Huntingdon @ Tyrone Game Preview

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Hunter Myers | October 2, 2025

District 6 Class 3A only has space for four teams in the playoffs. Entering Week 7, five teams squarely in the race, with Huntingdon and Tyrone right in the middle of this late-season battle. Huntingdon, sitting at 5-1, is at the top of Class 3A, 30 ranking points ahead of two other 5-1 teams, Penn Cambria and Forest Hills. Meanwhile, the Tyrone Golden Eagles (3-3) are one game and 100 ranking points behind Philipsburg-Osceola, currently stuck in the fifth seed. Neither team will want to give up any ground when they meet beneath the lights of Gray Veterans Memorial Field on an early autumn night.

These two teams are familiar foes, facing each other in the Mountain League before both switched into the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference for the 2023 season. Since 2020, Tyrone is 4-0 in games played (2021 was a forfeit in favor of Tyrone), with an average win margin of 25.5 over the Bearcats. In last seasons game, the Golden Eagles won 32-7, behind 280 passing yards and two-touchdowns from QB Ashton Walk. Seventy-nine of his yards and one-touchdown went to Eli Woomer, who assumed the QB role at the start of 2025.

The Golden Eagles are on a two-game losing streak at the moment, dropping their record to 3-3 after a hot 3-1 start where their offense was firing on all cylinders. In their first four weeks, Tyrone averaged 29.5 points per game and 295 yards of offense. However, in their last two games, Tyrone was held to only seven points against rival Bellwood and was shutout for the first time since 2019 against Bishop Guilfoyle. In those games their offensive output has dropped to just 158 yards per game, about half of their first four games. Tyrone’s head coach John Franco, stated, “we can’t turn the ball over and we have to get our running game going. The past two weeks we weren’t able to do either of those items well enough to win”. That will start with Tyrone’s athletic backfield, with dynamic RB Caleb Whitby leading the charge. Whitby has shown flashes this season, with a 188-yard, two-touchdown performance against Westmont, but has been held to just 176 yards in the other five games combined. As coach Franco noted, the turnovers have really stifled their offense, with eight interceptions in six games, and Huntingdon will look to capitalize on that.

Huntingdon boasts one of the best defenses in the conference, holding opponents to just 15 points per game in their five wins. The strength of the defense is its turnover-forcing ability, with 12 takeaways in six weeks, including a 70+ yard pick-six in the second half of their 49-19 win over Central last week. Defensively, Coach Lucko understands the challenge of Tyrone’s potentially explosive offense, stating “Tyrone has playmakers all over their offense and aggressive up front. We need to be disciplined with our assignments, tackle well in space, and win on first downs.” Offensively, the Bearcats are tasked with moving the ball against a defensive front that has accumulated 43 tackles for loss through six games. Last week, Huntingdon controlled their run game against a strong Central defensive line in the second half, with RB Evan Edmiston rushing for 150 yards and getting a hat trick of touchdowns. This brought his season totals to 294 yards and five-touchdowns. The Bearcat offense will look to capitalize on their defensive stops.

LHAC football is known for smashmouth, physical defensive matchups, and this week is no different. The key to this game will be whether Tyrone’s offense can gain momentum early; otherwise Huntingdon’s defense will be able to control this game from the jump. Coach Franco will have his guys ready though as he has “consistently maintained that same standard of toughness and execution that his programs are known for,” according to Coach Lucko. However, his hands will certainly be full with a Huntingdon team seemingly hitting its stride down the backstretch of the season. In football, every loss is costly, and with October here there is no margin for error, and both teams will be looking to bolster their playoff chances.

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