Right direction: Uniontown, Brownsville both take positive steps in Red Raiders鈥� 49-28 win
REPUBLIC 鈥� Uniontown earned a 49-28 victory at Redstone Field on Friday night but don鈥檛 blame Brownsville if it left the game with an upbeat feeling.
The Falcons football team had been through a hectic 10-day stretch in which it changed its head coach two days before a 49-0 loss at Martins Ferry in Ohio that left it with a 0-3 record, having been outscored 138-0.
Former Brownsville head coach Von Braddock graciously stepped into that role again and in his second game at the helm coaxed a solid effort out of the struggling squad against the visiting Red Raiders. The Falcons got a sparkling performance out of Exzavier Vargas who had 176 rushing yards on 14 carries, including two long touchdown runs.
Uniontown coach Keith Jeffries knew what Braddock and the Brownsville football team was going through and, in a show of support, had his team mingle and pose for a photo with the Falcons in a pregame gathering at midfield.
鈥淲e have a lot of respect for the coaches here,鈥� Jeffries said. 鈥淰on worked with us for many years. Jimmy (Barak) we know real well, Scooter (Roebuck) 鈥� they鈥檙e great people. For those guys to step in and take over under tough circumstances like they did last week was very admirable of them. That蘑菇视频 one of the reasons we did that in the pregame.
鈥淭heir kids played their butts off tonight. They鈥檝e got nothing to be ashamed about. They played very hard. I was very impressed with that.鈥�
Uniontown was impressive as well in rolling to a 42-6 lead before Brownsville rang up a trio of fourth-quarter touchdowns.
Jamarie Walker ran for 97 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries and Calvin Winfrey III threw a pair of TD passes to Notorious Grooms and ran for another score, all in the first half, as the Red Raiders improved to 3-3.
Jeffries emptied his bench in the second half.
鈥淭hat蘑菇视频 what we hoped to do was get a lot of guys in, get some of the younger kids some game experience, and we were able to do that,鈥� Jeffries said. 鈥淎s for our starters, they understood what we wanted to do. They played hard, they hit, they hustled, they listened to us and followed the game plan.鈥�
Braddock commended his players.
鈥淭hat was an outstanding effort,鈥� Braddock said. 鈥淔or being here only about a week and putting a new series (of plays) in, I thought they did a great job. We put in about four plays and that蘑菇视频 about all we ran tonight for the most part. I told them they鈥檙e probably going to know what蘑菇视频 coming after a while but we鈥檙e going to run it right 鈥� and they did.
鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 be more proud of these kids. All I asked was for them to compete and maybe score a touchdown or two. They hadn鈥檛 scored in their first three games so to put up 28 tonight, I feel pretty good about that.鈥�
Braddock tipped his hat to Uniontown and Jeffries.
鈥淯niontown is a good team with a lot of athletes,鈥� Braddock said. 鈥淜eith and I have coached together and we鈥檝e been around each other a long time. He does a good job. He did pull a lot of his starters in the second half and I appreciate that.鈥�
The Red Raiders took a 7-0 lead with a seven-play, 55-yard drive capped by Walker蘑菇视频 9-yard touchdown run but Brownsville answered two plays later with its first points of the season in spectacular fashion.
Vargas took a second-down handoff and surged into a crowd of Red Raiders but somehow emerged from the mass of bodies, eluded another tackle and sprinted 79 yards for a touchdown to the delight of the home fans on hand to make it 7-6.
鈥淲e ran a wham and he just kept his legs going,鈥� Braddock said of Vargas鈥� TD. 鈥淗e weighs about 115 pounds but there蘑菇视频 no stopping him. I told him before you鈥檝e got to get north and south and keep your legs turning and that蘑菇视频 exactly what he did there to come out of that pile and score that touchdown.
鈥淭hat was a great effort by him.鈥�
Winfrey threw a 9-yard TD pass to Grooms late in the first quarter but Uniontown muffed a punt return early in the second with Vargas recovering for Brownsville near midfield.
The Red Raiders defense held and their offense scored on its final three drives of the first half.
Winfrey蘑菇视频 45-yard touchdown run with 7:21 left in the second quarter put the Red Raiders up 21-6 and Walker蘑菇视频 3-yard TD run with 2:43 remaining made it 28-6.
Walker蘑菇视频 interception with 41 seconds left in the half led to consecutive completions by Wiinfrey of 24 yards to Walker and 17 yards to Grooms who alertly grabbed a deflected pass in the end zone with six seconds left for a touchdown and 35-6 lead.
鈥淗eads up play by Tory,鈥� Jeffries said. 鈥淒avid did a good job at quarterback tonight, throwing and running.鈥�
Uniontown made it four straight touchdown drives when Cam Dugan tossed a 1-yard pass to Anthony Sheffey midway through the third quarter.
The Falcons鈥� offense sprang to life in the fourth quarter with touchdown runs of 19 yards by Jaiden Praster, 33 yards by Omarion Grayson and 55 yards by Vargas on the final play of the game.
Taylor Galloway scored the Red Raiders鈥� final touchdown in scintillating fashion following Praster蘑菇视频 TD, taking the ensuing kickoff, reversing fields and sprinting down the right sideline for a 70-yard return.
鈥淭hat was a pretty impressive run,鈥� Jeffries said. 鈥淚t was good to see some of our other players making some plays.鈥�
Eleven different players had at least one carry for Uniontown which totaled 357 yards and 17 first downs. Winfrey had four rushes for 65 yards and was followed by Tayshawn Jackson (4-38), Galloway (2-27) and Michael Thomas (3-22).
鈥淭he kids just executed what we wanted them to do and we got a lot of them involved,鈥� Jeffries said.
Winfrey completed 5 of 10 passes for 61 yards. David Ranitu converted all seven of his extra-point kicks. Grooms had 90 total yards on two runs, three receptions and a 48-yard kickoff return.
Praster ended up with seven carries for 52 yards for the Falcons and was followed by Grayson (2-42) and Johnathan Visbinder (3-36). Vargas and Bryce Horabik each ran in a two-point conversion and Kameron Shumar had a defensive fumble recovery.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got some stuff we鈥檝e got to clean up, like not hitting the hole where we鈥檙e supposed to and things like that,鈥� Braddock said. 鈥淏ut we鈥檒l work on that.鈥�
Brownsville hosts Carrick this Friday while Uniontown has a week off before traveling into Maryland to play Northern Garrett on Oct. 11.