The 20-for-30, 219-yard passing performance of Lewistown quarterback Nathan Heider last night against Tyrone is just a little misleading.
\nWhile the senior slinger put up respectable numbers and even threw for a pair of touchdowns, he spent most of the night in two positions: running for his life and on his back.
\nHeider was sacked six times, including five by senior defensive end Max Soellner for a total of 54 yards in losses, and the Golden Eagles\u2019 hard hitting defense continued to dominate as Tyrone defeated the Panthers for the 10th consecutive season 34-12 at Mitchell Field.
\nSoellner was the standout among a defensive group that thoroughly stifled Lewistown\u2019s no-huddle spread offense for the better part of three quarters. Along with the bruising he put on Heider, he also had a fumble recovery that led to an Eagle touchdown and returned a blocked punt 10 yards for a score that put Tyrone up 14-0 in the first quarter.
\n\u201cOur defense is tough, there\u2019s no doubt about it,\u201d said Tyrone coach John Franco, whose team improved to 2-1 overall and 1-1 in the Big 8 Conference. \u201cOur defensive ends played great, our linebackers played great. I thought our whole defense played well.\u201d
\nThe one problem, as Franco saw it, was that his defense played just well enough to win once the fourth quarter rolled around, with the Eagles leading 34-6. With the game safely tucked away, Tyrone allowed 103 yards passing, seven plays of eight yards or more and one touchdown.
\n\u201cThe guys that rotate in and the backups really disappointed me,\u201d said Franco. \u201cThey went out there and just played like they were going through the motions. That really ticked me off because we had guys in there that are good enough to do better. We\u2019ve got to realize that we can\u2019t let up.\u201d
\nJunior Brice Mertiff posted his third consecutive 100-yard game, carrying the ball 13 times for 126 yards and one score. Classmate Ben Gummo added three touchdowns and 83 yards on eight carries as the Eagles posted their second-best rushing performance of the season with 233 yards on 54 carries.
\nIn stark contrast to last week\u2019s three-point loss in overtime to Huntingdon, Tyrone also kept a hold of the football, giving up no turnovers while forcing one to finish on the plus-side of the turnover ledger for the second time in three games.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re 2-1. How many turnovers did we have in the two wins and how many did we have in the loss,\u201d said Franco, whose team was minus-three in turnover ratio last week. \u201cThat\u2019s one of the biggest keys to the game of football.\u201d
\nSophomore Leonard Wilson received his first starting nod of the season, after splitting time with junior Brandon Maceno, who started weeks 1 and 2. Wilson took all of the snaps from center until being pulled late in the fourth quarter and completed four of eleven passes for 27 yards.
\n\u201cLeonard was excellent tonight,\u201d said Franco. \u201cHe put the ball on the money so many times but our receivers have to catch it better. Our receivers get lazy sometimes because we can run the ball so well. They\u2019ve got to pick up their game.\u201d
\nTyrone received the opening kickoff and used nine plays to go 61yards in four minutes for a 7-0 lead. Gummo sparked the drive with a 20-yard run to the Lewistown 23 off an option pitch from Wilson and Mertiff went in from the three four plays later.
\nThe teams exchanged punts and fought the battle of field position until late in the fourth quarter when Mertiff, in punt position with his team backed to its own 25, boomed a 53-yard punt to back the Panthers to their 17-yard line. Lewistown moved as far as the 25 in three plays and was forced to punt.
\nTyrone junior Tad Chamberlain broke through the left side of the Panther line and laid out perfectly to block the punt attempt of Jeremy Hamler. The ball rolled back to the 10, where it was scooped up by Soellner, who took it to the endzone.
\n\u201cWe got in a hole pretty quick,\u201d said second-year Lewistown coach Rob Reeder. \u201cThey had a huge punt and then blocked our punt. But we never packed it in.\u201d
\nTyrone went ahead 20-0 with 9:19 left in the first half with a three-play, 71-yard drive that used up less than a minute. Mertiff broke free for 21 yards on second down to move the ball to the L-45, and on the next play Gummo broke loose off tackle and outraced the defense for a 45-yard touchdown run, the longest of his career.
