United Valley Demolishes Purchase Line

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Phil Myers | October 7, 2023

In 1987, the rock group Starship had a number one song entitled, ‘Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now.’  That was the way United Valley played Friday night at Barry T. Madill Memorial Field in Commodore when the visiting Lions absolutely demolished Purchase Line’s Red Dragons 46-0 before a very large crowd on Homecoming night.  The game was supposed to be a close, physical Heritage Conference contest between two teams with a combined record of 11-1.  But United Valley had other ideas and came away with the win to keep their unblemished record intact.

The Lions’ star was quarterback Isaac Worthington, who threw three touchdown passes and ran for two other scores.  Worthington was 5 for 9 passing for 138 yards.  All three touchdown passes were to Braydon Brown, covering 35, 41, and 27 yards.  “I really liked how our line gave me enough time to see the whole field so I could make reads and see Braydon when he was open.”  Worthington only toted the ball 6 times but gained 116 yards.  He also helped out on defense when he intercepted a Red Dragon pass in the second quarter.

Issac Worthington ran the read option to perfection on the Lions first play an 81 yard TD run!

Coach Kevin Marabito stated, “We challenged our offense.  For two or three weeks our offense hasn’t played well.  This is probably the best offensive performance we’ve had going back to last year.  Our kids were focused.”  The Lion offense produced 416 yards of total offense on the evening with 278 of that on the ground.  Running back Caden McCully chimed in with 83 yards on eleven carries and a touchdown gallop of 47 yards.

Purchase Line received the opening kickoff, had a nice return but a penalty put them back on their 30.  They drove to midfield but another penalty along the way forced them to punt.  It took United Valley exactly one play to score when Worthington took off around the end and down the Lion sideline for 81 yards.  That was the theme for the first half, the Red Dragons moved the ball a little but then a third down sack, penalty, or turnover thwarted each promising drive.  And each time United Valley answered with a score.

Dragons lose the turnover battle!

It was 12-0 United Valley after one quarter and 26-0 at halftime.  The Lions had scored on all four possessions.  They continued to pour it on in the second half by finding the end zone twice in the third and one more time in the fourth when second team running back Shaydon Oleksa powered in from ten yards out.  All in all, they scored on 7 of their 9 possessions and the game ended during their ninth drive.  The Lions one punt by Gino DiPaolo travelled 56 yards.

The shutout was United Valley’s second in a row and the Lions now have not been scored upon for eleven straight quarters.  The Lions held the Red Dragons to a total of 137 yards for the game.  Purchase did score when Brock Small ran for a 68-yard touchdown, but it was negated by a penalty.  Coach Marabito was proud of his defense, “Our defense is simple.  We want them to just go play, play fast.  We bend a little bit but we don’t break.  Defensively, we don’t care.  We’re applying pressure.  We hit hard.  We’re a physical team.  Hats off to the kids tonight and my staff.  They do a terrific job.  7-0 what can you say?”

“Everything just worked right tonight,” said a smiling Worthington.  United Valley hosts Portage who is 3-4 next week, while Purchase Line, now 5-2, travels to Marion Center to face the 2-5 Stingers.

United Valley’s quarterback, Isaac Worthington.

Score by Quarters:

United Valley – 12 14 14 6 – 46

Purchase Line  –  0  0  0  0 –  0

Scoring Summary:

First Quarter:

UV – Isaac Worthington 81-yard run, (PAT was no good), 8:21

UV – Braydon Brown 35-yard pass from Worthington, (2-pt PAT failed), 0:18

Second Quarter:

UV – Caden McCully 47-yard run, (Collin Nedrich PAT), 7:04

UV – Worthington 1-yard QB sneak, (Nedrich PAT), 0:28

Third Quarter:

UV – Brown 41-yard pass from Worthington, (Nedrich PAT), 10:31

UV – Brown 27-yard pass from Worthington, (Nedrich PAT), 0:28

Fourth Quarter:

UV – Shaydon Oleksa 10-yard run, (PAT was no good), 5:48

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