Falcons outlast Red Raiders

Sep 20, 2026 By Jonathan Guth 4 min read

CONNELLSVILLE — The 2026 version of the “Battle for the Coal Bucket” may not have been the prettiest football game in the history of the rivalry, but Connellsville ground out a 25-13 victory over Uniontown in non-conference play on Friday at Connellsville Stadium.

The Falcons’ Linkon Keller and the Red Raiders’ Marcus Evans had been stellar the first three weeks of the season, and both still did some damage, but the production came from other players, especially in Connellsville’s case.

“It was a dogfight,” Connellsville coach Jace McClean said. “(Uniontown head coach) Tim (Bukowski) does a great job with his guys and they have a bunch of athletes, and our kids stepped up today. When they key on 11 (Keller), it opens up the play for other guys. Our tight end, No. 44 (Tanner Johnson) stepped up and had a huge game today, and he’s only a junior, so we are lucky to have him for next year.”

Johnson pulled in four receptions for a team-high 68 yards and scored a touchdown. Quarterback Dawson Wolfe was 13 of 24 for 129 yards and one touchdown. He also rushed for a score.

Keller did manage to gain 105 yards on 24 carries and scored a touchdown, but he had a battle on his hands, as Uniontown held him for several runs for losses and stops at the line of scrimmage.

“Our defense played good enough to win this football game,” Bukowski said. “My hat’s off to them. Our staff had them ready, and they did a good job.”

Keller kicked a 26-yard field goal for the Falcons’ first points of the game.

Evans caught four passes for 91 yards, including a 60-yard reception for a touchdown. Nate Hice helped the Red Raiders’ cause with three catches for 55 yards and a 31-yard snag that he took into the end zone.

Uniontown quarterback Brayden Hinzy was 11 of 28 for 171 yards and two touchdowns. Mike Thomas led the visitors in rushing with 38 yards on six carries.

There were numerous penalty flags thrown on both sides, but Bukowski was upset at the amount of self-inflicted penalties that his team committed.

“We just made too many mistakes,” Bukowski said. “We have capable athletes, but when they get the opportunity, they don’t make the play. You have to step up now. This was a good football game for us, a game we would have gotten blown out last year, and we were close, but you can’t have that many penalties. It was ridiculous.”

The Falcons (3-1) opened the scoring with 2:52 remaining in the first quarter on Keller’s field goal for a 3-0 lead.

Connellsville increased its advantage to 10-0 with 48 seconds left in the opening period when Johnson pulled in a 18-yard reception from Wolfe and Tucker Beaman connected on his first of two PATs.

The Falcons had a short field after the Red Raiders weren’t able to get a punt off deep in their own territory.

Evans’ trip to the end zone cut the deficit to 10-6 with 11:12 remaining in the second quarter.

McClean knew Evans would make plays, but he was pleased with his team’s effort on the Uniontown junior.

“Three (Evans) still had his game, but we tried to contain him in the second half, and we did, and that’s what won us the game,” McClean said. “We knew he would make some plays, but we told our kids to just shake it off and move onto the next one, and that’s what they did. Our defense played their butts off tonight.”

Connellsville extended its lead to 12-6 with 6:02 left before halftime on a safety.

The Red Raiders (2-2) took a 13-12 advantage on Hice’s touchdown grab with 7:55 left in the third quarter after David Settles set his team up in good field position after his first of two interceptions.

“When we got those turnovers, we didn’t capitalize,” Bukowski said.

Nicholson’s one-yard sneak for a touchdown provided the Falcons with what would be the game-winning score at 18-13 with 3:14 remaining in the third period.

Jeremy Jenkins intercepted two passes for the home team in the fourth quarter, and his second turned into points, as Keller sprinted into the end zone from 12 yards out with 1:31 left in the game.

Connellsville begins conference play next week against Penn-Trafford (1-0, 4-0).

“We start section play against P-T next week,” McClean said. “We run the gauntlet right now, so there’s a lot of work to do, but we are 3-1 now, and we haven’t said that in a long time at Connellsville, so it feels good.”

Uniontown hosts Yough (0-4) in its final non-conference contest of the season.

“The key is to play mistake-free football,” Bukowski said. “We have a lot of work to do this week to clean things up.”