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Bishop Guilfoyle dominates Tyrone Golden Eagles

By Michael Boytim 6 min read

TYRONE -- Trailing by 14 but coming off its first touchdown of the game, Tyrone looked like it was going to get good field position following a Bishop Guilfoyle Academy punt with a chance to make it a one-score game.

Marauders punter Carter Boland had other ideas.

He took the snap, noticed the corner was wide open and ran 20 yards for a first down. On the next play, Justin Wheeler hit Evan Schimminger in stride for a 55-yard touchdown pass to put BG up three scores and basically seal a 44-14 victory at Gray Veterans Memorial Field on Friday.

"I told him I was going to take credit for it in the paper -- but no, it was all Carter," Bishop Guilfoyle coach Justin Wheeler said. "He's a senior who has been kicking for us for a long time. He's one of the best in the state, and we give him the opportunity to do that if he sees something. If he wants to punt it, he's an amazing kicker too. I think it was huge. For him to make a play like that energized the sideline."

Boland said he also had a successful fake punt as a junior last season.

"When I was back there, I saw they only had one returner," Boland said. "I was originally going to punt it left and hopefully get some roll out of it. I took a few side shuffles left and saw there was a lot of space out there. I decided to just tuck it and run as hard as I could."

The touchdown following the fake was part of a big day for Schimminger, who carried the ball 13 times for 110 yards and caught five passes for 129 yards.

"We have been trying to get everyone involved, and Schimminger has been lights out the last couple weeks," Wheeler said. "(QB) Justin has been great. (Connor) Okonak ran the ball hard. In order to win the games we want to win, we have to have everyone involved."

Bishop Guilfoyle ran for 324 yards in the game.

"Our defensive line has been one of our strengths to start this year, but we got pushed around tonight," Tyrone coach Jason Jones said. "For us, we have talked about this before, it's the culture that we're going to need to build as far as lifting and where we want to go there. We want to get stronger. You have seen it the last two weeks, we're not at that level right now."

Play of the game: The fake punt took all the momentum away from Tyrone, which had just gotten a 78-yard touchdown pass from Ben Walk to Mason Emigh and seemingly stopped Bishop Guilfoyle for the first time defensively.

"I think it was a big momentum swing," Boland said. "We got a touchdown the next play, and the team was all hype again. I think it was great."

Player of the game: Schimminger had 239 total yards, but Wheeler is the one directing it all from his quarterback position. Wheeler had 99 yards rushing and three touchdowns and was 9-for-9 through the air for another 127 yards and a touchdown.

Unsung heroes: Coltyn Frye and Connor Zupon made a ton of plays defensively for the Golden Eagles. Zupon hit Wheeler from his blind side to cause a fumble on a sack in the third quarter.

Tyrone got a 53-yard touchdown pass after the fumble from Walk to Emigh that cut the score to 28-14.

"Both of those players will be back next year," Jones said. "When guys that we have make plays, that's big for them to get confidence for next year when they will be our leaders. Tonight's loss is disappointing, but it's all about where we go from here."

Most vital statistic: Bishop Guilfoyle rushed for 183 yards in the first half and had 290 total yards at halftime.

Wheeler on all the different looks BG gives teams: "I think we have eight different packages of putting different people in different places. We push our guys offensively and defensively with schemes. Sometimes we might do too much, but I think we have a smart group. We trust them to get everyone in the right place. Ninety-five percent of the time, we do it right."

Jones: "We moved the ball better, but we scored 14 points. That will be a talking point for sure. We're getting better and slowly getting to where we want to go. It's not there yet though. This is a big stretch coming up for us where I think we can do a lot of damage. I'll be honest. We were at 28-14 and our guys were believing. We were right there. We just needed another stop."

Tyrone's Mason Emigh on his team's reaction to the fake punt: "We had our hopes up, and they ran the fake and you could just feel everyone getting down on themselves."

Notable: Maddy Harper, the representative from HOSA, was selected as Tyrone's homecoming queen. Elayna Hess, representing the Eagle Eye newspaper, was picked as the princess. ... Keagan Hewitt had just four carries for 36 yards and a touchdown as BG tries to keep him healthy for the stretch run. ... Okonak added a 1-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. ... Reid Starr led Tyrone in rushing with 53 yards with Caleb Whitby, the starting running back to start the season, on the sideline on crutches. ... Golden Eagles backup quarterback Maverick Gummo completed two passes for 13 yards and carried the ball twice for 13 yards on Tyrone's final drive.

Records: Bishop Guilfoyle Academy (5-1); Tyrone (3-3).

Next week: The Golden Eagles travel to Huntingdon on Friday, and the Marauders host Bellwood-Antis Saturday, Oct. 10.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Bishop Guilfoyle 14 14 3 13 -- 44

Tyrone 0 7 7 0 -- 14

First Quarter

BG--Wheeler 11 run (Boland kick), 8:45.

BG--Wheeler 4 run (Boland kick), 2:55.

Second Quarter

BG--Wheeler 16 run (Boland kick), 6:51.

T--Emigh 78 pass from Walk (Novak kick), 5:45.

BG--Schmimminger 55 pass from Wheeler (Boland kick), 2:49.

Third Quarter

T--Emigh 53 pass from Walk (Novak kick), 3:04.

BG--Boland 36 field goal, :32.

Fourth Quarter

BG--Hewitt 1 run (kick blocked), 8:45.

BG--Okonak 1 run (Boland kick), 3:44.

TEAM STATISTICS BG T

First downs 24 12

Total yards 496 340

Rushes-yards 44-324 21-122

Yards passing 172 218

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 11-11-0 16-30-0

Punts-avg. 0-0 4-33

Fumbles-lost 1-0 4-2

Penalties-yards 4-45 5-45

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--Bishop Guilfoyle, Schimminger 13-110, Wheeler 18-99, Hewitt 4-36, Gates 1-35, Okonak 5-26, Boland 1-20, Shellenberger 1-(-1), TEAM 1-(-1). Tyrone, Starr 11-53, Frye 3-46, Gummo 2-13, Kustenbauder 2-5, Walk 2-4, Emigh 1-1.

PASSING--Bishop Guilfoyle, Wheeler 9-9-0-127, Shellenberger 2-2-0-45. Tyrone, Walk 14-27-0-205, Gummo 2-3-0-13.

RECEIVING--Bishop Guilfoyle, Schimminger 5-129, Gates 3-15, Taddei 2-14, Okonak 1-14. Tyrone, Parks 5-51, Emigh 3-137, Stroup 3-12, Naylor 2-13, Frye 1-2, Gwinn 1-2, Robinson 1-1.

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