{"id":6223,"date":"2008-10-16T13:32:41","date_gmt":"2008-10-16T17:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/v3\/?p=6223"},"modified":"2008-10-16T13:32:41","modified_gmt":"2008-10-16T17:32:41","slug":"struggling-panthers-visit-tyrone-homecoming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/?p=6223","title":{"rendered":"Struggling Panthers visit Tyrone Homecoming"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Jerrod Good<\/td>\nWesley Young<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

You\u2019re Lewistown coach Allen Muir and you\u2019re struggling through an 0-7 season.
\nNow you have to break down film on Tyrone. Like most coaches, you\u2019re looking for some soft spots, one or two areas you can attack to move the sticks and cash in a couple times.
\nAnd this is what you see: Tyrone demolishing its last three opponents by an average of 36 points per game. Larry Glace and Mark Mingle rambling past, around and over top of defenses for big gain after big gain. Levi Reihart making plays with his arm and his legs. A defense stingier than Ebenezer Scrooge.
\nThink you might have some sleepless nights?
\nThose are the real concerns of Muir as his Panthers prepare to play Tyrone tomorrow at Gray-Veterans Memorial Field in a MAC Nittany Division game. It is also Tyrone\u2019s homecoming.
\n\u201cThey\u2019re big, strong and fast, and they don\u2019t make mistakes,\u201d Muir said. \u201cYou look at them on film and try to find a weakness, but there really isn\u2019t one. They\u2019re very well coached. Basically, it boils down to Lewistown players against Tyrone players, and we\u2019ll see who makes the most plays.\u201d
\nSo far this season, the Eagles have been making all the plays. Glace is on the cusp of 1,000 yards (117 carries, 852 yards) and Mingle isn\u2019t far behind (97 carries, 578 yards). Reihart is having the kind of season junior quarterbacks dream of (57-for-87, 878 yards, 6 TDs).
\nFour receivers, including Eric Desch (16-332) and John Shaffer (16-231) have over 100 yards receiving. The defense has already registered 46 tackles for loss, 16 sacks and 11 takeaways.
\nThings have certainly been clicking, but it hasn\u2019t been as easy as it has sometimes looked. It\u2019s taken a lot of hard work, and that\u2019s why Tyrone coach John Franco says there is no way the Eagles (6-1, 4-1 Nittany Division) overlook struggling Lewistown (0-6, 0-7).
\n\u201cWe can\u2019t afford to take any games off. There aren\u2019t a lot of football games like other sports,\u201d said Franco. \u201cIt\u2019s like college football where every game becomes a playoff game. In other sports, you have 20 games, and everyone makes the playoffs, so the regular season is all for seeding. If we lose a game, we get racked in points, and our goal is to earn a No. 1 or 2 seed. That makes the Lewistown game very important. That may be why we\u2019ve done well in games like this over the years.\u201d
\nTo say Tyrone has played well against Lewistown under Franco would be a drastic understatement along the lines of, \u201cTed Williams was a good hitter.\u201d In 14 seasons, they\u2019ve outscored the Panthers 473-81, with six shutouts and five other games where Lewistown has scored only a single touchdown.
\nBut that doesn\u2019t make the 2008 version of Lewistown-Tyrone a gimmie, mainly because of the challenges presented by Lewistown\u2019s no-huddle, spread offense.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s difficult to defend against the spread with no huddles,\u201d said Franco. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to rush the quarterback and shut down their passing game.\u201d
\nTwo issues make stopping Lewistown\u2019s passing game a problem. One is Tyrone is adjusting to the movement of four defensive players a week ago to different positions. Among the moves were Glace moving to safety and Matt Murray and John Shaffer flip-flopping their positions as weak-side and strong-side defensive ends, respectively.
\nThey didn\u2019t look bad in last week\u2019s 35-7 win over Philipsburg-Osceola, save for one play where Glace was caught out of position in coverage on a P-O touchdown pass. But now they\u2019ll be tested against a completely different style of offense from the Mounties\u2019 wing-T.
\n\u201cOur guys who are switching positions are doing it against two of the hardest offenses to do it against,\u201d said Franco.
\nThe other is the caliber of Lewistown\u2019s quarterback, coach\u2019s son Connor Muir, who has rushed for 355 yards, while throwing for 481. He\u2019s also accounted for six of the Panthers\u2019 nine touchdowns.
\n\u201cThey have a great quarterback,\u201d said Franco. \u201cHe throws as well as anyone we\u2019ve played. He\u2019s the next best quarterback in our league behind (Clearfield\u2019s Jarrin Campman). He makes plays.\u201d
\n\u201cConnor is a very hard worker,\u201d Muir said. \u201cHe\u2019s watched a lot of film with me in the spring and summer when I\u2019m game-planning.
\n\u201cIn 9th grade, he knew the offense as well as some of the coaches because it was new to them. It\u2019s definitely an advantage, and it\u2019s been a blessing to coach him.\u201d
\nBut despite Muir\u2019s ability to hurt teams with his legs and his arm, Lewistown has still has some holes to fill, mainly on defense. The Panthers are yet to hold a team under 30 points, and they\u2019ve allowed 40 or more four times.
\nThey\u2019ve also found it difficult to stop the run, and that has been Tyrone\u2019s bread and butter.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re very concerned about the run,\u201d said Muir. \u201cOur defense has had trouble the last couple of years stopping the run. We\u2019re very concerned with (Mark) Mingle and (Larry) Glace, but against Tyrone, you can\u2019t say you\u2019re going to come up and play solely run support, either.\u201d
\nTyrone\u2019s defense, meanwhile, has been steady as always. The Eagles are surrendering just 95 rushing yards per game and 70 passing \u2013 this despite a shootout in Week 4 against Clearfield that skewed all of the numbers. They\u2019ve also forced 11 turnovers, led by Desch\u2019s four picks, and recorded 46 tackles for loss, led by Matt Murray\u2019s 8 TFL and 5 sacks.
\n12th Man
\nIt takes a lot to get Franco to show overt excitement in the eighth week of a football season. There are too many other points of focus to keep him firmly rooted in the game at hand.
\nBut the unveiling of the new 12th Man Banner before tomorrow\u2019s game is different. Franco is genuinely enthused to see the banner unveiled, and to see the fans reaction.
\nHe said the banner will be raised just before the team takes the field in an effort to get the crowd motivated and loud.
\n\u201cWe want the crowd to be roaring when the players come out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jerrod Good Wesley Young You\u2019re Lewistown coach Allen Muir and you\u2019re struggling through an 0-7 season. Now you have to break down film on Tyrone. Like most coaches, you\u2019re looking for some soft spots, one or two areas you can attack to move the sticks and cash in a couple times. And this is what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area","category-excerpts-from-the-tyrone-daily-herald"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6223","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=6223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6223\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}