BY CORY ISENBERG
TYRONE — Tyrone scored on its first four possessions of the first half and senior back Levi Reihart rushed for 198 yards on 19 carries and three touchdowns as the Golden Eagles dominated Ligonier Valley
35-6 Saturday night in a District 6 Class AA quarterfinal.
The loss ended the Mounties’ season at 7-4.
“Our kids battled and fought. Their body language never indicated to us that there was ever any give-up or quit in any of them, and for that I’m extremely proud,” Ligonier coach Roger Beitel said. “You can’t ask for anything more.
“The size factor they have it in terms of physical size on the field and number of players, we’re the second-smallest AA school in Pennsylvania.”
On their first drive, the Golden Eagles (9-2) moved 46 yards on just two plays, with Reihart galloping 35 yards for the score.
Jared Templeton kicked the first of his five extra points.
Tyrone’s second drive was
12 plays, capped by a Steve Franco pass to Eric Desch for a
12-yard touchdown.
Desch finished with five catches for 106 yards.
In the second quarter, the Golden Eagles moved 51 yards on nine plays, with Franco scrambling in from 2 yards out for the score.
The Mounties finally got on the scoreboard in the second quarter, set up by a Ryan Knupp kickoff return following Tyrone’s third score.
Knupp’s return to the Tyrone 40 was Ligonier’s deepest penetration into the Golden Eagles territory.
After a quarterback sack, Jackson Corcoran broke through the Tyrone defense on a 40-yard jaunt down to the 4.
Two plays later, Curtis Markosky scored from the 3.
After a Tyrone penalty on the extra-point attempt, the Mounties decided to go for two. But the run fell short and Ligonier Valley trailed 21-6.
The Golden Eagles added another Reihart touchdown of 14 yards to set the halftime score.
Reihart added his final touchdown run of 20 yards with 3:14 left in the third.
“Tyrone made plays, you have to give them credit,” Beitel said.
“Numerous times in the game, we were there, we just didn’t necessarily make the play.
“Tyrone is an outstanding football team. There were some times early on that everyone on our defense went where they were supposed to go to and they covered their gaps and they just got into us and pushed us for five or six yards. There’s nothing that we can do as coaches or they can do as players if they are giving up 70 or 80 pounds a man.”
Markosky finished with
48 yards on seven carries and Corcoran added 61 on 10 carries.
Tyrone will play at Central next Saturday in a rematch of their Week 10 meeting, won by the defending district champion Scarlet Dragons.
