For the first time all season, Tyrone came up a play or two short, while the program modeled on the Golden Eagles had an answer for everything it saw.
The Bishop McCort Crimson Crushers, whose coach, Ken Salem, has said on numerous occasions he has tried to imitate the success of John Franco at Tyrone, handed Tyrone its first District finals loss under Franco last night at Mansion Park Stadium in Altoona, defeating the Eagles 37-28 to claim their second Class AA championship.
And they did it the way Tyrone had done it so many times before: big plays, an unrelenting running attack, and a hard-hitting style of play that mirrored its opponent.
The Crushers scored on two pass plays of 47 yards or more, outran the Eagles 202-105, and responded each time Tyrone seemed poised to turn the game in its favor. As a result, McCort will play at least one more game, next week against the winner of tomorrow’s District 10 championship between Wilmington and Fairview.
Tyrone, meanwhile, ended its season 12-1, eliminated for the second straight season by the Crushers.
“Tyrone has a great football team and was very tough to deal with on both sides of the ball,” said McCort coach Ken Salem. “I thought the difference in tonight’s game was we were able to make a few more big plays than they were at crucial times.”
Defensively, none was more crucial than McCort’s goal line stand at the end of the first quarter that sent Tyrone away scoreless after four cracks inside the Crushers’ 7-yard line. On second-and-goal from the 1, Johnny Franco was thrown for a two-yard loss to the 3. Quarterback Tyler Golden just missed the endzone on a quarterback sneak one play later, gaining two, and on fourth down he was stopped for no gain.
That allowed the Crushers to hang on to a 10-0 lead into the second quarter, and while the lead would evaporate in the offensive flurry that followed, they were points lost that the Eagles sorely needed as the game wound to a close.
“I thought we were in (on third down),” Franco said. “I thought we were in twice. Everybody in the press box said we were over. That was the key play in the game – the turning point. But we had four downs. We have to get in there. I was afraid that might come back to haunt us in the end.”
It did. On the Eagles’ final drive, trailing by nine, Tyrone was forced to play for a touchdown and hope to recover an onsides kick, rather than driving for field goal position and a game-winning kick. That drive ended at McCort’s 35 with an incompletion.
It was one of several big plays on both sides of the ball from a pair of teams that refused to relent.
Golden completed 15 of 29 passes for 204 yards and two touchdowns, and he was matched every step of the way by Crusher quarterback Jordan DeFrances, who finished 9-for-12 for 208 yards and three touchdowns.
Justin Schopp caught 8 passes for 132 yards and two scores, in the process setting a new Tyrone single-season receiving record, while his counterpart Chris Seidel hauled in three passes for 127 yards and three scores.
The biggest difference maker in a game of near equals was Crusher running back Scott Lewis, who bruised his way to 169 yards rushing and one score on 26 carries. He had six carries of 13 yards or more, five of which came in the second half to keep drives going when Tyrone needed the ball most.
“Our offense was able to move the ball and put points up,” Salem said. “We felt it was important to make them chase us, and not us have to chase them.”
In fact, the Eagles were chasing McCort most of the night, and led for only 49 seconds. On the third play of the game, DeFrances found Seidel open behind the coverage after a double move at the sideline on a play that covered 47 yards and put the Crushers ahead 7-0.
On McCort’s second series, the Crushers moved the ball 48 yards to the Tyrone 19 before the drive stalled. Freshman Marc Domonkos came on to boot a 37-yard field goal that gave McCort a 10-0 lead with 3:47 left in the first quarter.
After the Crushers were flagged twice on the ensuing kickoff for kicking the ball out of bounds, the Eagles started their next series at their own 47 and marched to the McCort 1-yard line, sparked by completions of 13 and 15 yards from Golden to Schopp. But the Crushers’ goal line stand turned Tyrone away with 48 seconds left in the period.
“Defense wins championships, and we’ve leaned on our defense the entire season,” said Salem. “That was a huge stop and it really helped to keep ourselves in control of the game at that point.”
Tyrone finally got on the board after holding McCort to three plays and a punt on their next possession, taking over at their own 41. On second-and-two from their own 49, Johnny Franco burst through a seam in the middle of the Crushers’ defense, and won a footrace to the endzone with cornerback Josh McClain on a 51-yard touchdown that made it 10-7.
The Eagles then went ahead two series later with a 9-play, 58-yard drive. Golden went 4-for-4, hooking up with Shayne Tate once for 15 yards and Schopp twice for 19, including a 3-yard touchdown in the front corner of the endzone on third-and-goal, giving Tyrone a 14-10 lead with 1:01 left in the half.
