GOING DEEP: Union/A-C Valley Scores on Three Long Passing Plays to Key 51-13 Victory Over Ridgway

RIMERSBURG, Pa. (EYT/D9) — During the offseason, first-year Union/A-C Valley head football coach Dan Reed made it an emphasis to improve the Falcon Knights’ passing game.

He wanted to see more explosive plays.

Well, Reed got them on Friday night.

(Pictured above, Trey Fleming had 225 yards receiving in the Union/A-C Valley win over Ridgway/submitted photo)

Brody Dittman threw touchdown passes of 67 yards to Zach Cooper and 62 and 97 yards to Trey Fleming as Union/A-C Valley pulled away from Ridgway in the second half for a 51-13 win.

“I was joking around, I said, ‘Now I know what the Redbanks and Clarions feel like,” Reed said, chuckling.

Redbank Valley, Keystone, and Union/A-C Valley sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Heeter Lumber.

Dittman finished 8-of-16 for 304 yards and the three long TD passes.

But his fourth pass of the game was batted in the air and intercepted by Alex Merritt, who returned in 28 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 Ridgway lead.

Union/A-C Valley (5-4) responded, however, with Logan Skibinski scoring on a 23-yard run and Dittman hitting Easton Wingard on the 2-point conversion pass for an 8-7 advantage.

That lead swelled to 16-7 at the half on Dittman’s 67-yarder to Cooper and 24-7 midway through the third on Dittman’s 97-yard strike to Fleming.

But Ridgway (2-7) cut the lead to 24-13 on Cameron Larkin’s 37-yard run with 4:30 remaining in the third.

That was the score entering the fourth quarter.

Union/A-C Valley needed a spark to pull away.

“Ridgway is a good football team and they weren’t going to be easy,” Reed said. “That tipped pass kind of got them off and running and we knew if we left them hanging around, the tougher it was gonna be because they are a solid, well-coached team.”

The Falcon Knights got all kinds of sparks in the final quarter, scoring 27 points in a seven-minute span.

Owen Bish scored on a 19-yard run. Dittman followed with a 62-yard TD pass to Fleming to put Union/A-C Valley up 38-13. Then Michael Yerkey and Stephen Hepler scored on touchdown runs of 43 and 6 to finish things off.

Fleming ended the night with four catches for 225 yards. Cooper had two grabs for 70.

Bish had 71 yards rushing on five attempts to lead the ground game.

In all, Union/A-C Valley had 524 yards of offense against Ridgway.

“(Dittman) had done a great job back there this year, just really staying in the pocket, looking around and finding his reads,” Reed said. “He’s thrown some nice footballs and he threw a couple of nice passes tonight. He hit people and gave them a chance to make big plays.”

Fleming has also been a standout for the Falcon Knights.

“Trey’s done a great job,” Reed said. “He’s really come on this year and I was kind of counting on him this year to step up and be that No. 1 receiver for us. He’s done that. We have guys on the other side, between Zach Cooper and Aidan Fox who can also make plays, so it’s kind of nice to have different options to go to and not just look to one guy.”

It’s the second consecutive week Union/A-C Valley has scored 51 points. The Falcon Knights downed Smethport 51-26 last Friday.

Union/A-C Valley also rushed for 220 yards against Ridgway.

“We always want to be balanced,” Reed said. “But we also want to take it when people are giving us a chance to make big plays in the passing game and I think we’ve been doing that.”

Redbank Valley, Keystone, and Union/A-C Valley sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Heeter Lumber.