District 9 football: Redbank Valley ends Union/A-C Valley’s season in Class 1A semifinals
Union/A-C Valley football’s season came to an end one game short of the District 9 Class 1A championship.
No. 2 Redbank Valley knocked out the third-seeded Falcon Knights 31-13 Friday at Brookville High School in the district semifinals. The Gators will play top seed Port Allegany, which beat No. 4 Keystone 57-14 in the other semifinal, in next week’s D9 championship.
Braylon Wagner ran for a 7-yard touchdown and threw a 15-yard TD pass to Rylan Rupp in the game’s first four minutes to stake the Gators (9-3) to a 14-0 lead it didn’t relinquish.
UAC (8-4) quarterback Owen Bish tried to keep things close with a 5-yard TD run later in the first quarter to cut it to 14-7, then threw a touchdown to Christian Salizzoni from 7 yards out in the second half to cut the lead again to 17-13, but that was the closest it got.
Bish finished with 15 carries for 77 yards and 8 of 13 for 62 yards passing and an interception. He also had four tackles from his safety spot. Running back Max Gallagher ran for 64 yards on 16 touches; he also caught two passes for a team-high 19 yards.
Junior linebacker Michael Yerkey led the Falcon Knights’ defense with nine tackles.
Wagner was involved in all four Gators touchdowns, two rushing and two passing.