A week ago, after watching his team limp its way to a 26-12 win over lowly Illinois in a sluggish Homecoming performance, Penn State coach Joe Paterno said bluntly that the Nittany Lions played lousy.
\nHe later softened his stance after having a chance to view the game tape, concluding that while some aspects of his team\u2019s performance were lacking, lousy may have been a little harsh.
\nTyrone coach John Franco went the opposite route this week.
\nIn the minutes immediately following the Eagles\u2019 21-14 win over Penns Valley last Friday \u2013 a game where two Tyrone turnovers resulted in Ram touchdowns and the Eagles\u2019 first deficit of the season \u2013 Franco focused on his team\u2019s heart in coming from behind.
\nAfter viewing the film, his view shifted, so to speak.
\n\u201cLousy,\u201d Franco said of Tyrone\u2019s effort against Valley. \u201cI did not think we played well. I was most disappointed in the things that make us special \u2013 playing hard and outhitting our opponents. I didn\u2019t think our big guys or leaders played all that hard either.
\n\u201cI\u2019m pleased we found a way to win. I think that shows a lot about our character. We found ways to win. But you can\u2019t make a living off that. Eventually, it catches up to you.\u201d
\nA first quarter similar to the one the Eagles endured in Spring Mills against Johnstown (7-2), which visits Gray-Veterans Memorial Field tomorrow for Senior Night (7 p.m.), could be way too much for Tyrone to withstand. That\u2019s because, unlike the Rams \u2013 whose offense mostly sputtered without the assistance of Eagle turnovers \u2013 the Trojans plan on scoring a touchdown or two all on their own.
\n\u201cSpeed, speed, speed,\u201d said Franco, when summing up what he\u2019s seen of Johnstown on tape. \u201cIt will be one of the fastest teams we\u2019ve seen in years. In that way, with the playoffs starting next week, a game like this can only benefit us.\u201d
\nThat\u2019s another shift for Franco, who last week let it be known that he, like many other AA and AAA coaches, was not pleased with the idea of playing a Week 10 game that counted nothing towards playoff positioning. Not that Tyrone needed the points. The Eagles, ranked No. 4 in the state, were assured the top seed in Class AA regardless.
\nJohnstown coach Bob Arcurrio hasn\u2019t shifted his posture. With his Trojans set as the No. 2 seed in next week\u2019s Class AAA playoffs, Arcurrio is none too pleased to be playing when his team could take a bye week to heal.
\n\u201cWe have nothing to gain from it,\u201d Arcurrio said. \u201cIt\u2019s not a good situation for either team. If someone would get hurt, we would have a major problem.\u201d
\nIt\u2019s a point especially important to Arcurrio, whose top running back \u2013 junior Antwuan Reed \u2013 is battling an ankle injury that could limit his playing time tomorrow. Reed has rushed for 1,261 yards on 111 carries, but he re-aggravated his injury in the Trojans\u2019 20-14 loss last week at Forest Hills.
\nBut Johnstown hasn\u2019t gotten to where it is being a one-trick pony. With or without Reed, the Trojans are dangerous, Franco said.
\n\u201cTheir backup running back is almost as good as their first,\u201d Franco said of Greg Webster, who has 298 yards on 59 carries. \u201cThey have two outstanding wide receivers and a defensive end that\u2019s getting Division I offers. They\u2019re awfully good and this will be a good measuring stick for us.\u201d
\nThe Trojans average 25.5 points per game.
\nThe teams that have had success against the Trojans \u2013 along with Forest Hills, Bishop McCort beat Johnstown 30-0 \u2013 have done it with ball control. McCort ran for 266 yards in its Week 7 win and the Rangers totaled 304 last week. The two schools combined to win the first down battle 42-16.
\n\u201cLast game, we only had the ball two times in the second half,\u201d Arcurrio said. \u201cForest Hills has some big, strong kids on its line. If we play good up front, we can control the ball.\u201d
\nBall control is one option Franco sees for Tyrone. The Eagles are averaging 239 yards per game on the ground behind thousand-yard running back Johnny Franco (168-1,219) and Tyler Gillmen (81-570).
\n\u201cThat\u2019s one way to beat them and we can do that if we have to, but we\u2019re going to run our offense and try to do the things we normally do,\u201d said Franco.
\nBoth teams can get it done in the air, as well. Tyler Golden leads Tyrone\u2019s passing attack with 933 passing yards and 10 touchdowns, while Brandon Hody fronts Johnstown with 901 yards and five TD passes.
\n\u201cThey have big-time skill people and an explosive offense,\u201d Arcurrio said. \u201cThey\u2019re very fundamental coming off the ball also on their offensive line.\u201d
\nAlong with controlling the Trojans\u2019 skill players \u2013 two receivers in Demetrius Young and Adonis Jackson who have over 300 receiving yards \u2013 Franco sees a major key being his team returning to the brand of football it displayed during a four-week period midway through the season when it scored 30 or more points four straight weeks.
\n\u201cWe got on them pretty hard this week,\u201d Franco said. \u201cI think they realized that we can\u2019t accomplish our goals if we play like that. It\u2019s not the scoring, it\u2019s the effort. It could be a great teaching tool.\u201d
\n Approach
\nFranco said Tyrone would not approach the game any differently than any other regular season game, but that there was a chance more players could work into the Eagles\u2019 positional rotations to allow some bruised up players a chance to heal.
\nArcurrio said he wasn\u2019t sure how much his top players would play because he saw the game as something close to an exhibition.
\n\u201cWe have to consider the bigger picture, which is the playoffs,\u201d Arcurrio said. \u201cWe originally went into this thinking it would count for points.\u201d
\nStreaks
\nTyrone has won its last 11 games against Class AAA opponents dating back to Week 2 of 2003, when the Eagles lost to Huntingdon. That was also the last time they lost a regular season home game.
\nThe Eagles are currently riding a 22-game regular season winning streak, which began following a Week 5 loss to Philipsburg-Osceola in 2004.
\nInjuries
\nFranco reported that senior tight end Doug Morrow \u2013 a three-year starter who broke his collarbone in the preseason \u2013 began light practice this week and could possibly return tomorrow. Morrow will have x-rays taken today to determine his status.
\nAccording to Franco, Morrow practiced in pads and participated in light hitting drills involving padded bags and shields.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s a big step,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s getting closer, but each week it\u2019s a game time decision.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A week ago, after watching his team limp its way to a 26-12 win over lowly Illinois in a sluggish Homecoming performance, Penn State coach Joe Paterno said bluntly that the Nittany Lions played lousy. He later softened his stance after having a chance to view the game tape, concluding that while some aspects of […]<\/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-40103","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\/40103","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=40103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40103\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}