Maiden voyage
Uniontown wins flag football debut at Bill Power Stadium
Jonathan Sakaguchi experienced the thrill of playing at Bill Power Stadium as a member of the Uniontown football team, but the 2012 graduate of Uniontown Area High School stepped on the field turf Tuesday evening in a new capacity as head coach of the girls flag football team.
Sakaguchi’s team had played three games prior to Tuesday’s Section 2 battle against Brentwood, but the opportunity to play in front of a home crowd was worth the wait, as the Lady Red Raiders blanked the Lady Spartans, 20-0.
Uniontown, who improved to 3-1 this season, hosts Clairton (2-2, 4-2) in section play on Friday at 4 p.m.
“We have some cooking this week, and another win in the books for us,” Sakaguchi said. “We have Clairton coming to town, and that’s going to be a real test for us. We have had some history with them the last couple of years, and getting to play them here on a Friday night. You couldn’t pick a better place for it.”
The Lady Red Raiders have been playing flag football since 2024, but this is the first season the WPIAL will recognize a district champion among the four sections.
The top four teams in each section will qualify for the WPIAL playoffs. In the event of a tie, head-to-head competition will be used as the first attempt to break the draw. If head-to-head can’t break the tie, the WPIAL will use a tie-breaking system based on section records between the tied teams, or the team(s) with the best (numerical head-to-head) section record among the tied teams will qualify for the postseason.
If the tie is not broken with head-to-head and the tie-breaking system, all tied teams will advance to the playoffs.
Section play is scheduled to wrap up on April 30. The playoffs are set to run from May 4-9.
In Tuesday’s game against Brentwood, the home team used two defensive scores and limited the Lady Spartans (3-4, 3-4) from moving the ball in earning the shutout.
The squads traded possessions in the first quarter, as Uniontown punted and Brentwood surrendered possession with a turnover on downs.
The Lady Red Raiders couldn’t seem to find their rhythm offensively, but broke the deadlock when Aubree Long returned an interception 65 yards for a touchdown with 5:34 left in the second quarter. Uniontown wasn’t able to complete the two-point conversion, but held on to a 6-0 lead that it took into the locker room.
“The offense was a little rusty, but we haven’t played in 10 days,” Sakaguchi said. “It was a little bit windier than we are used to, which caused some problems, but we will get our connection going.”
The Lady Raiders went up by two scores with 9:21 remaining in the third quarter on Lannie Uluiakeba’s 43-yard pick-six. Aierra Jenkins pulled in the two-point conversion reception from Lyric McLee for a 14-0 advantage.
“The defense was solid today,” Sakaguchi said. “We had two interceptions that were returned for touchdowns, and we were able to get the shutout.”
Jenkins, who has been selected to play in the Big 33 Classic, caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from McLee to cap the scoring with 3:13 left in the third period.
The future PennWest California product led the game with four receptions for 65 yards and had two interceptions, five pass breakups and four tackles.
McLee was 8 of 17 for 85 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. She also had one carry for 10 yards and recorded two tackles.
Miracle Mosley gained 26 yards on four carries.
Long had eight tackles, including one for a loss, and broke up five pass attempts. Teammate Seveah Rishel shared team honors with Long for tackles, and also recorded a sack.
A’zhiya Belt had six tackles, including four for a loss, and one sack. Uluiakeba added four tackles to go along with her defensive score.