Sanner, McLee key Uniontown victory
Doogie Sanner completed 16 of 26 passes for 218 yards and two touchdowns and Daylan McLee rushed for 102 yards on 17 carries and returned a kickoff 86 yards for a touchdown as Uniontown routed Derry Area 34-3 in a Class AAA Keystone Conference game at Uniontown’s Bill Power Stadium. With the much-needed win, Uniontown ended a four-game skid and improved its record to 1-4, 1-1, while the points-starved Trojans fell to 0-5, 0-3.
“This is exactly what we needed,” Uniontown coach John Fortugna said. “It’s more than our first win of the season, it’s a conference win and means a whole lot for these players. We’re going to use this as a confidence builder for the rest of the season.”
After the visiting Trojans went three-and-out to open the game, it was all Red Raiders. Coming out in their standard shotgun, no-huddle, two-minute offense, Sanner led Uniontown on a four-play, 74-yard drive to score. All four plays on the 1:12 drive were passes – which strangely represented all of Uniontown’s first-quarter plays – with Sanner connecting with Devin Miller for the final 14 yards with 8:09 remaining in the opening quarter.
On its next possession, Derry Area, which had scored only 16 points entering the game, scored on a Michael Chemski 29-yard field goal for the Trojans’ only points of the night.
In the first quarter, Derry rushed for 82 yards, but was held to 54 during the remaining three periods in what Fortugna said was “an all-around defensive effort. We changed some things at the end of the quarter and had our guys looking inside. We changed some of our defensive positions and everything worked after that.”
On the kickoff following the Derry field goal, McLee bobbled the ball at his 16, ran back inside the 15, and broke through the over-pursuing would-be Trojans’ tacklers at the 20. He cut to his left and easily outdistanced Derry’s defenders to the goal line with 2:20 left in the opening quarter.
“We’ve been waiting for him to have a big game,” Fortugna said, referring to his speedy junior running back. “This was definitely a must win for us and that return was the game-breaker we’ve been looking for.” McLee’s 14-yard run in the second quarter proved to be Uniontown’s longest run from scrimmage this season.
Fortugna was also pleased with Uniontown’s passing game, led by Sanner, a 5-11, 160-pound sophomore.
“Doug is starting to mature,” Fortugna said, noting that Sanner connected with six receivers in the first half, eight for the game. “He threw some decent passes tonight and we have some quality receivers who were getting open.”
Despite Uniontown’s offensive explosion, the Red Raiders’ play-of-the-game was a defensive gem turned in by Brandon Bowers midway through the second quarter, with Uniontown ahead 14-3.
From its 43-yard line, Derry’s Jay Whittaker took a pitch right, bounced off several Uniontown defenders, and was apparently headed down the right sideline to the end zone when Bowers, covering a Derry receiver who had cut inside, saw Whittaker moving to the outside. Fighting his way through traffic, Bowers tripped up Whittaker by the ankles at the Uniontown 3-yard line. Uniontown’s defense stiffened and forced the Trojans to attempt a second field goal, which was wide right, preserving the Red Raiders lead.
“I was covering one of their slot receivers and after my man cut inside, I saw their running back break outside,” Bowers said. “As I chased him down the sideline, I never thought I was going to catch him. I was lucky and timed it right when I dove at his feet just before he reached the goal line.”
“That was a big play,” Derry coach Ron Polinski said. “We ran well in the first quarter, but Uniontown took away our running game after that. We had some open receivers and couldn’t connect on some passes and just made too many mistakes.”
In the fourth quarter, Uniontown put the game away with three touchdowns. McLee scored on a 2-yard run, Bowers on a 1-yard run, and Sanner capped the scoring with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Michael Dvorchak.
Up 14-3 at the half, Fortugna warned his players about being complacent in the second half.
“We knew that Derry would never give up,” Fortugna said, “and we told our players that 14 points were not enough to win, that we had to make them earn every yard. We had a good, all-around game tonight, and we have to build on this win the remainder of the season.”