RIMERSBURG — Union/A-C Valley football set the precedent early with a 48-yard rushing touchdown on the opening drive.

The touchdown came courtesy of a breakaway run by quarterback Owen Bish and was one of two 40-plus yard touchdowns in the Falcon Knights’ first three drives, plus a 12-yarder in between, in a 35-8 victory over Bucktail on Friday night.

UAC (4-2) punched it in on the ground again on the second drive. Running back Michael Yerkey cut through the defense for back-to-back 12-yard gains starting at the 24-yard line, the latter a touchdown run.

The Falcon Knights’ third drive featured their second long touchdown, this time a 41-yarder through the air when Bish found running back Jorge Reyes along the right side of the field before he turned on the jets and sprinted down the sideline into the end zone.

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The long passing play accounted for just less than two-thirds of UAC’s passing, a testament much more to the offensive line’s play than any lack of passing success. They had four rushers with at least 30 yards, all four of whom scored a touchdown, led by Max Gallagher’s three carries for 50 stripes.

A consistently successful offensive line creates all kinds of opportunities to get creative on offense.

“It’s very nice, obviously, when you do that,” UAC head coach Dan Reed said. “You can do a lot of different things, and we did. We tried a lot of different things tonight just because we did feel like we had total control up front.”

Bish finished the game 1 for 3 passing for 41 yards and a touchdown. With the way the offensive line played, Bish did not need to take over the game like he’s capable of. Bish finished with 48 yards and the touchdown from the game’s opening score.

“He did miss a couple passes early, but we trust him completely to throw the ball and he’s been very accurate with that, as well,” Reed said.

“He’s tremendous with his feet but he can also make the passes. He has a pretty high completion rate, so we’re comfortable throwing the ball if that’s what teams are giving us. I think we’ve passed the ball well enough to keep people from playing Cover-Zero and that type of thing with us.”

UAC still identified some things to improve.

While the Bucktail’s offense was held mostly in check, quarterback Brody Pentz was able to get in rhythm running the ball as the game went on. The signal caller finished with 159 rushing yards and Bucktail’s lone score.

“A lot of things again we could’ve done tonight that we didn’t do,” Reed said.

The Falcon Knights play again 7 p.m. Oct. 4 at Punxsutawney.

Related Article: Friday Night Sights: See photos from Week 6’s PIAA football games in Butler County

Bucktail 0 0 8 0 — 8

Union/A-C Valley 21 14 0 0 — 35

First quarter

U — Owen Bish, 48 run (Eduardo Gularte kick) (11:05)

U — Mike Yerkey, 12 run (Gularte kick) (4:28)

U — Jorge Reyes, 41 pass from Bish (Stephen Hepler kick) (1:36)

Second quarter

U — Max Gallagher, 28 run (Hepler kick) (11:45)

U — Parker Bish, 21 run (Gularte kick) (7:57)

Third quarter

B — Brody Pentz, 73 run (Teagan Stone, pass from Pentz) (9:42)

Individual Statistics

Rushing: UAC, Jorge Reyes 1-11, Max Gallagher 3-50, Owen Bish 1-48, Mike Yerkey 4-36, Parker Bish 7-39, Peyton Wilson 4-(-4). Bucktail, Brody Pentz 16-159, Teagan Stone 6-10, Austin Mosher 2-2, Gavin Yachymiak 4-12, Jaden Intallura 1-(-12), Stephen Heiser 2-5.

Passing: UAC, Owen Bish 1-3-41, Peyton Wilson 1-1-22. Bucktail, Brody Pentz 4-11-48-1

Receiving: UAC, Reyes 1-41, Christian Salizzoni 1-22. Bucktail, Austin Mosher 1-6, Aidan Ditty 1-23, Stephen Heiser 2-19.