A young, improving North Union Warrior football squad won its second victory of the season with a 26-14 triumph over the Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn/Remsen Union Royals in a contest played at Armstrong on Friday, Sept. 30.
The visitors scored on their opening possession as they hit the green-black-and-silver with a 65-yard pass play. The conversion was good and the Royals led 7-0 with 8:32 still remaining in the opening stanza of action.
The Warriors dented the scoreboard late in the first period by going 53 yards in six plays as Trent Pedersen plunged the final yard for the touchdown. The conversion run failed as the lead to cut to 7-6 with 2:20 left in the quarter and that was the score at the end of the game’s first 12 minutes.
The contest remained that way until just before intermission as Isaac Engeman ran one yard for touchdown with 15 seconds remaining in the first half. The conversion try failed as North Union took a narrow 12-7 advantage to the locker room at halftime.
In the third quarter, the green-black-and-silver defense set a score as Eythan Blair recovered a fumble at the M-M-C/RU one yard line. On the next play, Pedersen plowed into the end zone and tacked on the conversion run as the Warriors now led 20-7 with 5:08 left in the third stanza.
The Royals hit the home team with another scoring pass play, this one covering 37 yards to slice the lead to 20-14 with 3:13 left in the third quarter and that was the score heading into the game’s final 12 minutes of play.
North Union then took advantage of mistake by the visitors as the M-M-C/RU punter’s knee touched down on a low snap in the fourth period and the Warriors took over at the Royals’ 39-yard line.
Seven plays later, Engeman dashed nine yards for a touchdown with 9:43 left in the game. The conversion failed but the green-black-and-silver led 26-14.
The visitors marched the ball down to the North Union five-yard line but the defense came up with a big stop, including nice tackles for losses from Andrew Schiltz and Blair to secure the win.
Pedersen led the green-black-and-silver in rushing with 133 yards in 33 carries and Engeman rushed for 87 yards in his 21 trips in the first district victory for the team.
Elliott Hagebock completed 3-of-6 passes for 16 yards with one interception as Robert Ortman caught one pass for 10 yards while teammate Engeman hauled in one pass for four yards and Brady Anderson snared one for two yards.
Blair led the Warrior defense in tackles with 13 followed by Preston Brandenburg with seven as both Schiltz and Hagebock added six stops. Hunter Pierce came up with an interception while teammate Schiltz recorded a quarterback sack in the game and Blair recovered a fumble.
Score By Quarters
M-M-C/RU 7 0 7 0 14
North Union 6 6 8 6 26
Scoring Plays
8:32—1st—Jeremy Holmes 65-Yard Pass From Tristen Olson (Devin Lux Kick)
2:20—1st—Trent Pedersen 1-Yard Run (Run Failed)
0:25—2nd—Isaac Engeman 1-Yard Run (Run Failed)
5:08—3rd—Pedersen 1-Yard Run (Pedersen Run)
3:13—3rd—Cameron Schrueder 37-Yard Pass From Olson (Lux Kick)
9:43—4th—Engeman 9-Yard Run (Run Failed)
Game Stats MMC/RU NU
First Downs 9 16
Rushing Attempts 26 60
Rushing Yards 78 231
Passes Attempted 24 6
Passes Completed 8 3
Interceptions Thrown 1 1
Passing Yards 183 16
Total Yards 261 247
Fumbles—Lost 2-1 0-0
Penalties—Yards 7-66 3-22
Punts—Total Yards 4-128 6-241
Average Per Punt 32.0 40.1
Individual Game Stats
RUSHING—North Union—Trent Pedersen 33-133, Isaac Engeman 21-87, Derek Thompson 4-7, Elliott Hagebock 2-4; MMC/RU—Tyler Brimm 21-95, Tristen Olson 2- -4, Cameron Schrueder 1- -2, Devin Lux 1- -11
PASSING—North Union—Hagebock 3-of-6, 16 Yards, 0 TD’s, 1 Int; MMC/RU—Olson 8-of-24, 183 Yards, 2 TD’s, 1 Int
PASS RECEIVING—North Union—Robert Ortman 1-10, Engeman 1-4, Brady Anderson 1-2; MMC/RU—Jeremy Holmes 4-109, Schrueder 4-74
TACKLES—(Solos-Assists—Total)—Eythan Blair 10-3—13; Preston Brandenburg 5-2—7; Andrew Schiltz 5-1—6; Hagebock 5-1—6; Jared Larson 0-5—5; Pedersen 3-1—4; Jake Anderson 1-2—3; Engeman 2-0—2; Avery Krantz 0-2—2; Ortman 1-0—1; Hunter Pierce 1-0—1; Thompson 0-1—1; Brady Anderson 0-1--1