Down to the wire
Red Raiders top Falcons, 34-27, on Hall of Fame night
The cross-town rivalry with Laurel Highlands will always be the top game on the schedule for Uniontown, regardless of the sport or circumstance, but following its 34-27 victory in a barn burner against Brownsville, “The National Road Rumble,” could become a close second for fans of the Red Raiders.
“The National Road Rumble” does not have a copyright, but if it did, the origins of the nickname for the rivalry came at the suggestion of Uniontown public address announcer Joshua Scully, who is also known in some circles as “the voice of the Red Raiders.”
Scully was in rare form on Friday at Bill Power Stadium, as the Red Raiders rallied several times before pulling out the win on a night when the Uniontown Area High School Academics, Arts and Athletics Hall of Fame introduced its 11th class prior to kickoff.
Uniontown trailed 27-26 with 7:33 remaining in the game after Falcons quarterback Kaden Wimmer scored on a two-yard run and Maxime Dieudonne connected on his third PAT.
The Red Raiders (2-1) responded with a touchdown drive of their own that was capped off by Brayden Hinzy’s 27-yard touchdown pass to Nate Hice with 6:28 remaining. Hinzy ran in the two-point conversion for the seven-point lead.
Hinzy, who completed 12-of-18 pass attempts for 209 yards, threw a 20-yard pass to Marcus Evans, and David Settles ran for 20 yards to set up the game-winning score.
Evans caught six passes for 94 yards and Settles ran three times for 27 yards.
“I thought my quarterback, Brayden Hinzy, played his best game,” Uniontown coach Tim Bukowski said. “I thought he showed a lot of character out there. He ran the ball hard and made good throwing decisions.
“I am very proud of our team because they had to fight back a couple of times in the second half and didn’t quit.”
Brownsville (0-3) didn’t let trailing by seven for the first time in the game affect its offensive attack, as Exzavier Vargas took off on a 49-yard run to the Uniontown 20, and then ran for eight of his game-high 106 yards before penalties pushed the Falcons back to a 3rd-and-10 at the Red Raiders 22.
“I thought Brownsville played a good game,” Bukowski said. “They were well prepared, and their kids fought hard. He (Vargas) is very quick and I thought their quarterback played a good game. It was a good football game.”
Wimmer scrambled to his left and found Dieudonne in the end zone for what Brownsville thought was a touchdown, but the Falcons were called for an illegal man downfield and the score was wiped off.
Settles intercepted Wimmer on the next play and Uniontown was able to run the clock down to 17 seconds before punting back to Brownsville.
“David (Settles) did a good job and was in the right spot,” Bukowski said. “He is one of our veteran guys back in the secondary, so we expect him to make those kinds of plays.”
Down to no timeouts and 10 seconds remaining following the punt, the Falcons ran out of time to produce the game-tying score.
“We are very fresh in this program,” said Brownsville coach and Uniontown graduate Cody Castor. “We are three games into the program trying to set high standards for them to be great people, and we didn’t have any finger pointing. We had a lot of people working tougher, and football is a passionate sport. I am very proud of our players, but I am also proud of Uniontown. I think both programs are moving in a positive direction.”
Both teams were hit by penalties, as Brownsville was flagged 11 times for 70 yards and the Red Raiders were penalized 12 times for 126 yards, but Uniontown only had one penalty called in the second half.
Wimmer opened the scoring on a one-yard run at 2:27 of the first quarter for a 7-0 advantage following Dieudonne’s kick. Wimmer rushed for 52 yards on 10 carries.
Michael Thomas, who ran for a team-high 77 yards on 20 attempts, scored his first of three touchdowns on a five-yard run with 8:09 remaining in the second quarter. The Red Raiders’ two-point conversion attempt failed and the Falcons maintained a 7-6 lead.
“It was good to have Michael (Thomas) back at running back,” Bukowski said. “He ran hard and pounded out some yards, and that helps the line out when they have a back running hard.”
Wimmer scored on a second one-yard run with 1:53 left before halftime, but Uniontown went on a 11-play, 55-yard drive that culminated in Thomas’ five-yard run with 10 seconds remaining in the second quarter.
Gavin Radford put the home team in great field position to start the drive before halftime with a 31-yard kickoff return to the Red Raiders 45-yard line. Evans pulled in a swing pass from Hinzy and raced 20 yards to the Brownsville 32.
Uniontown faced a 4th-and-seven from the 29 after Thomas gained three yards and two incompletions were thrown, but Hinzy went right back to Evans on an 11-yard reception for a first down at the 18.
Hinzy ran for six yards and Cam Dugan pulled in a 10-yard reception. Dugan caught three passes for 38 yards.
Hinzy rushed for a first down on a third-and-two at the 10 before Thomas finished off the possession.
The run failed on the two-point conversion attempt and the Falcons clung to a 14-12 halftime advantage.
The Red Raiders received the second-half kickoff and Thomas’ three-yard run put Uniontown in front, 18-14, with 6:04 remaining in the third quarter.
The Falcons took the lead back when Silas Patterson pulled in a 65-yard touchdown reception from Wimmer with 3:48 left in the third quarter and the kick failed for a 20-18 advantage.
Wimmer was 8 for 14 for 121 yards.
“I am excited to watch the film and help the kids get better from here,” Castor said.
Hinzy scored on a six-yard run and Dugan, who was holding for the extra point, jumped up once the ball was snapped back to him and raced to the right corner of the end zone and broke the plane for a 26-20 lead at 11:54 of the fourth quarter.
“That is just an athlete making a play,” said Bukowski regarding Dugan’s run for the two-point conversion. “It was supposed to be a pass to the left on a fake, but he just, all of a sudden, saw something to the right that he liked and took off but we’ll take it. He got in.”