As much as the District championships and touchdown passes, the career of Tyrone quarterback Leonard Wilson is marked by his flawless execution.
\nBefore last night\u2019s game at Gray-Veterans Field against Huntingdon, the three-year starter had thrown only 10 interceptions in 311 attempts, which means defensive backs who do pick Wilson are inclined to save the game ball because it doesn\u2019t happen too often.
\nHis career is also marked by resiliency \u2013 interceptions are normally followed by touchdown passes, loss followed by wins.
\nAgainst the \u2018Cats, an uncharacteristic Wilson fumble in the open field nearly opened the door for Huntingdon to claw its way back into the game in the third quarter, but he recovered to intercept Kyle Kyper on his next two pass attempts, once setting up a touchdown in Tyrone\u2019s 27-0 MAC non-divisional game.
\nWilson finished the game completing 9 of 14 passes for 118 yards and one touchdown with one interception. He also ran for 22 yards, and totaled 92 return yards on two interceptions.
\n\u201cLeonard still has to be careful that he doesn\u2019t try to do too much,\u201d said Tyrone coach John Franco. \u201cBut you saw what he can do. You win games because great players make great plays and that\u2019s what happened tonight.\u201d
\nWhile Wilson\u2019s second half interceptions highlighted for him a superb night on both sides of the ball, it was his handling of the two-minute drill as the first half wound down that put Huntingdon on the ropes.
\nThe \u2018Cats (1-1) had just punted and pinned Tyrone at its own 17 with 1:35 to go until halftime, and Huntingdon was content to go into the locker room down just 7-0. But the Eagles had different thoughts, and in only six plays they drove to the H-18, where they faced a third-and-10 with 19 seconds left.
\nWilson tried unsuccessfully to hook up with Trey Brockett on two plays, but with time winding down he rolled left and found him open at the five yard line. Brockett pulled in the pass, turned up field and extended the ball across the goal line just before he was forced out of bounds by Huntingdon\u2019s Kevin Cressman.
\nBrockett\u2019s first career touchdown made it 14-0 with 12.3 seconds to go until halftime, and it deflated a Bearcat defense that was pushed to the limit without breaking for most of the first half.
\n\u201cThe second touchdown was a big part of the game,\u201d said Huntingdon coach Jim Zauzig. \u201cThat was a hard one to take.\u201d
\nHuntingdon showed signs of life in the second half, but the \u2018Cats never again seriously threatened the Eagles, who improved to 2-0. In a dominating performance, Tyrone\u2019s defense got its first shutout of the season, registered eight tackles behind the line of scrimmage, and picked off Kyper on three separate occasions.
\nJunior linebacker Tyler Gillmen turned in the best defensive performance of his career, recording three stops behind the line of scrimmage, including two sacks while deflecting a pass. Tyler Hoover assisted on two other sacks as Tyrone kept Kyper running for his life most of the game.
\nBut the real key was Tyrone\u2019s ability to take advantage of Huntingdon\u2019s miscues, while never forced to pay for its own. So while the Eagles parlayed one Kyper interception into a touchdown, Tyrone\u2019s turnovers never changed the scoreboard for the \u2018Cats.
\nAnd there were several miscues still fresh in Franco\u2019s mind when the game was over. Along with Wilson\u2019s third quarter fumble, Brinton Mingle mishandled a ball in the second, and Wilson threw his first interception of the season in the fourth.
\nBut two of Huntingdon\u2019s series following Tyrone turnovers went four plays and out, while another ended in an interception after three plays.
\n\u201cIt was tough getting things going when we didn\u2019t have the ball that much,\u201d Zauzig said. \u201cClock control was big for Tyrone.\u201d
\nTyrone made it 7-0 early in the game with a seven-play, 70 yard drive after receiving the opening kick. Wilson completed a pair of passes in the series to Brockett and Gillmen, but the big plays were back-to-back runs by Mingle that totaled 40 yards, the second of which put him in the endzone with a 14-yard touchdown run.
