Unionville rolls past Kennett
EAST MARLBOROUGH >> It’s been said that football games are won up front in the trenches, and that was true Saturday morning as the Unionville football team dominated both sides of the line in a convincing 42-7, Ches-Mont American Division win.
The host Longhorns (6-1 overall, 4-0 Ches-Mont) were coming off their first loss of the season last week against Downingtown East. Senior lineman Nate Holt, who led a Longhorns defense that allowed just 130 yards on the ground, said last week’s loss may have been a good thing.
“We did not play well last week at Downingtown,” Holt said. “But, we were down a few guys and we saw some things we had to work on. We had a great week of practice and we came out ready to ply a crosstown rivalry game today. We were keying on No. 2 (Kalen Frazier), and we did not let him get going.”
Unionville quarterback Matt McCloskey rushed for 136 yards on 17 carries. In the first period, he got things going when he darted through a wide hole on the right side for a 44 yard touchdown run to give Unionville a 7-0 lead.
Meanwhile, Kennett (5-2, 3-2) was going nowhere as the Unionville defense shut down the Blue Demons power running game. After a Kennett punt, the Longhorns went on a 56 yard scoring drive, with Brendan D’Amico going the final 10 yards for a 13-0 Unionville lead.
Unionville then showed off its aerial prowess, as McCloskey floated a perfect 41 yard pass to Ethan Bennink, who missed the last two games due to a concussion. Unionville led at halftime 20-0.
Kennett took the second half kickoff but the Blue Demons still had trouble moving the football. On a fourth and one, Holt stuffed Frazier and the Longhorns took over the football at the Kennett 46 yard line. Unionville moved down the field but a McCloskey pass was picked off by Luke Good at the Kennett 1 yard line.
Kennett could not get a first down and punted from their own end zone. Bennink took the ball on the run at the Blue Demons 32 yard line and returned it all the way for a touchdown and a commanding 27-0 advantage. Kennett totaled just six first downs for the game.
“We had a great week of practice like Nate said,” Bennink said. “And I want to say that I love my linemen, They do a great job and the effort was there today for us. We really wanted to take this rivalry game and we played with great effort and it helped that we got our guys back.”
Kennett finally got on the scoreboard late in the third period when Frazier hit Good with a a pretty 37 yard touchdown pass, but it was a case of too little, too late. The Longhorns scored again on a McCloskey 11 yard run.
“Our kids and our program have been built on being strong up front,” Unionville head coach Pat Clark said. “Kennett is a real good football team but we started fast and got the momentum going for us. We have kids that like to play physical football and that is what they did today.”
