| KEYSTONE USES 22 UNANSWERED POINTS TO BEAT UNION |
| AUG. 30 WEEK ONE - Keystone 30, Union 8 |
| By Chris Rossetti
KNOX – A new and improved Union football team played one of the top teams in the KSAC, Keystone, even for the first 34 minutes of the teams season opener Friday night at Keystone, but the Panthers scored 22 unanswered points in the final 14 minutes to come away with a 30-8 victory. "Union played hard," Keystone head coach Dan Reed said. "They out played us for a portion of that game. Our offense was absolutely terrible for 2 ½ quarters. It was just absolutely terrible. We need to work the kinks out of that." Union, playing with a ferocity and confidence not seen in Rimbersburg for a few seasons, went toe to toe with Keystone for most of first three quarters before Keystone took the game away from it. "Obviously we aren’t satisfied," Union’s first-year head coach Scott Kindel said. "Our goal was to win the ball game. "Yes the score was not indicative of the game. I could not be more proud of the kids. I asked them in the locker room at halftime to give me 100 percent , and they came out and took it right to them. They never gave up. We had them on their heels. I feel I made a couple of bad calls as a coach that could have one way or the other gotten the ball into the end zone. But it is a growing experience for all of us. Following a safety on a bad punt snap with 5:32 left in the third quarter, the game was tied at 8-8, and Union, which had rallied from an 8-0 halftime deficit appeared to have all the momentum. But Keystone’s defense stole the momentum away following the free kick that resulted from the safety stopping the Golden Knights on three straight downs and forcing a punt. "We have very good senior leadership on our team," Reed said. "At that point our kids could have gone either way. A team without good leadership and without good a character would have folded in that situation. "It (the safety) was possibly a wake up call for us. I don’t know if we took Union lightly, but our guys really weren’t prepared to play." Ben Cobler then further ignited Keystone by returning Adam Milanovich’s punt 21 yards to the Keystone 48-yard line. From there the Panthers marched 52 yards in five plays to retake the lead. Colwell scored the touchdown on a 4-yard quarterback keeper out of the shot-gun formation with 1:57 left in the third quarter. Colwell then found Barry Swartzfager in end zone for the two-point conversion giving Keystone a 16-8 lead. The big plays of the drive were a 22-yard run by Sam Swartzfager and a 20-yard scamper by Colwell. "You have to give credit where credit is due," Kindel said. "Dan did a very nice job. He got his kids rallied. You’ve got to give them credit. They turned it up a notch when they needed to." The Colwell touchdown seemed to fire up the Panthers, as the defense once again rose to the occasion stopping Union on another three-and-out. Following a 20-yard punt by Milanovich, the Panthers took over at their own 35-yard line with 17 seconds left in the third quarter. Twelve seconds later, Keystone found itself in the end zone again thanks to a 65-yard quarterback keeper by Colwell, who took the snap out of the shoot-gun and out raced the Union defenders down the visitors sideline for the score. The two-point conversion failed, but heading to the fourth quarter Keystone led 22-8. The Panthers added one more score in the final quarter, and it was the defense that once again set up the touchdown. Dave VanDyke intercepted a Milanovich pass at the Keystone 44-yard line and returned it 28 yards to the Union 28 with 9:57 left in the game. Five plays later, Colwell found Barry Swartzfager for a 27-yard touchdown pass. Buck Neely’s two-point conversion run ran the score to 30-8 with 6:53 left in the game. Despite forcing five Union turnovers in the opening half, Keystone held a slim 8-0 lead at halftime. "Coming into this year, we knew our defense was going to have to carry us for a while," Reed said. "When you get the ball down around the 15-20-yard line, you need to start punching it in." The Panthers lone touchdown came on their second drive of the game when Sam Swartzfager plowed into the end zone from four yards out with 4:59 left in the opening quarter. Billy Colwell’s run for two points gave Keystone an 8-0 lead. The big plays of the drive were a 13-yard run by Buck Neely and a pass interference call in the end zone on Union when a fourth-and-18 pass from the Union 29-yard line by Keystone fell incomplete. The penalty gave the Panthers a first down at the Union 14. Union’s defense played strong in the first half limiting Keystone to only 82 yards in the half. "Our defense was fantastic," Kindel said. "I can’t give enough credit to our defensive players. They bought into the system. We keeping talking about how important it is for us to hit hard and play hard, and they bought into it. They did that tonight. I thought physically the game was dead even." The Golden Knight’s defense came up with a big play early in the second half that helped Union close Keystone’s lead. Following the opening kickoff of the half, Keystone had a third-and-7 from their 34-yard line. The Panthers tried to run a reverse to Cobler, but Union was able to force a fumble with Jeremy Lipps recovering the ball for the Golden Knights at the Keystone 25-yard line. A 21-yard pass from Zach Toven to Darren Laughlin on third-and-9 put the ball on the Keystone 3-yard line, but a penalty against Union left it at the 9-yard line. Facing third-and-goal from the nine, Toven and Laughlin again hooked up, this time for the touchdown, cutting Keystone’s lead to 8-6. The two-point conversion pass fell short. Colwell had a big day for the Panthers running for 105 yards and two touchdowns, including 100 yards in the second half and 89 yards after Union had tied the score at eight. "Billy is just tremendous," Reed said. "You never know what he is going to do when he has the ball. He is a great athlete, and he is going to make things happen." Neely added 73 yards rushing for Keystone, as the two-head quarterback system for the Panthers of Colwell and Neely combined to rush for 178 yards and two touchdowns while throwing for an additional 43 yards and a score. They accounted for 221 of Keystone’s 270 total yards of offense. "There is a lot for both of those guys to learn, but I think they did well for their first game," Reed said. Sam Swartzfager added 50 yards rushing and a score on 11 carries for the Panthers. Bobby Telesz, District 9’s receiving leader last season, was held without a catch. Keystone’s defense limited Union’s offense to negative 13 yards rushing on 29 carries while forcing three fumbles. "They stacked the line on us," Kindel said. "They had nine or 10 guys in the box most of the game, so we had to try to go up top. That is not what we like to do. We like to run the ball." Toven was 7-for-16 passing for Union for 89 yards and a touchdown, while Milanovich was 3-for-7 throwing the ball for 46 yards. "They are both good leaders," Kindel said. "When I say they are carbon copies of each other, they are. They both provide good leadership. They both throw the ball well, and they both make good decisions." Laughlin led all receivers with four catches for 69 yards and a score. Devon Kriebel ran six times for 21 yards to lead the Golden Knights rushing attack. "This group of kids is fantastic," Kindel said. "They work hard. They play hard. They have a great attitude. We are looking to turn it around. We are going to come out again next week. This was the biggest game of the year for us this week, and Moniteau is the biggest game of the year for us next week." Union is back in action Friday night when it hosts Moniteau, while Keystone hosts Karns City Friday. Both games start at 7 p.m.
KEYSTONE 30, UNION 8 Union 0 0 8 0 – 8 Keystone 8 0 14 8 – 30 K – Sam Swartzfager 4 run (Billy Colwell run) 4:59 U – Safety (Ball kicked out of back of end zone) 5:32 K –Colwell 4 run (Barry Swartzfager pass from Colwell) 1:57 K –Colwell 65 run (Pass failed) :05 K – Barry Swartzfager 27 pass from Colwell (Buck Neely run) 6:53 Punting – Union: Adam Milanovich 3-67, 22.3 avg. Keystone: Barry Swartzfager 4-144, 36.0 avg |