One sign of how good the Tyrone Golden Eagles are becoming is the extent to which Saturday’s dominating performance against Bishop Guilfoyle seemed utterly routine.
The Golden Eagle defense dominated another opponent, spending most of the night wreaking havoc in the Marauders’ backfield and registering 11 tackles for loss.
Senior Leonard Wilson continued to add to career numbers matched by no other quarterback in Tyrone history, surpassing the TAHS career yardage mark while throwing his 30th touchdown pass.
Brinton Mingle carried on his work as the Eagles’ touchdown machine, blasting to his twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth scores of the season.
And at the end of it all, Tyrone improved to 4-0 in the MAC Nittany Division and guaranteed at least a piece of their second straight division championship with one conference game remaining.
To look at it that way, the Eagles’ 28-6 victory at Mansion Park over the surging Marauders – their seventh in seven starts – was anything but run-of-the-mill. But the fact is, coming off a 41-6 Homecoming win a week earlier against then-unbeaten Bellefonte, Tyrone controlled BG with a performance that was much more vanilla than sprinkles and chocolate syrup.
“We weren’t nearly as sharp as we have been,” said coach John Franco. “We had some turnovers and key penalties we haven’t had in the last three or four weeks. But despite not playing really well, we had a solid win.”
Solid indeed. Against the top defense in the Nittany Division – one surrendering only 39 points over the four-game winning streak it took into Saturday’s contest – Tyrone scored a touchdown in every quarter to win going away.
Wilson completed 8 of 16 passes for 63 yards and a fourth quarter touchdown to Johnny Franco, in the process becoming Tyrone’s career leader in passing yardage, surpassing Tyler Mertiff, who set the standard from 2001-2002. Wilson now has 2,936 yards in his three-year career, and he’s poised to become the school’s first 3,000-yard passer next week against Indian Valley.
Already the TAHS leader in career touchdown passes, Wilson’s four-yard pass to Franco – his ninth scoring toss this season – made him the first Golden Eagle quarterback to reach 30 touchdown passes.
“There’s not much you can say about Leonard that hasn’t already been said,” Franco said. “He works very hard, he’s a tremendous leader, and the thing I like about him most is he is a fierce competitor.”
He needed every ounce of competitive spirit Saturday as he struggled through his first down performance of the season. By halftime, Wilson had completed only three of eight passes for 21 yards, but Tyrone held a commanding 14-6 lead thanks in large part to the relentless onslaught of its defense, particularly its line rotation of Tyler Hoover, James Updike, Buddy Stotler and Robert Emigh.
Their ability to penetrate the Marauders’ backfield and stifle BG’s option attack was a big part of the reason the Eagles limited Guilfoyle to a paltry 2.5 yards per play.
“They don’t have weaknesses,” said Guilfoyle coach Marty Georgiana, whose team fell to 4-3 overall and 2-1 in the MAC. “They had a good game plan and they mixed it up a lot. They dominate up front.”
Hoover, the Eagles 325-pound junior tackle, alone had four tackles behind the line of scrimmage and one sack of Guilfoyle quarterback Tom Seasoltz. Stotler had three tackles for loss and another sack.
“The quarterback was the key,” Franco said. “We had to control him. We were successful in doing that for the most part.”
Seasoltz finished the game with three yards on 13 carries, while completing six of 15 passes for 41 yards.
However, he did break free once in the second quarter, turning up field on an option play and outracing Tyrone’s defense for a 20-yard touchdown that cut a 7-0 lead to 7-6 with 11:18 to go in the half.
But Tyrone answered with a methodical 13-play, 71-yard drive to regain its one-touchdown lead at the 5:47 mark. Johnny Franco ignited the series with an 18-yard run and a 16-yard reception to get the ball to the BG 4, and three plays later Mingle went in from the 1.
The Marauders then started the second half by coughing the ball up on their first play from scrimmage, with Sean McConnell fumbling at the 22. Updike recovered, and five plays later Mingle scored from the 5 to stake Tyrone to a 21-6 lead at the 9:54 mark.
The Eagles’ drove as far as the BG 10 later in the third, but a fumbled center exchange was recovered by the Marauders to thwart the drive. On the heels of the turnover, BG managed only four plays and a punt.
That wasn’t the case for Tyrone when the Eagles came away with their second turnover of the half two minutes into the fourth quarter on a Shane Barr interception. He returned it to the BG 36, setting up an eight-play, 36-yard drive that Wilson kindled by completing 3 of 4 passes, including a 13-yard hookup with Trey Brockett on fourth-and-5 from the 21. Two plays later he connected with Franco for the final tally.
“Bishop Guilfoyle is a really tough football team,” Franco said. “They’re really tough to play here at Mansion Park, and they were basically playing for their playoff lives. They were really coming after us, and they were very well prepared.”
GRID TIDBITS: Mingle’s first touchdown came on a one-yard run in the first quarter, just two plays after he broke loose for a 48-yard gain … Franco’s reception gave him three touchdown catches for the season … Mingle’s 92 yards rushing left him 267 yards away from becoming Tyrone’s 13th 1,000-yard rusher … the Eagles travel to Indian Valley Friday, while BG plays Mount Union.
Tyrone 28 Bishop Guilfoyle 6
Tyrone 7 7 7 7 – 28
Bishop Guilfoyle 0 6 0 0 – 6
First Quarter
T – Mingle 1 run (Stotler kick) 10:16
Second Quarter
BG – Seasoltz 20 run (PAT failed) 11:18
T – Mingle 1 run (Stotler kick) 5:47
Third Quarter
T – Mingle 5 run (Stotler kick) 9:54
Fourth Quarter
T – Franco 4 pass from Wilson (Stotler kick) 6:20
Team
T BG
First Downs 13 10
Yards Rushing 165 83
Pass Att.-Comp. 8-16 6-15
Pass Yards 63 41
Total Yards 228 124
Fumbles/Lost 1-1 2-1
Interceptions Thrown 0 1
Penalties/Yards 4-30 2-19
Punts/Avg. 4-26.8 4-36.5
Rushing
Tyrone – Mingle 17-92; Franco 6-37; Gillmen 8-14; Wilson 4-15; Golden 2-7.
Bishop Guilfoyle – Seasoltz 13-3; Perehenic 6-15; Librizzi 5-27; McConnell 6-13; Gioiosa 3-25.
Passing
Tyrone – Wilson 8-16-63, 0 Int., 1 TD.
Bishop Guilfoyle – Seasoltz 6-15-41, 1 Int., 0 TD.; Phillips 0-1-0, 0 Int., 0 TD.
Receiving
Tyrone – Franco 3-27; Barr 2-21; Brockett 1-13; Morrow 1-7; Gillmen 1-(-5).
Bishop Guilfoyle – Craig 3-23; Gioiosa 1-15; Perehenic 1-5; Fraundorfer 1-5.
