In the long run, it may go down as one of the most frustrating games in the career of Tyrone coach John Franco.
\nBut in the context of the 2002 season, the Golden Eagles\u2019 25-21 loss to Pius X Saturday at Gray Veterans Memorial Field was another case of Tyrone letting a team off the hook.
\nThe Golden Eagles moved the ball seemingly at will against the bigger, physically imposing Royals, perhaps better than any opponent Pius had seen this season. But seven crucial turnovers and a touchdown-canceling holding penalty allowed Pius to avert catastrophe and chip away at a one-time 14-0 Tyrone lead.
\n And ultimately, they spelled disaster for the Golden Eagles. Senior quarterback Tyler Mertiff had what may go down as the best single-game passing performance in school history, completing 13 of 25 passes for 282 yards and two touchdowns, but he was picked off five times and fumbled twice. On another occasion, a 29-yard touchdown run by sophomore Ben Gummo was called back on a holding penalty.
\nThe loss snapped Tyrone\u2019s three-game winning streak, dropping the Eagles to 3-3, and in each of those losses, the Eagles suffered major breakdowns that led to defeat.
\nAgainst Bellwood-Antis in Week 1, an illegal procedure brought back a touchdown that would have built a 14-0 lead in a 17-15 loss. A week later at Huntingdon, Tyrone\u2019s special teams gave the Bearcats a short field continually throughout the first half, setting up the \u2018Cat scores in a 29-20 defeat.
\nBut give credit to the Royals. After all, they made the plays, they forced the turnovers, and they had the resiliency to overcome a two-touchdown deficit on the road and steal a victory in the fourth quarter.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve had nothing but bad luck all year long and we needed something good,\u201d said Pius coach Frank Scagliotta, whose team improved to 3-3 while playing one of the most challenging schedules in Pennsylvania. \u201cFor them to come back the way they did, I was very proud.\u201d
\nSophomore Melvin Stewart starred for the Royals, gaining 132 yards on 19 carries and scoring two touchdowns. He also intercepted Mertiff twice, but the biggest interception of the night was snagged by linebacker Vince Greggo with 1:36 left in the fourth quarter.
\nTyrone had just taken over with 2:02 to play when Mertiff recovered a Stewart fumble at the T-22. On first down, he found sophomore Brice
\nMertiff open down the sideline for a 58-yard completion to the Pius 20-yard line. On first down, he looked for Aaron Jeffries on a slant, but his arm was hit as he drew back the ball and Greggo went low to snatch a wobbly interception, which he returned to the T-24. From there, Pius was able to run out the clock.
\nThe play spoke volumes for the complexion of the game from the Eagles\u2019 standpoint. Just when Tyrone was ready to put a lid on Pius, a turnover changed the tide dramatically. When Tyrone played mistake-free, as it did for most of the first quarter, the yards, and points, came in bunches.
\nThe Eagles took their first possession of the game and drove 88 yards for a 7-0 lead. Tyler Mertiff accounted for more than half of the yards with a 51-yard run on first down from the P-31, moving the ball to the 18. Six plays later, he hit Brice Mertiff on a seven-yard pass for the score and Gummo kicked the extra-point.
\nAfter Brian McManigal recovered a fumble two plays into the Royals\u2019 ensuing possession, Tyler Mertiff threw to Jeffries over the middle for a 46-yard score and a 14-0 lead.
\nPius answered with a 12-play, 61-yard drive that lasted just over two minutes into the second quarter. The Royals pounded away at the Eagles, rushing the ball nine times. They scored on a fourth-down pass by Rich Rupert from the 16 that sailed over the head of Ryan Waltner and into the arms of Shawn Brice in the back of the endzone. Chris Saveri\u2019s extra-point made the score 14-7.
\nTyrone stormed back on its next series and drove the P-29 when Gummo zigzagged his way through the Royals defense for a score that could have made it 21-7, but was called back on a holding penalty. The Eagles regrouped and moved to the 10, but on first down a Tyler Mertiff fumble was covered up by Mike Drybaugh.
\nThe Eagles turned the ball over twice more in the first half, once on an interception by Drybaugh that was tipped at the line of scrimmage and once on a spectacular leaping grab by Waltner.
