ROARING SPRING — There was a sense of deja vu for a few moments in the fourth quarter on the Tyrone sideline Friday night at Roaring Spring Athletic Field.

The Golden Eagles had not beaten Central since 2018 and had let several leads slip away during that stretch. Just two weeks ago, Tyrone opened the season in complete control against Bellefonte before allowing two late scores and falling by a point.

Friday, the Eagles never seemed in danger until a sudden Scarlet Dragons score with just 3:43 left made it a one-score game.

Facing a third-and-5 and without a first down the whole second half, Tyrone surprised Central with an Eli Woomer pass to Caleb Whitby over an all-out blitz for a 45-yard game-sealing touchdown with 1:32 left in an eventual 28-6 Golden Eagles win.

Photo for the Mirror by Chuck Meyers Tyrone's Mason Emigh intercepts a pass against Central.

“That was important,” Tyrone coach John Franco said. “We were in a situation two weeks ago where we tried to run the clock out. (Central was) dominating our linemen. They were putting everyone on the line and blitzing everyone, and we’re good at executing our screen passes. We have several of them, and that’s not a big-time play for us. It’s part of our offense, and we work on it every day. If you are going to bring nine people, we’re going to pop it right over and let our skill guy — Caleb Whitby — take over the game. He did a great job with that.”

Instead of getting the ball back with a chance to tie, Central was down 21-6 and tried to throw the ball quickly down the field. Tyrone’s Brayden Parsons came up with his second interception of the game — and the Eagles’ fifth — and returned it 40 yards for a touchdown to set the final score.

“We all thought they were going to run the ball (on the key third-and-5) and run more clock,” Central coach Jerry Albright said. “It was a good play. They made the call, they made the play and scored. Give them credit. We were trying to put more guys in the box to stop the run and do everything we could to get the ball back.”

Play of the game: The screen pass for a score — Whitby’s second of the night after he opened the scoring with a 7-yard touchdown run.

“This was almost the exact same situation as two weeks ago,” Franco said. “We have been talking about how we have to learn how to control a situation and not put our heads down and feel bad about things. We didn’t take advantage of all the opportunities we had in the second half to score until the very end. This tested our mental toughness, and it was good to see us come through. We needed this, and it was encouraging.”

Player of the game: Parsons had two interceptions and caught three passes for 70 yards.

Unsung hero: Central linebacker Coltin Harbaugh was all over the field and helped limit Whitby to just 6 yards rushing in the second half after he ran for 69 in the first half.

Most vital statistic: Tyrone turned Central over six times. The Golden Eagles had five interceptions, two by Parsons, two by Mason Emigh and one by Owen Oakes, and recovered a fumble. In the scrum for the fumble, Central starting quarterback Jesse Muthler was injured and did not return to the game.

“Went for the ball,” Albright said. “He dove after it, and another guy landed on him who was diving for it. It was a clean play. It was precautionary. They wanted to make sure it wasn’t anything worse, and that’s why he didn’t return, but it could be worse than what we think too.”

Franco: “That was a great mental barrier for us to break through. Not only to beat Central, but to overcome our problems from the first week.”

Albright: “We knew we were going to be very young and have some flaws, but we didn’t think they would be this extreme. I never thought we would have that many interceptions. We’re more of a controlled passing game. We don’t go deep that often. We have to do better. Credit Tyrone though — good offense and good defense.”

Tyrone senior QB Eli Woomer, who beat Central for the first time: “This means a lot. This is a great rivalry. They are a great group of guys and well coached. The last couple years, we haven’t been able to beat them. I’m just happy that the group of guys we have were able to persevere and get the win tonight.”

Notable: Carter Schenk came on in relief of Muthler and threw a 48-yard pass to JJ Moushlian on fourth down to set up his 15-yard touchdown run with 3:43 left that made it 14-6. Central kicked an onside kick, but Ashton Emigh recovered it. … Mason Emigh caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from Woomer, who finished with 174 yards passing. … Moushlian and Levi Wareham had interceptions for Central. … The Scarlet Dragons were flagged just once for 10 yards. … Tyrone now leads the all-time series between the teams, 26-25.

Records: Tyrone (2-1); Central (1-2).

Next week: Both teams will be on the road next Friday with Tyrone traveling to Bald Eagle Area and Central playing at Bellwood-Antis.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Tyrone 7 7 0 14 — 28

Central 0 0 0 6 — 6

First Quarter

T–Whitby 7 run (Novak kick), :34.

Second Quarter

T–M. Emigh 25 pass from Woomer (Novak kick), :50.

Fourth Quarter

C–Schenk 15 run (kick blocked), 3:43.

T–Whitby 45 pass from Woomer (Novak kick), 1:32.

T–Parsons 40 interception return (Novak kick), :37.

TEAM STATISTICS T C

First downs 12 10

Total yards 279 208

Rushes-yards 27-105 24-85

Yards passing 174 123

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 10-19-2 14-24-5

Punts-avg. 4-37 2-41

Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-1

Penalties-yards 6-50 1-10

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–Tyrone, Whitby 21-75, Woomer 4-30, A. Emigh 1-1, TEAM 1-(-1). Central, Musei 10-38, Schenk 2-23, Harbaugh 8-19, Muthler 2-7, Marks 1-2, Conley 1-(-4).

PASSING–Tyrone, Woomer 10-19-2-174. Central, Muthler 12-16-3-78, Schenk 2-8-2-45.

RECEIVING–Tyrone, Parsons 3-70, A. Emigh 3-24, Whitby 2-52, M. Emigh 2-28. Central, Moushlian 3-46, Dickson 3-16, Schenk 3-15, Harbaugh 2-23, Musei 2-17, Bookhammer 1-6.