Oct 3, 2025 By Rob Burchianti 4 min read

Uniontown will likely face its toughest opponent of the high school football season Saturday afternoon in powerful Ironton from Ohio.

You won’t hear Red Raiders head coach Tim Bukowski asking for shorter quarters or a running clock in the first half as some other WPIAL teams have done this season, though.

That question was brought up during Uniontown’s 59-13 home loss to Martins Ferry last week.

“They wanted to shorten the quarters. I won’t do that,” Bukowski said. “We’re going to play every game every minute, I don’t care what the score is. These kids have to learn football and the more we play the better.”

The Fighting Tigers (4-1) present quite a challenge for the host Red Raiders (2-4).

“We’re playing a team that’s a superpower,” Bukowski pointed out. “They’re going to be the toughest team these guys have ever seen. Two-time state champs, they send kids to Division-I. Last year they had one kid go to Penn State and one to Missouri.

“They’re a top-tier program that could play with anybody in the WPIAL.”

No matter the opponent, Bukowski just wants his team to step up and give its best effort.

“I’m never going to shorten games,” he said. “I see a lot of this going on in the WPIAL. I’ve been on the other end of it for a lot of years down at Clairton where we were doing that to teams.

“We know what we’re up against. We’re not afraid. We’re going to go play.”

Uniontown’s game begins at 3:30 p.m. at Bill Power Stadium.

The Red Raiders are one of two area independent teams who play Saturday afternoon games in Week Six. The other is Brownsville (0-4) which is scheduled to play Carrick (1-4) with a 1 p.m. kickoff at Cupples Stadium. The Falcons canceled last week’s game due to a player shortage but as of Thursday afternoon their game with the Raiders was still on.

The rest of the slate for local teams, including Fayette County’s other two independent squads, Albert Gallatin and Connellsville, will take place tonight, all with 7 p.m. kickoffs.

The unbeaten Colonials (6-0) travel to Clear Spring in Maryland to take on the Blaziers (1-3) while the Falcons (1-5) host the DuBois Beavers (4-2) at Falcon Stadium.

Conference play continues for the rest of the local teams.

There are two key games in the Class 4A Big 6 Conference. Laurel Highlands (0-1, 2-4) travels to Ringgold (0-1, 3-3) and Belle Vernon (0-1, 1-4) is at Chartiers Valley (1-0, 5-1).

Undefeated Jefferson-Morgan (3-0, 6-0), which is tied with California atop the Class A Tri-County South Conference standings, hosts Beth-Center (1-2, 1-5). The Trojans (3-0, 5-1) travel to Coaches Field to take on Carmichaels (0-3, 1-4).

Also in TCS play, Bentworth (2-1, 4-2) hosts West Greene (1-2, 1-5) and Mapletown (0-3, 1-5) travels to Avella (2-1, 5-1) for the second time this season. The Eagles defeated the Maples in the first, non-conference meeting, 41-6, on Aug. 22.

The Bearcats and Avella are tied for third place in the conference. Only the top three are guaranteed a spot in the WPIAL playoffs.

In the Class A Eastern Conference, Frazier (1-2, 3-3) is at Leechburg (2-0, 4-1). The Commodores earned an important win over Brentwood last week to keep themselves in the mix for one of the four playoff spots in the conference.

In the Class 3A Interstate Conference, Southmoreland (1-0, 6-0) puts its perfect record on the line with a road game against rival Yough (0-1, 2-4). The Scotties won their conference opener at Derry last week and are 6-0 overall. Mount Pleasant (1-0, 4-2), which defeated the Cougars last week, hosts Greensburg Salem (0-1, 2-4) in a game with playoff implications.

In the Class 2A Century Conference, Waynesburg Central (0-2, 2-4) faces a must-win game at Carlynton as it strives to stay in the race for the postseason. The Raiders played Thursday night last week so have had an extra day of rest in preparing for the Cougars (0-2, 1-5).