Tyrone\u2019s 21-14 win over Bellefonte last night was one of those ones Golden Eagle coach John Franco loves to have.
\nPlaying on the road in a game where the Eagles were outrushed, outgained and physically pushed to the limits, they somehow found a way to win.
\nTyrone scored 14 points in the second quarter and answered a long Bellefonte scoring drive in the third quarter with one of their own in the fourth to come away with its second straight win of the season, evening its record at 2-2.
\nThe victory, which put Tyrone back into the Big 8 Conference hunt at 2-1, was the Eagles first road win since September 14, 2001, snapping a six-game skid.
\nBut the win came with at a heavy cost. Golden Eagle senior linebacker-tight end Dan Grazier, a team captain who entered the game second on the squad in receiving yardage, went down with an ankle injury in the second quarter. He did not return to the game and was taken to Centre Community Hospital at halftime.
\nGrazier\u2019s status, as of last night, was uncertain.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a killer because of the intangibles,\u201d said Franco. \u201cWe\u2019ve had so many injuries this year and so many setbacks, and we just have to find a way.\u201d
\nWith Grazier out, the Eagles immediately found themselves trying to find a way to stop Raider running back Corey Mislinski, who all but willed his team back into the game with a 29-carry, 127-yard performance. He gained 80 yards in the second half alone as Bellefonte controlled the line of scrimmage and made a game of what had been a 14-0 halftime lead for Tyrone.
\n\u201cMislinski\u2019s a competitor,\u201d said Bellefonte coach Tom Gravish. \u201cWe didn\u2019t run the ball very well in the first half, and then when we did we would get a holding penalty and that changed the down and distance. It\u2019s tough playing third-and-20s against a team like Tyrone.\u201d
\nAnd it\u2019s tough to play against any team when you turn the ball over. Bellefonte (2-2, 1-2) did that three times in the first half – all interceptions thrown by sophomore Josh Mundy – with one leading to a Tyrone touchdown.
\nBut in a Big 8 Conference Franco has called the most balanced he\u2019s seen in his nine years at Tyrone, there are no guarantees, and despite their sloppy first half, the Raiders put together sustained drives on all of their second half possessions and found themselves one errant on-sides kick away from possibly sending the game into overtime.
\n\u201cTyrone\u2019s pretty good and we couldn\u2019t get the ball away from them at the end,\u201d said Gravish.
\nBellefonte\u2019s stingy defense limited Tyrone to a season-low 51 yards on the ground and registered 18 plays for zero or negative yardage.
\nIn the absence of a consistent running game, quarterback Tyler Mertiff stepped forward to record arguably his most steady performance of the season. Mertiff completed 11 of 16 passes for 149 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. Aaron Jeffries was on the receiving end of six of those passes for 87 yards and one touchdown.
\nThe Eagles got their first score following a Jeffries interception early in the second quarter – one of two picked by the senior defensive back on the night. Tyrone took over at the B-42, and moved to the 15 two plays later follwing a pass interference penalty. Gummo ran for 11 on first down to the 4 and on second down scored from one yard out. His extra point gave Tyrone a 7-0 lead with 11:33 to go in the half.
\nTyrone scored again later in the quarter on a six-play, 62-yard drive to go ahead 14-0. It started when quarterback Tyler Mertiff connected with Jeffries for 41 yards to the B-21. On third-and-8, Mertiff hit a tip-toeing Tommy Crowl down the right sideline for 13 yards to the B-6.
\nTwo plays later, Mertiff and Jeffries hooked up again on a 5-yard pass for the touchdown that gave Tyrone a seemingly comfortable two-touchdown lead at intermission.
\nBellefonte stormed back in the third quarter, driving 55 yards to the T-19 on their first possession, relying strictly on rushing plays to Mislinski. But two Mundy incompletions on third and fourth down turned the ball back over to Tyrone at 9:05 of the third.
\nTyrone drove to the B-22 on the ensuing series, but Mertiff was sacked for a 14-yard loss on fourth down and the Raiders went back to work, this time driving 64 yards in 11 plays to pull within eight.
