Menu
Eagles throttle Blu-Jays, control playoff fate
PLEASANTON -- Uniontown High School's football team has its fate in its own hands.
The Eagles defeated Pleasanton, coached by Fort Scott High School graduate Trent Stepps, 56-18, in Eight-Man Division I District 2 play here Friday night and will face Yates Center Thursday night in a winner-take-all battle for the second playoff berth out of this district.
Uniontown is 3-1 in the district and 6-2 overall. Yates Center, which defeated Marmaton Valley, 62-14, Friday, is 3-1, 5-3, clinching its first winning season since at least 1999. The Eagles and Wildcats will face each other Thursday night at Uniontown. Marais des Cygnes Valley clinched the district title by beating St. Paul, 47-0, Friday. The Trojans (4-0, 7-1) have already defeated both Uniontown and Yates Center and would win the tie-breaker with either one.
"We will have to be at our best as Yates Center is a very good team," Uniontown head coach Chad Stroud says.
The top two teams in each district advance to the playoffs. As district champion, the Trojans will host the runner-up of District I, which will be South Haven (7-1), in a Bi-District playoff game on November 5. The Uniontown-Yates Center winner will have to go on the road that night to play Howard-West Elk (8-0), which has already clinched the championship of District 1.
The Uniontown-Yates Center loser will see its season come to an end.
The Eagles led Pleasanton 16-0 after one period of Friday's game, which also counted in Three Rivers League play, and 30-0 at the half. The Eagles clinched second place in the TRL at 4-1 while Pleasanton is guaranteed a third-place finish in the league at 3-2. The Blu-Jays are 2-2 in the district at 3-5 overall.
Uniontown rushed for 374 yards on 51 carries, an average of over 7 yards per play, and had 445 yards in total offense. Cole Schafer rushed for 205 yards and scored 5 touchdowns. Jacob Duffey rushed for 78 yards and passed for 71 yards.
"Tommy Joles did an outstanding job stepping in at fullback for John Reed, who broke his wrist last week," Stroud said. "Our offensive line -- Tyler Johns, James Pearson, Zach Schwalm, Montana Beerbower, Chase Gleason -- played well all night."
Pleasanton finished with 322 yards of total offense, rushing for 134 yards and passing for 188. Chase Gleason led the defense with 12 tackles, Zach Davis made 11 and Devonte Robinson was credited with 10. The Eagle defense caused three turnovers.
"Our defense answered the bell a couple times," Stroud said. "They had a stop inside our 10-yard line in the first quarter. In the second quarter they held after we came up short on fourth down on our side of the field. We gave up one big play in the third quarter, but were solid other than that."