Uniontown routs Carrick for 500th victory, 34-0
Uniontown rode a solid team effort to a historic football victory on Friday night.
Five different players found the end zone and the defense turned in a dominating effort as the Red Raiders romped over Carrick, 34-0, at Cupples Stadium to earn their program鈥檚 500th career win.
Notorious Grooms and Mike Thomas scored on punt returns, Cam Dugan and David Ranitu each ran for a touchdown and Dugan also threw a long TD pass to Calvin Winfrey III as Uniontown won its second straight game to improve to 2-1.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a huge win, a great honor for the school,鈥� Red Raiders coach Keith Jeffries said of the milestone.
鈥淭here aren鈥檛 too many teams in the state that have 500 victories. It鈥檚 a pretty big accomplishment and just shows you the football tradition that鈥檚 been at the school for over 100 years.鈥�
Uniontown is the 25th WPIAL team to reach the 500-win mark.
The Red Raiders鈥� defense flexed its muscles, holding Carrick (0-3) to minus-13 yards on offense while recording six sacks.
鈥淭he whole defense in general played very well,鈥� Jeffries said. 鈥淭hey understood what we wanted them to do, they bought into the game plan and it showed.
鈥淚 thought Gary Smitley did a very good job on the d-line for us. He made a couple nice plays in their backfield. Kelan Milsom made a couple beautiful tackles where he knocked the ball loose. We forced some turnovers.鈥�
Uniontown鈥檚 defense harassed Raiders quarterback Zion Frye the entire game.
鈥淭hey threw the ball a lot,鈥� Jeffries said. 鈥淲e told them to be ready because their quarterback has a really good arm. We were able to get pressure on him and disrupt their offense.
鈥淭he kids have played well defensively the last two games. The only touchdown they鈥檝e given up was against our JV kids at the end of the Perry game. A shutout is a big accomplishment.鈥�
The Red Raiders scored the only points they would need when Dugan鈥檚 four-yard touchdown run capped a seven-play, 28-yard drive in the first quarter that was set up when Ranitu blocked a Carrick punt.
Uniontown鈥檚 defense pinned the Raiders deep in their own territory later in the quarter, forcing a punt from the back of the end zone that Grooms caught in stride and returned 28 yards for a touchdown. Ranitu kicked the second of his four extra points to make it 14-0.
The Red Raiders scored on another punt return early in the second quarter in an unusual way.
Connor Hebda partially blocked the punt which went bounding out to the Uniontown 32-yard line where Grooms gathered in the ball and advanced four yards. As Grooms was falling to the turf he alertly lateralled to Thomas who ran 28 yards for a touchdown and a 21-0 advantage.
鈥淭ory made eye contact with Mike Thomas who was coming to try and help block and it was almost like an option pitch, and Mike took it the rest of the way,鈥� Jeffries said.
Uniontown鈥檚 defense set up its fourth score of the first half when Chase Brumley sacked Frye on a fourth-and-four play at the Carrick 49. That led to a five-play touchdown drive that Ranitu finished up with a 12-yard run for a 28-0 halftime lead.
The Red Raiders struck again in the third quarter when Dugan lofted a long pass that Winfrey pulled in for a 44-yard touchdown to set the final score.
Dugan threw for 90 yards with Winfrey accounting for 79 of those on two receptions.
Ranitu led the ground game with eight carries for 62 yards.
Uniontown will shoot for win No. 501 when it hosts Allderdice this Friday night.