Unionville finally figures it out, takes care of Great Valley

EAST WHITELAND >> When you get a champion down on the mat, you better make sure he is knocked out, or he will get up and sting you.

The three-time Ches-Mont American Division champion (and reigning District 1 Class 5A holder) Unionville came to Great Valley Stadium Friday night to open Ches-Mont American Division play, saddled with a 0-3 record.

All the Indians did was lay a 31-14 beating on the Patriots, holding Great Valley to just 81 yards rushing and sacking Great Valley (0-1, Ches-Mont, 1-3 overall) quarterback Jake Prevost four times on the night with Alex Pellegrin sacking the signal caller twice himself and making nine tackles.

“We may not be the biggest defense but the kids play fast and physical,” Unionville head coach Pat Clark said. “And Alex played great tonight. We have gotten the kids to give maximum effort week to week and we think our tough nonleague schedule will get us ready for our league play.

“You can get away with not being the biggest team if you play fast,” Clark said. “And tonight I was very happy to see the experienced kids and the guys who have not played a lot of football do well. We had to replace a lot of guys and tonight I was very happy with the kids’ performance.”

Unionville opened up a 17-0 lead over Great Valley when, after a Dom Braithwaite field goal, Blake Charlton hit Joe Fariello with a pretty 62-yard catch and run to the end zone for a 10-0 lead. But Great Valley came back on the arm of Prevost, who completed 15 of 30 passes for 268 yards on the night. Prevost hit Josh Burgess with a 23-yard pass to set up the Patriots deep in Unionville territory.

But, the Great Valley offense could not get the ball in the end zone, and elected to go for a 22-yard field goal. The kick was blocked and Mason Glennon picked up the ball and rumbled 82 yards to make it a 17-0 halftime lead for the Indians.

Great Valley made it 17-7 as it took the opening drive of the second half 66 yards with Amani Christopher going the final four yards to score. The teams traded punts, and when Great Valley fumbled a punt snap, it set the Indians up in good shape at the Patriots’ 29 yard line. One play later Charlton threw a jump ball to the end zone and Nick Schnaars came down with it, and the Indians had a commanding 24-7 lead.

“I told Blake to throw it up and I will get it,” Schnaars said. “We got lucky there but we played well tonight. The standards here are very high and we do not want to let that slip. We had a players-only meeting on Monday and this week we went out and practiced like Ches-Mont and district champs. We worked hard all week and tonight our defense did a great job. We watched a lot of film this week and our defense knew what plays they were running and tonight we got back on the right track and played Unionville football.”

Great Valley struck again, however, as Prevost hit Adam Brophy streaking down the left sideline for a 69-yard touchdown to make it a 24-14 game, but this night belonged to Unionville as the Indians ran the ball at will in the second half and Schnaars went 13 yards out of the Wildcat formation to end the scoring and put the Indians into first place in the Ches-Mont American, while Great Valley dropped its third game in a row.

“We seem to make a bad play like the fumbled punt snap every game we lost,” Great Valley head coach Dan Ellis said. “Take nothing away from Pat and Unionville but we lost seven starters and we are not a deep team. But, we will fix the mistakes.”