Union tops winless Western Beaver
Union (25) vs. Western Beaver (22)
Written: Oct 25, 2015
By Joe Sager
New Castle News
INDUSTRY – Union expected to get a win Saturday afternoon at winless Western Beaver.
The Scotties didn’t figure the verdict would come down to the final play, though.
Trevon Charles returned a kickoff 75 yards for a score with 1:50 to go and Union held on to sneak out of Rich Niedbala Field with a 25-22 triumph over the Golden Beavers in a WPIAL Class A Big Seven Conference confrontation.
The Scotties (4-2 conference, 5-3 overall), who had already clinched a playoff berth, narrowly avoided a huge upset against Western Beaver (0-6, 0-8), which would have hurt the team’s postseason seeding.
“I am not going to beat them down too much. We’ll take the win,” Union coach Stacy Robinson said. “We’re not the Pittsburgh Steelers where we should beat everybody. We’ll take whatever win we can get whatever way.”
Certainly, Union took the unconventional route to its fifth conquest.
After building a 19-0 lead in the first quarter, the team went into meltdown mode in the second quarter. The Golden Beavers roared back to score the next 22 points.
The hosts took their first lead of the season, 22-19, with 2:06 to play.
On the ensuing kickoff, Charles took a handoff from Garrison Bell on a reverse and somehow weaved his way through Western Beaver tacklers and scampered 75 yards to the end zone to give the Scotties a 25-22 lead with 1:50 to go. Initially, Charles looked bottled up as he stopped, juked, emerged from a crowd and cut across the width of the field to find daylight and a clear path down the near sideline.
“It was a reverse we practiced all week,” Charles said. “Nothing was open and somehow I got out. My mind was just going crazy after that.”
Robinson wasn’t aware Charles had escaped for the long TD run.
“I actually didn’t even know we had scored. I was looking at what we were going to do on offense. Plays like that make it easy. That has nothing to do with me, but I am not going to be ashamed of having players who can put the ball in the end zone. That’s a gift we have. We’ll take that,” he said. “Then, I had to switch to defensive mode and draw up something to stop them.”
Those plans didn’t go as smoothly as he hoped as the Golden Beavers had no problem marching deep into Union territory. Western Beaver appeared to have the go-ahead score, but a wide-open Turner Anthony dropped a 19-yard pass in the end zone with 22.5 seconds left.
Following a huge Union sack, the Golden Beavers took one more shot at the end zone, but Jeddy Young’s pass was swatted down with no time left on the clock.
“I tried to stress all week that their coach has been around a long time; it’s their Senior Day. I showed the kids right on film, every game we watched of them, they were battling. I don’t know if it’s so much we didn’t play well or it’s they’re still a pretty decent team,” Robinson said.
The Scotties, who welcome backyard nemesis Neshannock on Friday in a rivalry tilt to close the regular season, benefited from other big plays Saturday.
Jordan Best returned a punt 90 yards to the end zone and cashed in a 55-yard TD run. Bell added a 47-yard TD reception from Randy DeJohn.
“We talk all year about being built for the moment. Everybody can sing the national anthem in the shower. When the pressure’s on, you have to be able to produce,” Robinson said. “We have to get better for next week quick, fast and in a hurry.”
UNION WESTERN BEAVER
5 First downs 27
99 Yards Rushing 335
27 Yards Lost 20
72 Net Rushing 315
13 Passes Attempted 12
9 Passes Completed 8
1 Passes Intercepted 1
110 Yards Passing 85
182 Total Yards 400
2-2 Fumbles-Lost 3-1
2-30.5 Punts-Average 1-41.0
8-61 Penalties-Yards 8-85
UNION 19 0 0 6 - 25
W. BEAVER 0 16 0 6 - 22
Scoring plays
UNION – Garrison Bell, 47-yard pass from Randy DeJohn (kick failed).
UNION – Jordan Best, 90-yard punt return (pass failed).
UNION – Best, 55-yard run (Gary Brewton kick).
WESTERN BEAVER – A.J. Cerra, 16-yard pass from Jeddy Young (Louie
Hapach run).
WESTERN BEAVER – Gary Smith, 1-yard run (Hapach run).
WESTERN BEAVER – Young, 23-yard run (run failed).
UNION – Trevon Charles, 75-yard kickoff return (kick failed).
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