RIDGWAY — Union's varsity football team made history Friday night.

The Golden Knights rallied from an 8-point halftime deficit to defeat top-seeded Ridgway, 18-14, in a first-round District 9 Class A playoff game on the road.

The victory marked Union's first-ever football playoff win. It also marked the first time an eighth-seeded team ever won a postseason game in the district.

“This was a gutsy effort tonight. These guys really pulled through,” Union coach Dave Louder said. “The outer portion of the field was a slushy, muddy mess and our receivers couldn't get good footing over there.

“Our longest pass of the night was 21 yards. We had to rely more on our ground game tonight and we figured we would. We anticipated Ridgway making some adjustments based on the last time we played.”

The Golden Knights (5-5) defeated then-unbeaten Ridgway 32-7 in Week 7 of the regular season. Lane Cicciarelli threw for 133 yards and two touchdowns in that game.

Cicciarelli threw for only 63 yards Friday night. Dugan Gallagher had 26 carries for 124 yards and all three Union touchdowns.

“Every time we would get something going offensively, a penalty or something would set us back,” Louder said. “We were doing too much complaining at halfftime, the coaches and the players.

“Our attitude was too negative. We had to re-focus on what we needed to do to win and we did that.”

Ridgway quarterback Ben MacDonald scored on a pair of 3-yard runs in the second quarter to give the host Elkers (9-2) the lead at halftime.

Gallagher scored twice in the second half, including the go-ahead points with 8:47 remaining.

Union clinched the win in thrilling fashion, stopping MacDonald short of a first down on a fourth-and-2 play from inside the Golden Knights' 10 with a minute to play.

“That kid is outstanding on that quarterback sneak. He's broken off some for 45-yard touchdowns,” Louder said. “Our defense stuffed him on that play.

“We still had to run the ball out of there because they had two timeouts left. But we did that and ran out the clock.”

Union will play Brockway next week at a site and time to be determined.

Union 6 0 6 6 — 18Ridgway 0 14 0 0 — 14U R13 First Downs 1238-133 Rushes-Yards 36-13263 Passing Yards 745-9-1 Comp.-Att.-Int 8-14-1196 Total Yards 2061-0 Fumbles-Lost 1-04-40 Penalty Yards 4-45First QuarterU — Dugan Gallagher 2 run (pass failed), 4:06Second QuarterR — Ben MacDonald 1 run (Justin Kinkead kick), 8:12R — MacDonald 3 run (Kinkead kick), :00Third QuarterU — Gallagher 3 run (pass failed), 2:35Fourth QuarterU — Gallagher 3 run (pass failed), 8:47Individual StatisticsRushing: Union, Dugan Gallagher 26-124, Chase Confer 2-10, Cole Morris 1-2. Ridgway, Ben MacDonald 19-63, Luke Pierce 8-53, Dan Cappiello 1-6, J.P. Cerroni 3-6, Cole Myers 5-4.Passing: Union, Lane Cicciarelli 5-9-63-1. Ridgway, Ben MacDonald 8-14-74-1.Receiving: Union, Cole Morris 2-30, Chet Carmichael 2-24, Tyler Wiser 1-9. Ridgway, J.P. Cerroni 3-30, Jeremy Breier 2-26, Luke Pierce 2-19, Cole Myers 1-(-1).