BILL ALBRIGHT

CentralPASportscenter.com Senior Writer

WINGATE – When Tyrone made the trip down 220 to Wingate for its annual battle with Bald Eagle on the turf at Alumni Stadium, many thought it could be a close battle between two good football teams that might have gone down to the wire.

However, it only took a few minutes to set the tempo for the contest when it quickly became the James Oliver Show as the Golden Eagles sprinted past the BEA Eagles for a 54-6 win.

“I think I am going to take out a personal loan for us to get turf at Tyrone for James to run on,” said Tyrone head coach Steve Guthoff. “I think we all knew that when he got on the surface that something like this could happen.”

All Oliver did during his night on the turf was rush the ball 18 times for 352 yards while scoring a half dozen touchdowns. The 352 yards is a new Tyrone single-game record.

Regardless of his individual success, Oliver admitted that he didn’t feel comfortable about the game until his team was up by 35 points at halftime and the game was headed for the Mercy Rule during the entire second half.

“Bald Eagle is known for their ability to come back after halftime,” said Oliver. “That is why with the 35-point lead, I felt pretty  comfortable coming out for the second half. I realize there are teams out there that can stop me, but I also want them to know that when I am running well, stopping me is going to be difficult.”

Coming into the game, BEA head coach Jack Tobias knew his club was going to be in for a real battle.

“They are tough right across the front and when they block as well as they did tonight, they are going to be tough to stop,” said Tobias. “They have good overall team speed and you have to also respect the speed of their receivers because they have some guys who can fly on the edges. They spread you out and when you have a back like that it makes it tough because once he turns the corner, he is gone.”

Trailing 13-0, BEA scored its only touchdown of the game on a 1-yard plunge by Nate Sharkey, but the Golden Eagles came right back to put up 28 big points in the second period on three more Oliver touchdowns and a 68-yard, catch-and-run by Corey Snyder.

With BEA hanging around through the first period, Oliver quickly took matters in his own hands at the outset of the second period when he scored a pair of touchdowns in less than a minute on runs of 21 and 91 yards.

Although his squad was manhandled by the Golden Eagles, Tobias felt that his players managed to do some good things in the loss.

“I just told them there were times tonight where we played very well, but then there were those times when we struggled,” Tobias said. “We dropped a couple of passes that might have resulted in touchdowns and if we could have come up with those catches, it might have been a different ball game. When you make the mistakes down close like we did tonight, it starts to wear on the kids and they start falling apart.”

Penalties and mistakes have hurt the Eagles at times this season, and Tobias was happy with the effort of his players to cut down on those errors.

“They didn’t quit and they played hard right down to the end,” Tobias said. “I told them at halftime that they were making a difference and that I was proud of them because they cleaned up all the penalties from last week. At times, we executed well offensively, but when you get down like we did, it is tough to come back.”

Although Oliver stole the offensive show for the most part, BEA running back Dakota Bartley quietly had a good game of his own by rushing 15 times for 134 yards.

“Bart is an outstanding ball player,” praised Tobias of his running back. “He comes to practice every day with a great attitude. He is very coachable and is always asking what he can do to make the team better. He is just one of those kids you love having on your team and on Friday nights, you are never going to question what he gives you. He’ll jump, he’ll dive and twist, doing whatever it takes for him to make a play. I told him that I was very proud of his effort tonight.”

For a runner to have a 100-yard plus game, that means that the “Hogs” up front are also doing their job.

“I thought the offensive line did a great job tonight,” Tobias said. “But when you get down twenty points, it makes it difficult to come back when one of your things is running the football. We threw a little bit, but we just weren’t able to complete a few of the passes we needed to keep them honest. We had some dropped balls and to be successful, you have to make those catches. We have to make those catches and make plays because that can make the difference in any ball game.”

Tyrone  13  28  7   6 --  54

BEA        6     0  0   0 --   6

First Quarter

T – James Oliver 2 run (kick failed), 10:49. (0-6)

T – Oliver 35 run (Seth Umholtz kick), 7:09. (0-13)

BEA – Nate Sharkey 1 run (rush failed). 3:07. (6-13)

Second Quarter

T – Oliver 21 run (Umholtz kick). 11:53. (6-20)

T – Oliver 91 run (Umholtz kick). 10:58. (6-27)

T – Oliver 5 run (Umholtz kick). 1:39. (6-34)

T – Corey Snyder 68 pass from Erik Wagner. :01. (6-41)

Third Quarter

T – Oliver 11 run (Umholtz kick). 7:13. (6-48)

Fourth Quarter

T – Aleic Hunter 26 run (kick failed). 2:21. (6-54)

Team Statistics    T         BEA

First Downs              20         10

Rushes-Yards       32-404    35-108

Passing Yards         152        103

Passing               7-12-2      5-16-2

Fumbles-Lost         1-1          2-1

Penalties-Yards     5-25       2-10

Individual Statistics

RushingT: James Oliver 18-352, 6 TDs; Aleic Hunter 6-50, 1 TD; Erik Wagner 2-13, Charles Wilson-Adams 1-10, Corey Snyder 2-8, Jared Muir 1-3, Garrett Hunter 1-negative 13, Team 1-negative 19.

BEA: Dakota Bartley 15-134, Nate Sharkey 4-3, 1 TD; Kaleb Weaver 1-2, Mitch Struble 2-1, Cole Long 6-negative 4, Titus Tice 4-negative 13, Jason Jones 3-negative 15.

PassingT: Erik Wagner 6-10, 139 yards, 2 interceptions; Garrett Hunter 1-2, 13 yards.

BEA: Cole Long 4-11, 100 yards, 2 interceptions; Jason Jones 1-5, 3 yards.

Receiving

T: Corey Snyder 3-89, 1 TD; Charles-Wilson Adams 2-37, Hayden Zook 1-13, Jacob Makdad 1-13.

BEA: Jon Romine 2-56, Jordan Kobularcik 2-44, Jarrett Shreffler 1-3.