By Chris Rossetti

RIMERSBURG – If you had the Union defense in the mythical District 9 Fantasy Football League, congratulations, you scored 60 points Thursday night.

The Golden Knights (7-3) scored five defensive touchdowns and forced 10 turnovers in a 60-21 win over visiting Sheffield to win their fourth straight game.

“You don’t go out and plan to get that many turnovers,” Union head coach Dave Louder said. “But we are a ball hawking team, and it’s nice to see us come up with them and score off some of them.”

Brody Shick had two of those defensive scores returning interceptions 36 and 55 yards. Those were two of nine interceptions by the Union defense.

Brody Pollock didn’t return an interception for a touchdown but did pick off Sheffield (4-6) quarterbacks three times, while Kaden McGregor (55 yards) and Darren Seary (44 yards) also returned interceptions for touchdowns. Taylor Smith added a 43-yard fumble return for a score.

With the defense scoring so often, the Union offense had just 160 yards and five first downs. But the offense did four touchdowns with Austin Davis scoring on a 1-yard run, Smith throwing a 39-yard touchdown pass to Pollock and a 49-yard screen touchdown pass to McGregor and Mikey Harris scoring on a 1-yard run. The Davis run was set up after Pollock picked off a pass and returned 73 yards from his own 10 to the Sheffield 17-yard run in the second quarter.

Sheffield outgained Union 312 to 160 yards, and backup quarterback Shequan Wright was 15 of 30 passing for 200 yards and two touchdowns. But Wright also threw six interceptions after replacing Ike Nearing, who was 0-for-4 passing and threw picks on his first three passes helping Union take an 26-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.

In all, six different Union players had interceptions. In addition to the two each by Shick and Pollock and the one each by McGregor and Seary, Harris had one and Brandon Tyson each had one.

Nick Bonavita caught a 12-yard touchdown pass, Kalil Slaughter a 26-yard touchdown pass and George Fitch had a 4-yard touchdown run for Sheffield.

Slaughter had three catches for 56 yards and ran four times for 11 yards. Bonavita had three grabs for 43 yards, Evan Jamison six for 60 yards and Kwante Johnson three for 41 yards. Wright had a team-high 43 yards rushing on 10 carries.

Smith was 3-for-4 passing for 89 yards and the two touchdowns for Union with Pollock catching two passes for 40 yards and the score. Davis ran 12 times for 39 yards and Smith three for 15. Harris had six carries for 19 yards.

In addition to the 10 forced turnovers, Union also blocked a Sheffield punt, as Seary got the block.

NOTES - The 60 points scored by Union is the second most in school history behind the 1963 squad, which beat East Brady 61-20. Union’s seven wins are the most for the Golden Knights since going 9-1 in 1985 ... With the win, Union locked up the seventh seed in District 9 Class A playoffs.

UNION 60, SHEFFIELD 21

Score by Quarters

Sheffield 7 6 8 0 – 21

Union 26 18 16 0 – 60

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

U – Brody Shick 36 interception return (Pass failed), 8:12

U – Austin Davis 1 run (Pass failed), 5:32

U – Brody Pollock 39 pass from Taylor Smith (run failed), 3:46

S – George Fitch 4 run (Fitch kick), 1:40

U – Kaden McGregor 49 pass from Smith (Davis run), 0:11.8

Second Quarter

U – McGregor 55 interception return (Run failed), 11:49

U – Mikey Harris 1 run (Keenan Rankin kick), 8:51

S – Nick Bonavita 12 pass from Shequan Wright (Run failed), 4:20

U – Smith 43 fumble return (Rankin kick), 0:44.8

Third Quarter

U – Shick 55 interception return (Rankin kick), 7:48

U – Darren Seary 44 interception return (Rankin kick), 6:59

S – Kalil Slaughter 26 pass from Wright (Wright run), 3:54

TEAM STATISTICS

                                                S                      U

First Downs                            18                    5         

Rushing                                   29-112             24-71

Passing Yards                         200                  89

Passing: Comp-Att-Int            15-35-9            3-4-0

Total Yards                             312                  160

Fumbles-Lost                          2-1                   2-1

Punts-Avg.                              1-0                   4-41.8

Penalties-Yards                       1-5                   4-20

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing – Sheffield: Nick Bonavita 3-3, Brandon Kipp 1-6, Kalil Slaughter 4-11, Ike Nearing 1-minus 3, George Fitch 6-29, Shequan Wright 10-43, Brandon Johnson 3-24, Dylan Smith 1-minus 1. Union: Austin Davis 12-39, Taylor Smith 3-15, Mikey Harris 6-19, Cody Kline 3-minus 2.

Passing – Sheffield: Ike Nearing 0-for-4, 3 interceptions. Shequan Wright 15-for-30, 200 yards, 2 touchdowns, 6 interceptions; Tyler Fitzgerald 0-for-1. Union: Taylor Smith 3-for-4, 89 yards, 2 touchdowns.

Receiving – Sheffield: Nick Bonavita 3-43, Evan Jamison 6-60, Kwante Johnson 3-41, Kalil Slaughter 3-56. Union: Brody Pollock 2-40, Kaden McGregor 1-49.

Interceptions – Union: Brody Pollock 3, Brody Shick 2, Mikey Harris, Darren Seary, Kaden McGregor, Brandon Tyson.