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Oliver carries Tyrone to victory

BELLEFONTE Instead of Waldo, the Tyrone Golden Eagles had Bellefonte asking the question, ‘Where’s Oliver?’

Senior running back James Oliver rushed for 155 yards on 12 carries with four touchdowns, three on the ground, as Tyrone walloped the Red Raiders, 53-6, Friday night in a Mountain League clash at Rogers Stadium.

Oliver credited the offensive line for his success.

“We feed off each other tremendously,” he said. ” If they make a bad play, I just cheer them up and tell them we’ll come back at it harder, and we do.”

The game didn’t start smoothly for the Eagles (4-1, 3-1) as Erik Wagner fielded a bad snap on a punt attempt in the first quarter, giving Bellefonte (0-5, 0-3) excellent starting field position at the 30-yard line.

“Our execution is not where it needs to be,” Tyrone coach Steve Guthoff said. “All of our guys feel that we have a lot of work to do to get where we want to get.”

On the first Raider drive, it was the Tyrone defense setting the tempo for the rest of the night as the defensive line stuffed Nick Armstrong after a 1-yard gain on fourth-and-10.

Shortly after that, Oliver made his presence felt on a sweep up the Bellefonte sideline, scoring a 71-yard scamper to put Tyrone ahead, 7-0.

In the second quarter, Oliver scored his third touchdown, this one on the receiving end of a 45-yard Erik Wagner pass to give Tyrone a 27-0 cushion at the half.

“You see some breakdowns as time will go on, and a lot of that has to do with momentum,” Bellefonte coach Shannon Manning said. “We got to be more resilient than we’ve been.”

The breakdowns only continued for the Red Raiders. After a Doylan Deitrich fumble, Oliver added his fourth score of the night to ultimately send the game to the mercy rule.

Even in victory, Guthoff said his team has room to grow and credited Oliver for stepping up.

“Last week we showed improvement in things we needed to do,” he said. “This week, we really were carried by our halfback early in the game. It wasn’t a matter of us executing, it was a matter of one guy making outstanding plays.”

Oliver feels his team can still improve, even after a lopsided victory.

“Our whole team is happy, but we’re not satisfied,” he said. “We didn’t execute as much as we needed to, but we’re going to get better.”

Game notes: Tyrone’s defense held Bellefonte to 134 yards total offense, 45 through the air. Six Red Raider runners failed to amass more than 20 yards, three for negative totals. Tyrone hosts Bald Eagle Area next week, while Bellefonte faces Clearfield at home.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Tyrone14 13 13 13 – 53

Bellefonte0 0 0 6 – 6

First Quarter

T-Oliver 71 run (Umholtz kick), 8:40

T-Oliver 8 run (Umholtz kick), :24

Second Quarter

T-Oliver 45 pass from Wagner (kick failed), 7:02

T-Boone 17 pass from Wagner (Umholtz kick), 1:02

Third Quarter

T-Oliver 3 run (Umholtz kick), 10:30

T-Sleeth 4 run (kick failed), 8:23

Fourth Quarter

T-Muir 1 run (kick failed), 9:34

B-Kerschner 48 run (kick failed), 5:19

T-Steinbugl 33 run (kick failed), 3:24

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Tyrone – Oliver 12-155, A. Hunter 4-58, Sleeth 3-33, Wagner 1-14, Lash 1-2, Steinbugl 1-33, Team 1-(-27). Bellefonte Deitrich 5-(-3), Kaltenbach 2-0, Leiter 1-3, Smith 5-13, Armstrong 5-(-33), Jackson 4-(-3), Jabco 3-26, Harter 0-0, Kerschner 5-60, Caprio 3-26.

RECEIVING: Tyrone Goetz 2-33, Crawford 2-22, Oliver 1-45, Boone 1-17. Bellefonte Deitrich 2-6, Leiter 2-31, Stover 1-6, Jabco 1-2.

PASSING: Tyrone Wagner 5-13-1-123; G. Hunter 2-3-0-22. Bellefonte Armstrong 6-13-2-45, Caprio 0-0-0-0.

INTERCEPTIONS: Tyrone Bakhsheshe, Makdad. Bellefonte Leiter.

TEAM STATISTICSTB

First Downs117

Rushing yards26889

Passing (comp.-att.-int.)7-16-16-13-2

Yards Passing11745

Total Yards385134

Fumbles-lost2-01-1

Penalty yards7-605-30

Punts-Average2-34.55-29.8

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