.
\nTyrone 35 Chestnut Ridge 0
\nTyrone 7 14 14 0 \u2013 35
\nChestnut Ridge 0 0 0 0 \u2013 0
\nFirst Quarter
\nT \u2013 Franco 1 run (Shaffer kick) 5:29
\nSecond Quarter
\nT \u2013 Tate 34 interception return (Shaffer kick) 11:18
\nT \u2013 Franco 11 run (Shaffer kick) 1:00
\nThird Quarter
\nT \u2013 Franco 40 run (Shaffer kick) 5:49
\nT \u2013 Gillmen 3 run (Shaffer kick) 1:45
\nTeam
\n T CR
\nFirst Downs 17 5
\nYards Rushing 209 74
\nPass Att.-Comp. 8-14 5-10
\nYards Passing 115 37
\nTotal Offense 324 111
\nFumble-Rec. 0-0 1-0
\nInterceptions 0 3
\nPen.\/Yards 6-40 2-18
\nPunts\/Avg. 4-33 5-40.8
\nRushing
\nTyrone \u2013 Franco 18-175; Gillmen 11-37; Bradley 3-4; Ingle 1-3; Barlett 1-(-1); Golden 5-(-9). <\/p>\n
Chestnut Ridge \u2013 Tomovich 23-80; McDannell 4-12; Kyle Hess 2-2; Deffibaugh 4-(-20).
\nPassing
\nTyrone \u2013 Golden 8-14-115, 0 TD, 0 Int.
\nChestnut Ridge \u2013 Deffibaugh 4-9-37, 0 TD, 2 Int.; Tomovich 0-1-0, 0 TD, 1 Int.
\nReceiving
\nTyrone \u2013 Schopp 4-60; Gillmen 2-41; Tate 1-9; Franco 1-5.
\nChestnut Ridge \u2013 Tomovich 2-16; Clark 1-14; McDannell 2-7.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s a good thing Tyrone wide receiver-defensive back Justin Schopp isn\u2019t a vindictive person. He\u2019s not the kind of player to say \u2018I told you so,\u2019 and he\u2019s definitely not going to rub an opponent\u2019s nose in the grass when he makes a big catch, which he\u2019s done often this season. If he was, then […]<\/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-40085","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\/40085","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=40085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40085\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}