Young stars in Scotties’ impressive win
Union (33) vs. Leechburg (13)
Written: Sep 07, 2013
By Kayleen Cubbal
New Castle News
Benjamin Young scored three times to lead the Union High football team to a 33-13 rout of Leechburg last night.
The Scotties improved to 1-1 with the nonconference win, while Leechburg slipped to 0-2.
Young, a senior, scored on a 4-yard run in the first quarter, an 8-yard run in the second quarter and a 7-yard run in the fourth.
Julian Johnson had a big fourth-down stop to set up Young’s first TD, while Damonte Bell recovered a fumble on a kickoff to set up Young’s second score. Leechburg threatened at the end of the first half, reaching the Union 15 before a 36-yard field goal attempt was blocked.
The Scotties’ Jordan Best set up his own 27-yard touchdown run in the third quarter with a 35-yard punt return to the Leechburg 45.
Young finished with 83 yards rushing on 11 carries and caught four passes for 34 yards. Best added 61 yards on 10 carries.
“This was an important game for us — we were able get back up and win after our disappointing loss (20-0 to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart) last week,” Scotties coach Stacy Robinson said. “It’s no secret we try to get the ball into Benjamin Young’s hands, he can play with anyone around.”
Junior quarterback Anthony Rush completed 7 of 11 passes in the game for 110 yards, but was 6 of 6 in the second half for 102 yards. Rush is in his first year as a starter after transferring from New Castle during the offseason.
“Anthony is coming along,” Robinson said. “He’s playing quarterback according to the trial by fire method. Our staff made some adjustments at halftime and the second half went a lot smoother for us.”
One unhappy statistic for Robinson was the nine penalties for 81 yards racked up by his team. Two were 15-yard personal foul penalties.
“That’s a concern,” he said. “We can’t afford to give up yards like that to anyone.”
Elijah Waters scored Union’s final TD on a 60-yard pass from Rush.
(Email: kcubbal@ncnewsonline.com. Correspondent Gaylord Muny contributed to this story).
UNION LEECHBURG
13 First downs 10
154 Net Rushing 143
11 Passes Attempted 11
7 Passes Completed 3
0 Passes Intercepted 0
110 Yards Passing 24
264 Total Yards 167
2-0 Fumbles-Lost 1-1
5-29.6 Punts-Average 5-38.6
9-81 Penalties-Yards 3-15
UNION 6 6 8 13 — 33
LEECHBURG 0 0 0 13 — 13
Scoring plays
UNION — Benjamin Young, 4-yard run (kick blocked).
UNION — Young, 8-yard run (pass failed).
UNION — Jordan Best, 27-yard run (Young pass from Anthony Rush).
UNION —Young, 7-yard run (Young kick).
LEECHBURG — Kris Smith, 4-yard run (Quintin Wolfgang kick).
UNION — Elijah Waters, 60-yard pass from Rush (kick blocked).
LEECHBURG — Wolfgang, 3-yard run (pass failed).
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