Tyrone rallied in the second half to turn back visiting Bellefonte on Saturday night by a 26-8 count.
The Golden Eagles never trailed, but got off to a slow start putting up just one score in the first half, before scoring once in the third quarter and twice more in the fourth.
While it took awhile for the Eagles’ offensive to get going, the defense was in control for the entire game, with the exception of the one Red Raider touchdown after Tyrone was in charge 20-0 in the final quarter.
The Eagle defensive unit limited Bellefonte to 31 yards rushing on 20 carries, while rushing 43 times for 271 yards on the ground themselves.
“I thought the big thing we had to do was establish our offensive line,” said Tyrone coach John Franco. “Tonight our offensive line controlled the game. They’re pretty good and they are getting better. I thought that was the key to the game.”
Tyrone put points on the board at Tyrone Veterans Memorial Field on both of their first drives of each half, even scoring TDs in exactly the same time.
Leonard Wilson, who completed seven of his 11 pass attempts, found Ben Gummo coming out of the backfield for 17 yards to begin the game and Brice Mertiff covered 28 yards on the ground in five plays, including the nine-yard touchdown at the 7:10 mark of the first quarter. Gummo boomed the PAT for a 7-0 lead that was the only score of the first half.
Tyrone did threaten on their final series of the half, but a Gummo field goal attempt from 36 yards away was wide to the right.
Gummo carried three times for 34 yards, Mertiff toted the ball twice for 17 yards and each caught a pass from Wilson to set up the attempt.
Bellefonte received the opening kick, but fumbled and Brinton Mingle recovered and the Red Raiders drove to the T-13 before missing a field goal attempt of their own.
Bellefonte kicked off to begin the second half and the Eagles drove 57 yards for the TD. Mertiff, who led all runners with 159 yards on 19 carries picked up eight on the first call and Gummo, who added 69 yards on nine rushes, moved the sticks with a seven-yard gain. Wilson picked up 24 yards on a pair of keepers and Mingle, a freshman, who rushed seven times for 37 yards, bulled the final six yards for the score.
Two series later, the Orange and Black were back in business again after forcing a three plays and punt series fro Bellefonte.
This time, Tyrone marched 66 yards in 10 plays for the score with Wilson finding his tight end Max Soellner for a 17-yard TD pass and Gummo’s PAT gave the Eagles a 20-0 advantage with 10:29 to play in the fourth quarter.
Mertiff carried three times for 22 yards and Mingle has his number called twice for 10 yards to account for most of the damage. Wilson completed a five-yard toss to Tommy Crowl before hitting Soellner, who caught three passes for 25 yards, with the TD pitch.
Unable to move on the ground, Bellefonte quarterback Josh Mundy took the Red Raiders trough the air for their lone touchdown to slice the Tyrone lead to 20-8.
Mundy, who completed 14 of 20 pass attempts for 158 yards overall, connected four times during the 55-yard drive, including a 39-yard TD to Nathan Carson. The duo combined again for the two-point conversion.
The Eagles put one more score on the board when Brice Mertiff scored from long range, Mingle scooted for 13 yards on the opening play of the drive and two plays later, Mertiff got loose in the secondary for a 50-yard scamper to paydirt.
“Bellefonte always has a lot of good athletes,” said Franco. “We look at this game to see where we are at this point of the season, because they always play us really tough. This is the youngest team I’ve ever coached and I’m just anxious to see these kids get better every week.”
Tyrone (3-1) travels to Wingate this Friday for a contest against Bald Eagle Area.
Tyrone 26, Bellefonte 8
Score by quarter
Tyrone – 7 0 6 13- 26
Bellefonte – 0 0 0 8 – 8
Scoring
First Quarter
T – Mertiff 9 run, (Gummo PAT) 7:41.
Third Quarter
T – Mingle 6 run. (Kick failed). 7:41
Fourth Quarter
T – Soellner 17 pass from Wilson. (Gummo PAT). 10:29
B – Carson 39 pass from J. Mundy (Carson pass from J. Mundy) 6:22
T- Mertiff 50 run (Kick failed)
Team Statistics
T B
First Downs 17 8
Rushes 43 20
Rush yards 271 31
Passing att. 7-11 14-20
Pass yards 57 158
Int. by 1 1
Fumbles/rec 1-1 2-2
Penalties 7-40 7-65
Punts 3-41.3 2-34.5
Total Yards 328 189
Individual Statistics
Rushing
Tyrone: Mertiff 19-59 (2 TDs), Gummo 9-69, Christine 3-10, Mingle 7-37 (1 TD), Wilson 5-26.
Bellefonte: Narehood 9-42, Tressler 11-21, Heider 12-(-12).
Passing
Tyrone: Wilson 7-11 57 yards, 1 TD, 1 Int.
Bellefonte: J. Mundy 14-20 158 yards 1 TD, 1Int.
Receiving
Tyrone: Soellner 3-25 (1TD), Gummo 2-23 Crowl 1-5,Mertiff 1-4.
Bellefonte: Torsell 4-49, M. Mundy 4-24, Snare 3-43, Smith 2-33, Carson 1-39 (1TD).
