Tyrone Golden Eagles football have been well represented with PIAA All-State selections during the tenure of head football coach John Franco. Hard work and excellent talent have been rewarded with trips deep into the PIAA state playoffs and individual honors have come to the Eagles as well.
The 2004 Tyrone team is no exception to what has become the rule rather than the exception with two First Team selections, one on each side of the football. Brice Mertiff was named to the AP First Team offense as a running back, while Terry Tate moves up from a Second Team selection in 2003 at defensive lineman to the First Team this year as a defensive lineman.
Mertiff ended the 2004 campaign with 2,041 yards rushing, averaging 7.76 yards per carry and scored 28 touchdowns. Brice also caught 11 passes for an additional 201 yards and five more TDs to lead the Eagles with 33 touchdowns overall. During the season, when regular kicker Ben Gummo was injured, Mertiff stepped right in and booted a pair of extra points. The Eagles’ regular punter, Mertiff averaged a respectable 34 yards per kick on 30 punts. His ability to scramble contributed to an important first down when the snap from center skipped back to Mertiff, who saw an opening and picked up eight important yards to move the sticks to keep the drive going late in the game.
“This is awesome,” said Mertiff. “In a way, I expected something like this after running for over 2,000 yards and playing on one of the best teams in the state. Usually these things come to teams that do that well. Bubs (fullback Brit Mingle) and Leonard (quarterback Leonard Wilson) and Terry and the line work hard and this is a team sport. I couldn’t have done it without them. We compliment each other and help out.”
Mertiff became just the third back at Tyrone in the history of the Orange and Black’s long and storied football program to rush for 4,000 career yards and this year became an integral part of the Eagles defensive secondary.
“I am so happy for Brice,” said Tyrone head coach John Franco. “He has worked so hard over the past three years. He is a gamer-he plays best in the biggest games. This honor is something Brice can take with him for the rest of his life. I hope he continues to do better and better in each life choice he makes. This shows Brice what he can do when he puts his whole heart and soul into something.”
Terry Tate was selected to the Second Team a year ago and this year moves up to a well-deserved First Team spot.
Tate, a three-year starter on both sides of the line was the center on offense on a team that rushed for 3,658 yards and passed for another 1,178 yards, a total offense of nearly 5,000 yards.
On defense, Tate anchored a defensive line that limited 14 opponents to just 7.9 points per game, 78.7 yards rushing and 82.5 passing. Only two teams, Bald Eagle Area and Grove City rushed for 100 yards and seven teams were held to 70 yards rushing or less. In the Eagles first 13 games, the opposition was able to score just 90 points.
“It is an honor to be called the best in the state,” said Tate. “It was great to see hard work pay off, to improve from last year. It’s my goal to improve every year and obviously, I’ve done that. It’s neat to have another teammate of mine, who I grew up with-Brice, to also make the First Team.”
Going into the Grove City game, Tate had 20 tackles for losses, 4.5 sacks and two takeaways. The only way Grove City was able to keep Tate out of their backfield was to double and triple team him and even that plan worked only occasionally.
“This is the culmination of a great career for Terry,” said Franco. “This selection shows that Terry is one of the best players in the entire state. I thought he was one of the most dominating players I have ever seen on the football field. His selection was a no-brainer. By the end of the football season, Terry was doing better than even I expected of him.”
Other selections to the AP teams were Tyrone opponents: First Team-Jose Cruz (wide receiver) of Bishop McCort, Carmen Connelly (wide receiver) and Bill Stull (quarterback) of Seton-LaSalle, Kent Uber (defensive line) and Jesse Alfreno (defensive back) of Grove City. Philipsburg-Osceola defensive back Lou LaFuria was selected to the Second Team.