\nBellefonte converted twice on third down on the series, and scored on a 12-yard fourth down pass from Mundy to an outstretched Matt Catherman with 14 second left in the third. Crowl blocked the PAT.
\nTyrone matched the score with a 63-yard, 12-play drive that went 5:16 into the fourth quarter. The key play was a 20-yard completion from Mertiff to Josh Good that put the ball on the Raider 16. Four plays later, Tyler Mertiff pitched to Brice Mertiff on an option play for a 3-yard score and a 21-6 lead.
\nThe Raiders answered with a four-minute, 68-yard scoring drive sprung by a 34-yard third down completion from Mundy to Josh Jones that pushed Bellefonte to the T-7. After a Max Soellner interception in the endzone was waived off on a defensive holding call, Mundy scored from the one to pull the Raiders within 21-12. Mundy connected with Jones in the flat for the two-point conversion and the Raiders trailed by a single score with 2:41 to play.
\nAfter Tyler Mertiff snagged the on-sides kick with one hand, Tyrone ran off five plays, including a crucial four-yard run on second-and-3 by Gummo, to run out the clock.
\n\u201cThey\u2019re definitely improving each week,\u201d said Franco. \u201cJust look at the difference (between the Bellwood-Antis game and now). Tonight we had just one turnover and a couple of penalties. Each week, you see these younger guys growing and growing.\u201d
\nGRID TIDBITS: Tyrone recorded four quarterback sacks, with Good and Blake Cowfer getting two apiece … Good had three tackles for losses … Franco credited sophomore Brandon Maceno with playing a \u201cgutty\u201d game at linebacker, filling in when Grazier was injured. Maceno had been nursing an ankle injury of his own and had not played in two weeks. Franco had planned to use him sparingly against Bellefonte … Mundy finished the game with 105 yards passing on 12-of-22 … Tyrone hosts Bald Eagle Area next Friday.
\nTyrone 21, Bellefonte 14
\nScore by quarter
\nTyrone – 0 14 0 7 -21
\nBellefonte – 0 0 6 8 -14
\nScoring summary
\nsecond quarter
\nT- Gummo 1 run (Gummo kick) 10:28
\nT- Jeffries 5 pass from T. Mertiff (Gummo kick) 4:48
\nthird quarter
\nB- Catherman 12 pass from Mundy (Kick blocked) 0:14
\nfourth quarter
\nT- B. Mertiff 3 run (Gummo kick) 6:44
\nB- Mislinski 1 run (Jones pass from Mundy) 2:41
\nTeam Statistics
\n\t\t\t\tT\t\tB
\nFirst Downs\t16\t\t11
\nRushes\t\t\t36\t\t36
\nRush yards\t\t51\t\t118
\nPass Att.\t\t16\t\t22
\nPass Comp.\t\t11\t\t12
\nPass Yards\t\t149\t\t105
\nInterceptions\t0\t\t3
\nFumbles lost\t1\t\t0
\nPenalty yards\t4-40\t9-79
\nPunts\/Avg.\t\t4-27\t3-30.6
\nTotal Offense\t200\t\t223
\nIndividual Statistics
\nRushing
\nTyrone: Gummo 13-51 (1TD), B. Mertiff 13-32 (1TD), T. Mertiff 10-(-31)
\nBellefonte: Mislinski 29-127 (1TD), Mundy (-9).
\nPassing
\nTyrone: T. Mertiff 11-16, 149, 1 TD, 0 Int.
\nBellefonte: Mundy 12-22, 105, 1TD, 3 Int.
\nReceiving
\nTyrone: Jeffries 6-87 (1TD), Crowl 3-36, Good 1-20, Gummo 1-6.
\nBellefonte: Goldman 5-12, Jones 4-73, Catherman 1-10, (1TD) Smeltzer 1-6, Mislinski 1-4.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tyrone\u2019s 21-14 win over Bellefonte last night was one of those ones Golden Eagle coach John Franco loves to have. Playing on the road in a game where the Eagles were outrushed, outgained and physically pushed to the limits, they somehow found a way to win. Tyrone scored 14 points in the second quarter and […]<\/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-48184","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\/48184","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=48184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48184\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}