Football

Golden Eagles roll into title tilt

SIDMAN -- Tyrone entered the season with a makeshift offensive and defensive line after star lineman John Stanton was lost to injury in the offseason.

There were some bumps in the road along the way, but everything came together Friday night against Forest Hills at G.H. Miller Field in the semifinals of the District 6 Class 3A playoffs as the Golden Eagles crushed the Rangers, 44-0.

"(They have improved) leaps and bounds," Tyrone coach John Franco said. "We got a couple guys back, and that's helped a lot. As well as our linemen run blocked, the real story of the game was how well our defense played. To shut out Forest Hills on their turf, I am so excited about our defense. That's the best they have played all year. You could see them getting better."

Seth Hoover was the beneficiary of that blocking and finished with 23 carries for 250 yards and four touchdowns.

"It's been incredible," said Hoover on his starting offensive line made up of Cian Hockenberry, Austin Lucas, Kaden Ansman, Lucas Bonsell and Owen Oakes. "They get better every week. The holes tonight were wide open. It was great. I couldn't have asked for a better night. The line played great."

The Golden Eagles will play top-seeded Penn Cambria, a 33-0 winner over Central in the other semifinal, for the District 6 Class 3A championship next week.

Play of the game: With Tyrone leading 17-0, Ashton Emigh recovered a Forest Hills fumble with less than a minute to go before halftime. On the next play, Ashton Walk connected with Trent Adams on a perfect pass to the corner of the end zone for an 18-yard score that made it 23-0 at the half. Adams also had two interceptions defensively.

"Trent is a fantastic player, and he's added to our team just as a person," Franco said. "The kids love him. They get along well with him, and it was very difficult for him coming into this situation, and our kids took him in and under their wings. He's one of us now. He's been so good in so many ways, and there's nothing he won't do to help the team. Offense, defense or special teams, he'll do it, and he's a better kid than anything else."

Player of the game: Hoover, who went over 1,000 yards rushing for the season on a 21-yard run in the second quarter. He added touchdown runs of a yard, 4, 32 and 60 yards and also caught two passes for 17 yards.

"Seth is great at bouncing it out," Franco said. "If you take away his inside, he'll bounce out. He just is a very instinctive runner that takes after his dad. Our run blocking by this offensive line was the best it has been all year."

Unsung hero: Ashton Emigh not only recovered that fumble, but he also returned an interception 27 yards for a touchdown to help Tyrone win the turnover margin, 5-1.

Most vital statistic: Tyrone, the top passing team in Blair County, did not throw a pass in the second half -- much to the shock of Franco after the game.

"I don't think we threw the ball in the second half," Franco said. "I can't believe that."

Franco: "We've had so much adversity all year with injuries and suspensions and things that just took us away from being able to play our whole team. We felt once we got our full team back, and we're still missing two important guys, we thought that we had a shot to be pretty good if we stayed healthy. Thankfully, we have been able to do that."

Forest Hills coach Justin Myers: "We knew they were going to run the ball, but we wanted to take away what they do best. Ashton is a phenomenal quarterback, and we were trying to take away the passing game. They started gashing us in the run game, and it was really hard. We're a good football team, not a great football team, and it was really hard to try and stop both tonight."

Hoover on playing Penn Cambria: "I can't wait. We lost to them last year in the first round. We have to get our get-back. We're going to have to have a great week of practice and play like we played tonight."

Forest Hills senior quarterback Nate Cornell: "The team as a whole came together as a big family. Ups and downs, we always had each other's backs. We had a really good connection, and it was a great opportunity for me to have more friends and people I can depend on. I hope they keep working. I'll be in there helping them get ready for next season, because this is a family."

Notable: Dante Novak kicked a 24-yard field goal for Tyrone to open the scoring. ... Forest Hills' Cody Biter blocked an extra point. ... Forest Hills moved up from Class 2A to Class 3A this season. ... Franco was the head coach at Penn Cambria before returning to Tyrone for his current stint there.

Records: Tyrone (7-4); Forest Hills (6-5).

Next week: Tyrone will play Penn Cambria in the District 6 Class 3A championship game at Mansion Park. Forest Hills' season is over.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Tyrone 3 20 7 14 -- 44

Forest Hills 0 0 0 0 -- 0

First Quarter

T--D. Novak 24 FG, 8:51.

Second Quarter

T--Hoover 32 run (D. Novak kick), 11:39.

T--Hoover 4 run (D. Novak kick), 6:47.

T--Adams 18 pass from A. Walk (kick blocked), :41.

Third Quarter

T--Hoover 1 run (D. Novak kick), 8:26.

Fourth Quarter

T--Hoover 60 run (D. Novak kick), 11:50.

T--A. Emigh 27 interception return (T. Novak kick), 10:04.

TEAM STATISTICS T FH

First downs 17 12

Total yards 422 182

Rushes-yards 32-300 38-139

Yards passing 122 43

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 8-13-0 6-16-3

Punts-avg. 0-0 2-25.5

Fumbles-lost 1-1 2-2

Penalties-yards 5-40 3-20

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--Tyrone, Hoover 23-250, Whitby 5-30, A. Walk 1-14, B. Walk 2-6, Robinson 1-0. Forest Hills, Mayes 9-84, Papinchak 18-55, Cornell 10-1, TEAM 1-(-1).

PASSING--Tyrone, A. Walk 8-13-0-122. Forest Hills, Cornell 4-12-2-104, Myers 2-4-1-16.

RECEIVING--Tyrone, Woomer 3-56, Adams 2-47, Hoover 2-17, Weston 1-2. Forest Hills, Papinchak 2-11, McGough 2-10, Williamson 1-12, Russell 1-10.