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BELLEFONTE -- For Bellefonte, it was an exhilarating, improbable, surreal opening-night victory.
For Tyrone, it was truly a case of devastating heartbreak, and a matter of seeing defeat taken from the jaws of victory.
The Golden Eagles appeared to have the game in hand with a 20-7 lead late in the fourth quarter. Bellefonte, though, did not die.
After marching 50 yards in nine plays to narrow its deficit to 20-14 on Ashten Howell's 1-yard touchdown burst with 1:43 left, Bellefonte successfully recovered an onside kick and took over at the Tyrone 42 with 1:42 left.
Nine plays later, senior Jackson Long -- who had recovered the onside kick -- found himself open in the front left corner of the end zone and snagged sophomore quarterback Brennan Huntsinger's 10-yard touchdown pass on the dive with 21 seconds left.
William Oskin's successful conversion kick gave Bellefonte a 21-20 lead, and the Red Raiders held on to that margin of victory in a heart-stopping Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference finish at Rogers Stadium.
Long became the man of the hour in a little over a minute, starting with his recovery of Oskin's onside kick.
"I saw a Tyrone kid on my left, I saw the ball, and I was going for the ball,'' Long said. "I knew that we needed it to win the game.''
His touchdown reception sealed the deal.
"I saw their D-back on top of me, Brennan threw a great pass, and I ran to green grass and caught the ball,'' Long said. "When I got up, my whole team was in my face.''
For different reasons, Bellefonte coach Tony Confer and Tyrone coach John Franco characterized the game as one that they will never forget.
"For an opening-week game, this was one of the most incredible games that I've ever been part of,'' Confer said. "We played a very bad first half of football, and our defense kept us in the game and gave us an opportunity to get those two scores at the end.''
Successfully executing an onside kick, much less recovering it, is something that doesn't happen often.
"We keep that in our back pocket,'' Confer said. "We saw (Tyrone) line up wide in the middle of the field, and we knew that we had it. It was just a matter of our kicker executing the kick, and he did that.''
The loss was devastating for Tyrone, which enjoyed a great passing night in his quarterback debut from senior Eli Woomer, who completed 11 of 18 throws for 234 yards and a touchdown.
"This is as frustrating a loss as I've ever been through,'' Franco said. "We literally practiced against that (onside kick) a few days ago, and we recovered it every time. That was a great onside kick, and we just did not recover it there.
"Talking to the team afterward, this is frustrating, and this is a really bad experience -- to have a win in the palm of your hand, and lose it. But this is a great life lesson for these players. They worked hard for this win, and now they have to learn from this, and come back.''
Play of the game: After coming up with the recovery of the onside kick, Long caught the go-ahead touchdown pass.
Player of the game: Long.
Unsung heroes: Huntsinger showed great field presence at quarterback for a young sophomore, leading both late scoring drives. Woomer had an excellent quarterback debut himself.
Most vital statistic: Tyrone was penalized seven times for 80 yards, including a pass interference penalty and an unsportmanlike conduct penalty that extended Bellefonte's game-winning drive. "When you give up four or five penalties late in the game, that's unheard of,'' Franco said.
More Confer: "This game helped us to see what kind of kids that we have this year. When their backs were against the wall, they kept on swinging, kept on fighting, and were able to put points on the board when they did.''
Notable: Junior back Caleb Whitby opened the game's scoring for Tyrone with a nifty 9-yard run, and Bellefonte answered later in the first quarter on a 56-yard dash up the middle of the field by junior Kaven Smith-Kirk ... Woomer hit junior wideout Mason Emigh, who tightroped the sideline on his way to the end zone, with an 80-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter to give Tyrone a 14-7 halftime lead, and senior running back Ashton Emigh ran 4 yards for a third-quarter TD that staked the Golden Eagles to their 20-7 lead ... Mason Emigh had an interception for Tyrone, while Long made an interception on the final play of the game for Bellefonte.
Records: Tyrone (0-1); Bellefonte (1-0).
Next week: Tyrone hosts Westmont Hilltop; Bellefonte travels to Forest Hills.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Tyrone 7 7 6 0--20
Bellefonte 7 0 0 14--21
First Quarter
T--Whitby 9 run (Novak kick), 7:52.
B--Smith-Kirk 56 run (Oskin kick), 6:19.
Second Quarter
T--M. Emigh 80 pass from Woomer (Novak kick), 9:03.
Third Quarter
T--A. Emigh 4 run (kick failed), 5:38.
Fourth Quarter
B--Howell 1 run (Oskin kick), 1:43.
B--Long 10 pass from Huntsinger (Oskin kick), 0:21.
TEAM STATISTICS T BEL
First downs 7 13
Total yards 288 238
Rushes-yards 22-54 39-148
Yards passing 234 90
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 11-18-1 12-18-1
Punts/avg. 5-36.8 4-35.5
Fumbles-lost 0-0 3-0
Penalties-yards 7-80 3-35
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Tyrone, Woomer 6-24, Whitby 11-18, A. Emigh 5-12. Bellefonte, Smith-Kirk 11-96, Howell 8-49, Huntsinger 14-16, Gall 3-4, Bartley 1-(-1), Long 1-(-5), TEAM 1-(-11).
PASSING--Tyrone, Woomer 11-18-1-234. Bellefonte, Huntsinger 12-18-1-90.
RECEIVING--Tyrone, Stroup 3-50, Parsons 2-24, A. Emigh 2-22, Parks 1-37, M. Emigh 1-80, Whitby 1-17, Martin 1-4. Bellefonte, Howell 3-24, Long 2-18, Dufour 2-7, Langville 1-13, Jodon 1-9, Gall 1-8, Ammerman 1-8, Bartley 1-3.