Blake Lilly

CRESSON — Penn Cambria didn’t do much offensively for most of the first three quarters Friday night against Tyrone.

But when the Golden Eagles took the lead midway through the third on Caleb Whitby’s 42-yard touchdown run — a light clicked on for the Panthers, who drove the length of the field in just five plays to reclaim the lead and never looked back in a 27-10 triumph at Panther Stadium.

“We faced some adversity and got behind,” Penn Cambria coach Jason Grassi said. “From there we played our game. That’s a credit to our kids. It was a physical game. They got punched early, but I liked how we responded in the second half.”

Penn Cambria improved to 7-1 and moved into the top spot in the District 6 Class 3A playoff field with Forest Hills’ loss to Bishop Guilfoyle, and Tyrone slipped to 4-4 and is just ahead of Philipsburg-Osceola for the final playoff spot.

“We had our chances, there’s no doubt about it,” Tyrone coach John Franco said. “We got ahead in the second half, and then we got pushed around. It was totally different than last week where we took a very good defense and thumped them. This week was the opposite. We didn’t come through when we had to in the fourth quarter. That was disheartening. They are a really good team, and they outplayed us tonight. But we thought we were right there the whole game, but at the end of the game, we didn’t play well enough to win the game.”

Play of the game: Leading 10-7, Tyrone’s Whitby stepped in front of an Evan Latterner pass and nearly intercepted it before it fell to the ground late in the third quarter. On the next play, Latterner ran 23 yards for a first down to eventually set up Corbin Vinglish’s go-ahead 23-yard touchdown run.

“(Vinlgish is) a heck of a football player,” Grassi said. “He does everything for us. He’s a thumper. He goes downhill on defense and makes plays. He runs the ball hard, and he’s a between-the-tackles kind of guy.”

Player of the game: Blake Lilly opened the scoring for Penn Cambria with a 45-yard punt return for a touchdown and also caught nine passes for 114 yards.

“I can’t believe they kicked to him a couple times like that,” Grassi said. “He’s dynamic. He makes things happen. He’s great with the ball in his hand. You see that on offense and special teams.”

Lilly credited his teammates for his return but said running in the open field gives him a rush.

“It wouldn’t be an open field without my teammates blocking,” Lilly said. “They did a great job. But it’s an adrenaline rush when you see it. You’re out there, dodging between people, and I got in the end zone tonight.”

Unsung hero: Whitby carried the ball 19 times for 117 yards and a touchdown and also caught a pass and took it 47 yards to set up a 30-yard field goal by Tytus Novak on the game’s opening drive.

Most vital statistic: Penn Cambria had 20 first downs, but 14 of those came in the second half.

Quarterback switches: Both Penn Cambria and Tyrone switched to a different quarterback in the second half. The Panthers shifted Brady Jones from taking the snaps to tailback for Latterner, and the Eagles played Ben Walk at quarterback and starter Eli Woomer at wide receiver.

Latterner’s ability to complete five passes for 80 yards helped open things up for the Panthers.

“Evan at quarterback did a nice job stepping in for Brady,” Grassi said. “He threw the ball well and hit some receivers. We mixed some things up with him and loosened them up with him in there. Then we hit them with the run after that, and that was the plan at that point.”

Franco said Tyrone’s move was something that was planned ahead of time.

“That was a package that we put in if we couldn’t move the ball,” Franco said. “It was a chance to do something different and find a different way to get Eli the ball. We did well with it in practice the last two weeks, but we couldn’t connect much tonight. This was a tough defense to go against.”

Franco: “We have to do a better job with our front people both offensively and defensively. The game is won on the offensive and defensive lines. Last week, we won because of them. This week, we lost for the same reason. It looks like next week is going to be a playoff game. We have to lick our wounds and get back to work and have a better performance than we had in the fourth quarter. We played well for three quarters and — dang it — I can’t believe that we got pushed around like that in the fourth quarter. Give them credit.”

Lilly: “Every game we have, we have something to prove. We lost a lot of seniors that were great, but we knew this was our time to step it up, and our coaches have done a great job getting after us. It’s been an amazing season so far.”

Notable: Grant Gides had two interceptions for Penn Cambria, and Woomer had two for Tyrone. … Penn Cambria celebrated its senior night. … Jones uncorked a 50-yard punt to the Tyrone 4-yard line to pin the Golden Eagles back late in the first half. … Latterner had an 89-yard run in the final seconds that inflated the Panthers’ rush yards up to 339 on 36 carries.

Records: Tyrone (4-4); Penn Cambria (7-1).

Next week: Tyrone hosts Philipsburg-Osceola, and Penn Cambria travels to Johnstown next Friday.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Tyrone 3 0 7 0 — 10

Penn Cambria 7 0 7 13 — 27

First Quarter

T–Novak 30 field goal, 8:39.

PC–Lilly 45 punt return (Jones kick), 1:49.

Third Quarter

T–Whitby 42 run (Novak kick), 6:02.

PC–Vinglish 23 run (Jones kick), 4:44.

Fourth Quarter

PC–Jones 10 run (kick failed), 8:14.

PC–Jones 15 run (Jones kick), 3:53.

TEAM STATISTICS T PC

First downs 15 20

Total yards 315 472

Rushes-yards 33-165 36-339

Yards passing 150 133

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 10-20-2 11-19-2

Punts-avg. 3-33 1-50

Fumbles-lost 2-1 1-0

Penalties-yards 6-65 8-64

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–Tyrone, Whitby 19-117, A. Emigh 9-40, Walk 1-6, Woomer 4-2. Penn Cambria, Latterner 7-131, Vinglish 17-123, Jones 6-55, Beck 4-21, Lilly 2-9.

PASSING–Tyrone, Walk 8-13-1-101, Woomer 2-7-1-49. Penn Cambria, Latterner 5-8-1-80, Jones 6-11-1-53.

RECEIVING–Tyrone, A. Emigh 2-21, M. Emigh 3-23, Robinson 2-12, Whitby 1-47, Woomer 1-41, Martin 1-6. Penn Cambria, Lilly 9-114, Nadolsky 2-19.