\nThat was the start of a big day for Mingle, who carried the ball 20 times for 125 yards and two touchdowns.
\nPenalties and a turnover kept the Eagles out of the endzone for the remainder of the half, until Tyrone\u2019s two-minute-drill drive that gave them a two-touchdown cushion at halftime.
\nTyrone was poised to go up 21-0 in the third when Wilson\u2019s had the ball knocked out of his hands after a 14-yard gain. But true to form, he rebounded two plays later when he jumped a slant route and returned his interception 65 yards to the H-6. Mingle scored two plays later and the Eagles were up three touchdowns.
\nTyrone\u2019s last touchdown came in the fourth quarter on an 11-play 51-yard drive. Gillmen and Johnny Franco carried most of the load, toting the ball 10 times for 39 yards, with Franco getting the final yard to make it 27-0.
\n\u201cI\u2019m not always sure what we\u2019re going to have from week to week, but we\u2019re starting to develop an identity,\u201d Franco said. \u201cTyrone outrushed Huntingdon by nearly two hundred yards (239-66), giving Franco a chance to flash a smile as he spoke about the offensive line.
\n\u201cI\u2019m pleased at this point with the progress of our line and they\u2019re really coming on,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re going to be better as the year goes on, but they\u2019re coming.\u201d
\nGRID TIDBITS: Brockett had four receptions for 75 yards \u2026 tight end Doug Morrow made an acrobatic catch in the first quarter when he tipped a ball in the air to himself and hauled it in as he fell on his back \u2026 Wilson\u2019s second-quarter touchdown pass to Brockett gave him 23 touchdown passes for his career \u2026 the Eagles host Lewistown next Friday.
\n Tyrone 27 Huntingdon 0
\nTyrone 7 7 7 6 \u2013 27
\nHuntingdon 0 0 0 0 \u2013 0
\nFirst Quarter
\nT \u2013 Mingle 14 run (Stotler kick) 8:30
\nSecond Quarter
\nT \u2013 Brockett 18 pass from Wilson (Stotler kick) :12.3
\nThird Quarter
\nT \u2013 Mingle 2 run (Stotler kick) 1:14
\nFourth Quarter
\nT \u2013 Franco 1 run (kick failed) 2:14
\nTeam
\n\t\tT H
\nFirst Downs 21 8
\nYards Rushing 45-239 20-66
\nPass Att.-Comp. \t 9-14 6-14
\nPass Yards 118 92
\nTotal Yards 357 158
\nFumbles\/Lost 2-2 1-0
\nInterceptions Thrown 1 3
\nPenalties\/Yards 5-55 4-20
\nPunts\/Avg. 2-35 5-35
\nRushing
\nTyrone \u2013 Mingle 20-125; Gillmen 11-45; Franco 7-36; Wilson 3-22; Barr 1-12; Golden 3-(-1).
\nHuntingdon \u2013 Culbertson 11-40; Kyper 7-28; Cressman 1-4; Shoemaker 1-(-6).
\nPassing
\nTyrone \u2013 Wilson 9-14-118, 1 TD, 1 Int.
\nHuntingdon \u2013 Kyper 6-14-92, 0 TD, 3 Int.
\nReceiving
\nTyrone \u2013 Brockett 4-75; Morrow 1-13; Schopp 1-13; Gillmen 1-12; Barr 1-9; Franco 1-(-4).
\nHuntingdon \u2013 Shoemaker 4-24; Reed 1-20; Jones 1-13; Rohrer 1-12; Cressman 1-4.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As much as the District championships and touchdown passes, the career of Tyrone quarterback Leonard Wilson is marked by his flawless execution. Before last night\u2019s game at Gray-Veterans Field against Huntingdon, the three-year starter had thrown only 10 interceptions in 311 attempts, which means defensive backs who do pick Wilson are inclined to save the […]<\/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-42442","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\/42442","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=42442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42442\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}