\nLewistown turned the ball over on the ensuing possession when the snap from center in shotgun formation went sailing over Heider\u2019s head. After a mad scramble, Soellner came up with the ball to put Tyrone in business at the Lewistown nine.
\nMertiff ran for eight yards to the one on second down and Gummo took it in from there to put the Eagles ahead 27-0.
\nThe Panthers punched in one score before the end of the half on a five-play, 53-yard march that took only 32 seconds. Heider passed twice to 6-4, 230-pound tight end Joseph Stewart on the drive, once for a 23-yard gain to the T-11, and then for an 11-yard touchdown reception with three seconds left in the half, cutting the Eagles\u2019 lead to 27-6.
\nTyrone scored on its opening series of the second half on a 1-yard run by Gummo that capped a five-play, 51-yard drive and gave Tyrone a 34-6 lead. Mertiff carried the ball three times for 47 yards, including a 34-yard run that put the ball on Lewistown\u2019s 3-yard line.
\nLewistown\u2019s final score came on a five-play, 89-yard drive in the fourth quarter that ended when Stewart caught his second touchdown reception of the night on an 11-yard pass over the middle. Jared Dyer, who finished the game with nine catches for 116 yards, had two receptions for 44 yards.
\n\u201cIf you live in Philadelphia and read the score of this game in the paper tomorrow, you\u2019re not going to understand how this game went,\u201d said Reeder, whose team fell to 0-3 overall and in the Big 8. \u201cThis is a positive step for us. We\u2019re doing this with a lot of young guys.\u201d
\nGRID TIDBITS: Gummo\u2019s three touchdowns tied a career high set lastseason … Justin Clark added one sack and one tackle for a loss … the Tyrone offensive line allowed just one sack … Mertiff averaged 42.5 yards on six punts.
\nTyrone 34, Lewistown 12
\nScore by quarter
\nTyrone – 14 13 7 0 – 34
\nLewistown – 0 6 0 6 – 12
\nScoring
\nFirst Quarter
\nT – Mertiff 3 run, Gummo PAT. 8:00
\nT – Soellner 10 punt block return. Gummo PAT. :44
\nSecond Quarter
\nT – Gummo 45 run, PAT failed. 9:19
\nT – Gummo 1 run. Gummo PAT. 7:03
\nL – Stewart 12 pass from Heider. PAT failed. :03
\nThird Quarter
\nT – Gummo 1 run. Gummo PAT. 7:52
\nFourth Quarter
\nL – Stewart 11 pass from Heider. PAT failed. 9:24
\nTeam Statistics
\n\tT \tL
\nFirst Downs\t11\t17
\nRushes\t 26 25
\nRush yards\t233\t51
\nPassing att.\t4-11\t20-30
\nPass yards\t27\t219
\nFumbles\/rec\t0\/0\t1\/1
\nPenalties\t6-45\t2-20
\nPunts\t6-42.5 \t7-33
\nTotal Yards\t260\t270
\nIndividual Statistics
\nRushing
\nTyrone Mertiff 13-126 1 TD, Gummo 8-83 3 TD, Christine 5-16, Bonsell 1-13, Mingle 1-5, Wilson 1-(-6).
\nLewistown Narehood 9-42, Tressler 11-21, Heider 12-(-12).
\nPassing
\nTyrone Wilson 4-11 27 yards, 0 TD, 0 Int.
\nLewistown Heider 20-30 219 yards 2 TD, 0 Int.
\nReceiving
\nTyrone Mertiff 2-12, Mingle 1-9, Crabtree 1-6.
\nLewistown Dyer 9-116, Stewart 6-64, Haines 1-34, Laughlin 3-4, Hardin 1-1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The 20-for-30, 219-yard passing performance of Lewistown quarterback Nathan Heider last night against Tyrone is just a little misleading. While the senior slinger put up respectable numbers and even threw for a pair of touchdowns, he spent most of the night in two positions: running for his life and on his back. Heider was sacked […]<\/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-45909","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\/45909","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=45909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45909\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}