\nThe Eagles\u2019 first two series of the second half ended in similar fashion. Tyler Mertiff was intercepted by Stewart on his first attempt of the third quarter, and fumbled at Tyrone\u2019s 40-yard line on the next series.
\nThe Royals cashed in on that one, using seven plays, including a run for 22 yards by Rupert on a fake punt, to pull within 14-13 on a Rupert sneak at 6:05.
\nTyrone responded with a nine-play, 62-yard drive that lasted over five minutes and pushed the lead up to 21-13. The key play was a 35-yard hookup from Tyler Mertiff to Jeffries that got the ball to the P-2. Four running plays later, Gummo blasted in from the 1 on fourth down.
\nPius made it 21-19 with 11:46 to play when Stewart scored from the 1 to cap a six-play, 71-yard drive highlighted by a 55-yard completion from Rupert to Waltner. The Royals took the lead for good on their next series when Stewart scored from 21 yards out, making it 25-21.
\nThe Eagles had two chances to take the lead. On the first, Tyrone drove from its own 27 to the Pius 15 thanks to a pair of long receptions by Jeffries (42) and Tom Crowl (13), but on second down Tyler Mertiff was picked off by Stewart in the end zone.
\nThe Royals tried to run out the clock, but after eight plays, Stewart fumbled and Tyler Mertiff recovered, setting up the Eagles\u2019 final possession.
\nTyrone travels to Philipsburg-Osceola this week, and at 3-1 in the conference the Eagles still have an outside shot at the Big 8 championship, pending the outcome of this week\u2019s game between unbeaten Huntingdon and Indian Valley. Pius hosts Quad-A Exeter.
\nGRID TIDBITS: Jeffries caught eight passes for 163 yards … Stewart and Rupert became the third and fourth backs to gain over 100 yards in a game this season against Tyrone … Tyrone has not won a non-conference game since defeating Punxsy last October … John Franco was unavailable for comment.
\nPius X 25 Tyrone 21
\nScore by quarter
\nTyrone – 14 0 7 0-21
\nPius X – 0 7 6 12 – 25
\nScoring summary
\nFirst quarter
\nT- B. Mertiff 7 pass from T. Mertiff (Gummo kick) 4:33
\nT- Jeffries 46 pass from T. Mertiff (Gummo kick) 3:09
\nSecond quarter
\nP- Brice 15 pass from Rupert (Saveri kick) 9:53
\nThird quarter
\nP- Rupert 2 run (kick failed) 6:05
\nT- Gummo 1 run (Gummo kick) 1:29
\nFourth quarter
\nP- Stewart 1 run (pass failed) 11:46
\nP- Stewart 21 run (pass failed) 7:19
\nTeam Statistics
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tT \tP
\nFirst Downs\t 17\t20
\nRushes\t\t31\t54
\nRush yards 130\t345
\nPass Att.\t\t25\t21
\nPass Comp.\t13\t 6
\nPass Yards 282\t92
\nInterceptions\t 5\t 0
\nFumbles lost\t 2\t 2
\nPenalty yards 2-15\t7-55
\nPunts\/Avg. 2-20\t3-32
\nTotal Offense 412\t 437
\nIndividual Statistics
\nRushing
\nTyrone: Gummo 11-35 (1 YD), B. Mertiff 9-34, T. Mertiff 10-65
\nPius X: Stewart 19-153 (2 TDs), Rupert 13-126 (1 TD), Rader 6-37, Brice 10-25, Kitchen 4-10, Team 2-(-6).
\nPassing
\nTyrone: T. Mertiff 13-25, 282, 2 TD, 5 Int.
\nPius X: Rupert 6-20-92-1-0, Brice 0-1-0-0-0.
\nReceiving
\nTyrone: Jeffries 8-163 (1 TD), Crowl 4-32, Gummo 1-22, B. Mertiff 2-63 (1 TD).
\nPius X: Waltner 4-70, Brice 1-15 (1 TD), Kitchen 1-6.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the long run, it may go down as one of the most frustrating games in the career of Tyrone coach John Franco. But in the context of the 2002 season, the Golden Eagles\u2019 25-21 loss to Pius X Saturday at Gray Veterans Memorial Field was another case of Tyrone letting a team off 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-48077","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\/48077","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=48077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48077\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}