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Union/A-C Valley Outguns Reynolds 50-35

Tagged under: District 10, District 9, Gameday Hub, News, pfn

| October 25, 2024

Transfer – Union/A-C Valley put up a season-high 50 points and concluded their regular season on a high note with a 50-35 victory over Reynolds Thursday night.

With their playoff hopes up in the air entering Thursday night, the Falcon-Knights left no doubt that they’re heading to the postseason with a resounding victory over District 10 Reynolds.

“It’s a nice win for us, said Union/A-C Valley head coach Dan Reed. “I thought our defense didn’t play well tonight, but we moved the ball well offensively. We played a solid team tonight and held on for the win at the end.”

Perhaps Union/A-C Valley is peaking at the right time, as they’ve won four of their last games to finish the regular season at 7-3,

Per Ryan Briggs, Reynolds is now 103-1 all-time when scoring 35 or more points in a game.

On Thursday night, they picked up right where they left off after rolling past Moniteau 36-6 last Friday. Five plays after recovering a fumble on the second play from scrimmage, Owen Bish connected with Aidan Fox for a 7-yard touchdown.

After forcing a punt, Fox then hauled in a screen pass from Bish and raced 28 yards for a touchdown, putting the Falcon-Knights ahead 14-0, 5:52 into the contest,

There wouldn’t be many more punts the rest of the evening.

Reynolds did their best to stay in the contest, led by their dynamic quarterback and tailback duo of Xavier Zachrich and Gabriel Minjarez.

Zachrich, who rushed for a game-high 194 yards on 14 carries, got the Raiders on the board with a 30-yard scamper late in the opening quarter.

However, Union/A-C Valley had a formidable weapon in quarterback Owen Bish. Apparently, he wasn’t 100% healthy for the game, but you wouldn’t have known that on Thursday night as he tossed four touchdowns, ran as fifth, and added an interception on defense.

“Owen Bish is really hard to stop back there,” said Reed. “We laid off him a bit tonight because he was coming off an injury from last week. We learned a little more on our backs tonight. He’s an unbelievable kid and a great athlete. He can play when plays aren’t there. Our receivers did a nice job down the field as well.”

His 1-yard touchdown pass to Christian Salizzoni gave the Falcon-Knights a 21-7 lead, capping an 11-play 63-yard drive.

The Raiders quickly responded with a 71-yard bomb from Zachrich to Parker Nay. Four plays later, Bish threw his third touchdown of the half to Fox again from seven yards out. Bish had a 33-yard run on the drive,

Aidan Fox caught four passes for 43 yards, while Nay had four catches for 78 yards.

Bish finished the game by completing 12-of-21 passes for 111 yards and four touchdowns while adding a team-high 137 rushing yards on eight carries.

“This feels great. It’s a big win going into the playoffs,” said Bish. “Hopefully, we can keep it going from here. Things clicked for us tonight. We kept running the ball well. Then they were waiting on the run, and the pass was open, too, so it was a good night. The receivers did a great job getting open and our line held up well.”

Keeping within earshot, Zachrich ran a 4th-and-1 keeper 60 yards for a touchdown with 5:18 to play in the first half, as the Raiders trailed 28-21 at intermission.

Three plays into the second half, Bish ran 51 yards for a touchdown. The two schools traded scores from their as Reynolds got a pair of rushing touchdowns from Minjarez from two and 37 yards.

Michael Yerkey and Max Gallagher scored ten and 5-yard runs for the Falcon Knights. Gallaher also exceeded the century mark, rushing for 107 yards on 19 carries.

“I thought our offense has been fairly solid all year with moving the ball,” Reed said. “The combination of running the ball hard, our line blocking well, and our backs like Gallagher running hard is difficult to stop.”‘

Union/A-C Valley will enter the District 9 playoffs, which begin next Friday night.

“This was a solid win against a good football team,” concluded Reed. “We need to make sure that we continue to improve each week and every day in practice next week.”

Reynolds has now dropped four of their last five and finished the regular season at 5-5.

Game Highlights:

Union-A-C Valley 50 Reynolds 35

Score by Quarters

Union-A-C Valley – 14 14 15 7 –  50

Reynolds – 7 14 6 8 – 35

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

UAC – Aidan Fox 7 yd pass from Owen Bish, (Eduardo Gularte pat), 9:13 – 5-19

UAC – Fox 28 yd pass from Owen Bish, (Gularte pat), 6:08 – 7-69

R – Xavier Zachrich 30 yd run, (Gerardo Hernandez pat), 1:53 – 9-57

Second Quarter

UAC – Christian Salizzoni 1 yd pass from Owen Bish, (Gularte pat), 8:36 – 11-63

R – Parker Nay 71 yd pass from Zachrich, (kick failed), 7:24 – 4-65

UAC – Fox 7 yd pass from Owen Bish, (Gularte pat), 6:42 – 3-60

R – Zachrich 60 yd run, (Gabriel Minjarez rush), 5:18 – 4-69

Third Quarter

UAC – Owen Bish 51 yd run, (Gularte pat), 10:37 – 3-61

R – Minjarez 2 yd run, (rush failed), 4:17 – 12-66

UAC – Michael Yerkey 10 yd run, (Owen Bish rush), 1:44 – 7-63

Fourth Quarter

R – Minjarez 37 yd run, (Zachrich rush), 11:25 – 8-60

UAC – Max Gallagher 5 yd run, (Gularte pat), 9:01 – 7-64

Individual Stats

Rushing: UAC – Max Gallagher 19-107, Owen Bish 8-137, Jorge Reyes 8-23, Michael Yerkey 3-12, Parker Bish 1-9, Team 1-0. Totals: 40-288. R – Zachrich 14-194, Minjarez 28-161, Team 2-(-8). Totals: 44-347.

Receiving: Fox 4-43, Reyes 2-15, Gallagher 3-21, Salizzoni 3-32. R – Nay 4-78, Giovanni Guerino 2-4, Jacob Rust 2-35.

Passing: Owen Bish 12-for-21, 111 yards, 4 TD. R – Zachrich 8-for-21, 117 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT.

Interceptions: UAC – Owen Bish.

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