Snapping the streak
Uniontown tops LH for 1st time in 10 years
Laurel Highlands had the opportunity to tie the all-time series with Uniontown in the football version of the cross-town rivalry on Friday night at Mustang Field, but the Red Raiders had other ideas in a 22-7 victory in the final game of the season for both teams in Class 4A Big Six Conference play.
Uniontown took advantage of three Laurel Highlands turnovers and 15 penalties committed by the home team in defeating the Mustangs for the first time in seven meetings.
The Red Raiders topped the Mustangs, 27-10, in 2016. After Laurel Highlands won in 2017, the game wasn’t contested for the next three years before the series resumed in 2021.
In its first season playing in the WPIAL after taking the independent route the past five years, Uniontown finished its season with a record of 4-6 overall and 1-4 in the Big Six Conference.
Tim Bukowski lost his debut as the Red Raiders’ head coach last year to the Mustangs in a 27-0 setback, but the former Southmoreland coach continued to find success on Mustang Field, as he has a perfect record at Laurel Highlands.
“We will play them here next year, too,” said Bukowski with a chuckle while reflecting on his success at LH. “Our kids wanted it, and we practiced harder this week than we have in a long time. We had a rough stretch against some really good teams, but we came out and broke the streak, and that’s what we wanted to do. I am happy for the seniors to go out with a win.
“I have to point out our defense. Coach (Dave) Wojtanowski and his staff did a fantastic job. We stuffed them for most of the game. They had one big pass at the end, but overall, I thought our kids were flying around and having fun, which you should do in football, and making plays. I also want to point out Taylor Galloway, who had some massive hits for us.”
Uniontown leads the all-time series, 24-22, after Friday’s triumph.
Laurel Highlands head coach Ian Edenfield didn’t question his team’s compete level and play, but pointed to the penalties, as the Mustangs had 122 yards worth of infractions.
“Honestly, I don’t even look at the turnovers because on our first play of the game, we come out and get a false start,” Edenfield said. “We would get 15 yards in three plays, but have to punt because we were behind the sticks 20 yards due to penalties. We talked all week about no stupid penalties and no self-inflicted wounds to ourselves that’s going to hurt the team. We hurt the team tonight with the penalties, and that’s on me, but we have to break that habit going into next season.”
The Red Raiders thought they had scored seconds into the game, as Galloway took the opening kickoff 96 yards into the end zone, but a block in the back negated the score.
Uniontown didn’t let the penalty deter its play, as the Red Raiders drove from their own 25-yard line to the Mustangs’ 41, but faced a fourth-and-two.
Laurel Highlands bracketed Uniontown wide receiver Marcus Evans to take away the big plays from the 6-4, 190-pound junior, but Evans converted on fourth down with a four-yard run out of the wildcat formation before the senior duo of Brayden Hinzy and Gavin Radford connected for a 37-yard score and a 6-0 lead with 6:55 remaining in the first quarter.
“They were ready, and he made some plays with his feet and had a catch, but we had to go to other guys,” Bukowski said. “I thought our other receivers all made plays.”
Hinzy faked a jet sweep to Nate Hice before finding Radford down the middle of the field for the touchdown.
“We had been working on that play all week,” Hinzy said. “We haven’t really called it much, but we decided to pull it out on the jet sweep and try to beat them outside. They bit on it and I just threw it up there and he was wide open.”
Edenfield and his squad knew the capabilities of Evans, but was equally impressed with Radford, who caught four passes for 95 yards.
“Our plan was to take away Evans and make the other kids beat us,” Edenfield said. “No. 8 (Radford) for them is fast. I didn’t think he was that fast. Their other guys made the plays.”
The Red Raiders forced the Mustangs to punt on their first drive and advanced the ball to the Laurel Highlands’ eight-yard line on the final play of the opening period before Hunter Smithburger connected on a 20-yard field goal with 9:08 left in the second quarter for a 9-0 advantage.
Evans’ lone reception was key in his team’s second possession, as he pulled in a 27-yard pass from Hinzy after the ball was tipped by a LH defender for a Uniontown first down at the Mustangs’ 21. Laurel Highlands stopped Evans out of the wildcat prior to Smithburger’s kick.
