Miller, Academy Park manage to survive Unionville test

SHARON HILL >> Six turnovers, 110 yards in penalties, a stalling offense and a frustrated defense.

No, it was not going well Friday for Academy Park. But the Knights, as they do, found a way. Dazhon Miller’s 44-yard touchdown run with two minutes, 12 seconds remaining turned the tide and gave the host Knights a 22-18 victory over Unionville in nonleague action.

Academy Park (2-0) was doing everything in its power to lose this game. Outside of two plays, it generated no offense. It gave feisty Unionville (0-2) short fields. Its emotions boiled over on more than one occasion. In the end, it won.

“It’s better to win ugly than lose ugly,” Academy Park coach Jason Vosheski said. “So, that’s the first thing. But we rely on our talent way too much. At some point, it’s going to bite us.”

Miller had 170 yards on the ground, with 114 of those coming on his two touchdown runs. He also took the opening play from scrimmage for a 70-yard score. Both came with 15-yard penalties for celebration. Aside from Miller, the Knights had a mere 60 additional yards of total offense.

The defense, as it will, held tough. Unionville could only muster 124 total yards. It scored all three of its touchdowns off turnovers and the short fields that came with them. The standout unit had eight sacks, forced three fumbles, recovered two, blocked two extra points and added a pick-six from Teddy Wright.

It kept Unionville at 18 points — and without a first down — for the final quarter-and-a-half of the game. How?

“God, man. God and heart,” said Togba Porte, a force on pretty much all of those sacks. “Our defense, we have a lot of heart. We got to keep up that (mentality) that no one messes with Academy Park’s defense.”

Wright, who also added 29 yards on the ground, proved that. His 17-yard interception return gave Academy Park a 14-0 lead midway through the second quarter. But the turnover and penalty machine revved up from there.

Unionville capitalized on a 17-yard touchdown pass from Alex Gorgone to Brody McShane – the ball was tipped at the goal line and McShane was in the perfect spot. A Miller fumble followed, as did the ensuing 24-yard score from Gorgone to Jack Adams. Suddenly, it was 14-12 at the break.

In the second half, Adams led Unionville down the field — essentially the only time it moved the ball — but the drive stalled inside the 20. A Wright fumble came shortly after that, and Adams deposited it for a three-yard touchdown.

“We’re sloppy, half the stuff we do, we do to ourselves,” Vosheski said. “The silly penalties, I can’t do anything about it.”

Five possessions later, on what was likely their final shot to score, the Knights answered. Miller, much like he did in the first quarter, hit the corner. His speed did the rest.

“That’s my little brother,” Porte said, proudly. “I have the most faith in him.”

Vosheski wasn’t looking for that one particular play. There was 3:39 left when Academy Park got the ball back. He just wanted to feed his top athletes, Miller and Wright.

“Our two best players on offense are our running backs,” Vosheski said. “So we just had two backs, we had like three minutes left, so we weren’t going to panic and start throwing the ball.”

Adams had 48 yards to lead Unionville. Gorgone threw for 74 while taking a beating, but valiantly hung in there.