But the Crushers answered, following a 38-yard kickoff return by Seidel that set them up at their own 49. A pass interference call on first down moved the ball to the Tyrone 35, and after a procedure penalty DeFrances connected with tight end Mike Cruz for 10 yards to the 30. Lewis rumbled for 13 to the 10, and DeFrances hit Seidel for 10 yards over the middle with a dart that made it 17-10 with 12 seconds left in the first half.
McCort upped its lead to 10 on its first series of the third quarter on a 70-yard touchdown pass from DeFrances to Seidel on a fly pattern down the left sideline, making it 24-14 three minutes in. But Tyrone responded in similar fashion when Golden hit Schopp on a fly pattern for a 45-yard touchdown on its ensuing possession to make it 24-21.
The Crushers then ground out an 8-play, 54-yard drive that used seven running plays, with Lewis carrying the load. He had 36 yards on four carries, including a 1-yard touchdown at the 4:37 mark to make it 31-21.
Again, Tyrone answered, this time on defense, when Franco stepped in front of a DeFrances pass at the McCort 13 and returned it all the way for a score that cut it to 31-28.
The Eagles had a shot to take the lead in the fourth following a Lewis fumble, which Franco recovered at the Tyrone 34. Tyrone moved the ball as far as the McCort 35, but on fourth and 11, France was stopped after 10 yards on a pass over the middle from Golden, and McCort took over at the 25.
That began a long and time consuming drive for the Crushers, who moved 75 yards in 9 plays to put the game away. Along the way, McCort converted twice on third down, once on a 34-yard completion from DeFrances to Barbin, and again when the Eagles jumped off sides on third-and-4. Barbin capped the drive with a 16-yard run off left tackle to set the final at 2:20.
“I couldn’t be more proud of a team that maybe achieved more of its potential than any team I’ve ever coached,” said Franco. “I told them they do not have to hang their heads. They do not have to cry. We gave everything we had tonight. We just fell a little bit short.
“Several times, I looked at my assistant coaches and said what a great game this is. Both teams spilling themselves. This was a great high school football game. I hope (McCort) goes far in the playoffs. They deserve it. They’ve earned it.”
GRID TIDBITS: Schopp finished the season with 39 receptions for 908 yards … his 10 touchdown receptions tied a single-season school record set by Buddy Daughenbaugh in 1995 … Tyrone is now 8-2 in District championship games … Golden finished his season completing 79 of 142 passes for 1,472 yards, the second highest single-season passing total in school history … it was the first game Tyrone lost in two season when Johnny Franco had scored a touchdown.
Bishop McCort 37 Tyrone 28
Bishop McCort 10 7 14 6 – 37
Tyrone 0 14 14 0 – 28
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
B – Seidel 47 pass from DeFrances (Domonkos kick) 9:12
B – Domonkos 37 field goal 3:47
Second Quarter
T – Franco 51 run (Shaffer kick) 9:48
T – Schopp 3 pass from Golden (Shaffer kick) 1:01
B – Seidel 10 pass from DeFrances (Domonkos kick) :12
Third Quarter
B – Seidel 70 pass from DeFrances (Domonkos kick) 9:11
T – Schopp 45 pass from Golden (Shaffer kick) 8:19
B – Lewis 1 run (Domonkos kick) 4:37
T – Franco 13 interception return (Shaffer kick) 1:04
Fourth Quarter
Barbin 16 run (PAT failed) 2:20
Team
T BM
First Downs 15 18
Yards Rushing 105 202
Pass Att.-Comp. 15-30 9-12
Yards Passing 204 208
Total Offense 309 410
Fumble-Rec. 0-0 2-1
Interceptions 1 0
Pen./Yards 8-50 8-52
Punts/Avg. 4-33.5 2-35
Individual
Rushing
Tyrone – Gillmen 10-35, Franco 10-79, Golden 6-(-9).
Bishop McCort – Lewis 26-169, Barbin 7-39, DeFrances 5-(-4), McClain 1-(-2).
Passing
Tyrone – Golden 15-29-204, 2 TD, 0 Int.; Gillmen 0-1-0.
Bishop McCort – DeFrances 9-12-208, 3 TD, 1 Int.
Receiving
Tyrone – Schopp 8-132, Tate 4-50, Gillmen 2-14, Franco 1-10.
Bishop McCort – Seidel 3-127, Reynolds 2-51, McClain 2-10, Cruz 1-10, Kubinsky 1-10.