Neither team scored in the final 9:08 of the second period and the Red Raiders held a nine-point edge at halftime. Evans recovered a fumble and Galloway ended a Mustangs’ drive with an interception to keep the home team off the scoreboard in the first half.
Laurel Highlands fumbled the kickoff return to open the second half and Uniontown took over at the LH 25.
The Red Raiders capitalized on the turnover with a touchdown after Hinzy rolled to his left and found Hice in the back corner of the end zone for a seven-yard score and a 16-0 lead after Smithburger’s PAT with 8:42 remaining in the third quarter.
“What most people don’t know is that he (Hinzy) made most of those plays on his own,” Bukowski said. “We had something called and it wasn’t there, but he still made the play. When he hit Hice in the corner, that was all him. He scrambled and made that play happen.”
Hinzy was thrown into the fire last year at quarterback, and despite some struggles in his first season playing the position at the varsity level, the senior closed his high school career in style after completing 10-of-14 passes for 167 yards and two touchdowns. Hinzy threw 17 touchdowns passes this year, which set a single-season record at Uniontown.
Bukowski has seen the maturation process of Hinzy first hand, and his lone wish would be to have him back for a few more years.
“His growth from last year to this year has been exponential,” Bukowski said. “He has really taken the lead of this team, and we are going to miss him. He did a heck of a job and is a great football player, and a great young man. He’s a leader.”
A holding penalty hindered the Mustangs’ fifth drive, which forced a punt with five minutes remaining in the third quarter.
The Red Raiders drove 80 yards in eight plays to increase their advantage to 22-0 when Hinzy scored on an eight-yard run.
Uniontown converted on a third-and-seven from its own 35 when Michael Thomas caught a screen pass and took it 37 yards to the LH 28.
Penalties continued to hurt Laurel Highlands, as a defensive pass interference call moved the ball to the eight-yard line prior to Hinzy’s score as time expired in the third period.
Hinzy also plays basketball and baseball for the Red Raiders, and baseball is his No. 1 sport, but he wouldn’t rule out playing football at the next level if the opportunity presented itself.
“Right now, I want to do baseball the most, but I’m not opposed to football in college,” Hinzy said. “Playing baseball helped with football, as it translates easily when it comes to throwing. It was a great feeling to win this game after we lost 27-0 to LH last year. It also had been 10 years since we beat them, so it was nice to get the win.”
The Mustangs reached the end zone with 3:47 left in the contest when seniors Nick Crouch and Alafia Calloway connected for a touchdown and Jackson Nairn made the extra point to cut the deficit to 22-7.
Crouch evaded the rush of Evans and threw a deep ball into the middle of the field to Calloway, who pulled in the reception and raced into the end zone down the right side of the field for a 41-yard score.
Laurel Highlands senior Joel Tyson recovered the fumble that set up the home team’s scoring drive.
Crouch began the season at running back, but due to an injury to starting quarterback Gabe Centofanti, the Mustangs had to make a change and Crouch took over. Crouch didn’t have his best day passing, but he rushed for a team-high 56 yards on nine carries.
Despite a winless season, Edenfield never questioned his team’s desire and effort.
“These kids showed up every day,” Edenfield said. “The scores may not reflect that, but our guys never quit in any of our games and gave it their all. Nick (Crouch) was one of our leaders, and as a senior, we are going to miss him, but we have kids coming back and some coming in. Our guys need to use this season as a driving force for next year.”
Uniontown won three of its first five to start the season, but the Big Six Conference slate denied the Red Raiders a spot in the WPIAL playoffs, however, Bukowski is eager for the future as his team had a two-win improvement from last year.
“It wasn’t a great season at 4-6, but it was a good season,” Bukowski said. “It was our first year back in the WPIAL, plus we doubled our win total from last year.”
The contest was played without the luxury of a scoreboard, which went out at Mustang Field roughly an hour before kickoff, but other than not being aware of the time or score at a moment’s notice, there were no issues.
“We were lucky we had a veteran crew that kept us abreast every chance they got, so really, I have to give credit to the officiating for doing a great job,” Bukowski said. “Obviously, I would have liked to have the scoreboard, especially for the quarterback and the time getting down late in the play clock, but both teams had to play without a scoreboard.”