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TYRONE - New Tyrone coach Jason Jones was hoping to use the Eagles' season-opener against Bellefonte last night as a measuring stick to see how his team stacked up with one of the promising teams in the Laurel Highlands East Division.
After scoring a 14-7, come-from-behind victory at Gray-Veterans Memorial Field, Jones can be sure of at least one thing: Tyrone's special teams are solid, good enough in fact, to make the difference in a game when necessary.
Against the Raiders, junior Coltyn Frye returned the opening kick for a touchdown and Caleb Whitby flipped field position all night with booming punts that were rarely returned.
The result was that, even though Bellefonte directed the flow of the game for the second, third, and fourth quarters, the Raiders could never deliver a knockout blow because they were forced to drive the field so often. That gave Tyrone just enough wiggle room to turn the tide with the one impactful drive they managed to piece together late in the fourth quarter.
The victory was the first for Jones, who was making his varsity debut as a head coach after taking over for John Franco in February.
Frye's 91-yard return had the Golden Eagles ahead 6-0 early, but after three series that went nowhere the Raiders finally got on the board on their final play of the fourth quarter when Parker Jodan turned a short pass from Alten Howell into a 73-yard touchdown after he got past the defense. Noah Tomlinson added the extra point and Bellefonte led 7-6 with 43 seconds left in the opening frame.
It was a lead that would last until halftime and into the fourth quarter, with neither team doing much offensively until Tyrone's Mason Emigh came alive.
Play of the game: With under 3 minutes to play, quarterback Ben Walked eluded the pass rush and stepped up in the pocket to deliver a strike to Emigh in the back of the endzone after Emigh had gotten behind double coverage. It was a 22-yard pass that gave the Eagles the lead for the first time since the first quarter.
Player of the game: Held in check for most of the game, Emigh had two catches for 44 yards in the fourth quarter, pulling in the game-winning touchdown pass and the ensuing two-point conversion. Emigh finished with 4 receptions for 59 yards.
Unsung hero(es): Caleb Whitby averaged 48.4 yards on 7 punts, including three kicks that travelled over 50 yards. One fourth quarter punt went 62 yards after the Eagles had been backed to their own 4-yard line, completely flipping the field position and putting Tyrone in a position to drive for the go-ahead score two series later.
Most vital statistic(s): Of Tyrone's 11 offensive series, 8 ended in punts, and two others in turnovers. On 8 punts, the Eagles averaged 45.9 yards per kick. On the Eagles' final series, Walk pooched a surprise punt from the shotgun 28 yards to Bellefonte's 18.
Jason Jones quote: " Special teams were fantastic. Coach (Brad) Kanuch did a great job preparing our guys. We told them early in camp that special teams are going to win games. They did tonight with field position. You never know which way you're going to win a football game. Two of the three phases were good tonight. We have to pick it up with the offense. But Coach Kanuch with the special teams and Coach (John) Shelton with the defense were fantastic.".''
Tony Confer quote: "Their punter put them in a position to win that football game, said Confer "We had opportunities to put points on the board and we didn't. If we can cash in, I'd feel good about our chances. Historically, our special teams are very good. They just caught us on (the kick return). That was probably the play of the game, between that and their punts. And we didn't execute offensively when we needed to."
Notable: Bellefonte had two drives in the first and second halves that made it inside Tyrone 20. One ended in a botched field goal and the other stalled following a big stop behind the line of scrimmage by Dylan Robinson and Kyler Suhoney.
Records: Bellefonte 0-1, Tyrone 1-0
Next week: Bellefonte hosts Forest Hills; Tyrone travels to Westmont Hilltop.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Bellefonte 7 0 0 0 - 7
Tyrone 6 0 0 8 - 14
First Quarter
T--Frye 91 kick return (PAT kick failed) 11:44
B - Jodan 73 pass from Howell (Tomlinson kick) :43.1
Fourth Quarter
T - Emigh 22 pass from Walk (Walk pass to Emigh) 2:56
TEAM STATISTICS B T
First downs 11 5
Total yards 288 83
Rushes-yards 39-179 19-22
Yards passing 109 61
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 8-17-2 8-17-1
Punts-avg. 5-28.4 8-45.9
Fumbles-lost 3-1 2-1
Penalties-yards 5-53 2-10
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Bellefonte: Al. Howell 13-53, As. Howell 6-40, Hall 15-79, Park 1-1, Bowman2-(-1), Bartley 1-5, Jodan 1-2. Tyrone: Whitby 11-25, Walk 3-10, Starr 3-3, TEAM 2-(-16),
PASSING--Bellefonte: Al. Howell 8-16-109, 1 TD, 1 Int.; Park 0-1-0, 1 Int, Tyrone: Walk 8-17-61, 1 TD, 1 Int.
RECEIVING--Bellefonte: As. Howell 4-24, Weaver 2-5, Jodan 2-80. Tyrone: Emigh 4-59, Whitby 1-(-2), Stroup 1-0, Gwinn 1-1, Frye 1-3.