Union City rolls past Bronson in Battle for the Shield

BRONSON – In the annual Battle for the Shield, it was Union City taking control early and never looking back as the Chargers rolled past the Bronson Vikings for the 58-16 win.

Union City controlled nearly every aspect of the game Friday night, out gaining Bronson 426-194 for the game, including 393-28 on the ground. Bronson won the air battle, out gaining Union City 166-33; however, three key turnovers by the Vikings led to big points for the Chargers in the victory.

"Our Wing-T looked really good tonight, every guy who got carries in that set scored a touchdown, which was great to see," said Union City head coach Doug Counterman. "This team is full of guys who play their hearts out and they are on a mission, with that we took at least a share of the Big 8 title, but we want more and we are far from done."

Disaster struck early for Bronson as the Vikings lost a fumble on the third play from scrimmage, a fumble recovered by Union City’s Rick Austin at the 44-yard line. The Chargers quickly got to work with their stout Wing-T attack, scoring on a 41-yard touchdown run by Dylon MacDonald to start the scoring. Jason Shoop kicked his first of eight extra points to give Union City the early 7-0 lead with 8:32 left in the first quarter.

Disaster struck again for the Vikings on their next drive as an errant snap bounced off the quarterback's hands and into the waiting arms of Union City’s Aiden Decker for Bronson’s second turnover of the game, a fumble recovered at the 25-yard line with 8:14 left in the quarter.

Union City quickly took advantage of the turnover, scoring mere moments later on a 17-yard touchdown pass from Eli Payne to Jeremy Zehr, pushing the Charger lead to 14-0 with 7:33 left in the first quarter.

Bronson showed absolutely no quit and hit on a big play of their own on the next drive as quarterback Spencer Losinski connected with Stevie Wilson for a 75-yard pass, putting the Vikings inside the 5-yard line in a blink. Two plays later, it was Collin York rumbling in from 4 yards out to get the Vikings on the board. The two-point conversion pass from Carson Norton to Wilson closed the gap to 14-8 with 5:17 left in the first quarter.

Union City buckled down and took over from there, scoring 44 straight points to take control of the game.

The scoring run started on the defensive side of the ball for Union City, as an errant snap on a Bronson punt attempt led to the Bronson punter being tackled in the endzone by junior Reed Goodwin for the safety, giving Union City the 16-8 lead, a lead they would hold to end the first quarter.

The second quarter saw Union City score four touchdowns, all on the ground, a run kickstarted by a MacDonald 10-yard touchdown run, extending the lead to 23-8 with 11:19 left in the half.

Union City’s next two touchdowns came via the big play, as Riley Laird got loose around the left end for a 60-yard touchdown run, followed quickly by a Rick Austin 77-yard touchdown scamper, pushing the Union City lead to 37-8. The Chargers found the scoreboard one more time before the half as Laird scampered his way in from 11-yards out, sending the game to the half with Union City leading 44-8.

The Chargers spent the early parts of the second half grinding things out on the ground, beginning with their first drive of the half that saw a highlight reel MacDonald run put the Chargers inside the 10-yard line. Union City took advantage of the big run, scoring on a 2-yard touchdown run by Austin, pushing the lead to 51-8 with 7:38 left in the third quarter.

Union City found paydirt one more time as junior Brendan Labar scored his first varsity touchdown on the next drive, rumbling in from 14-yards out to push the Charger lead to 58-8.

Bronson put a cap on the scoring late in the fourth quarter as it was Losinski finding Dawson Soergel through the air for a 38-yard touchdown pass. Norton found Ben Stevens for the two-point conversion, finding what would be the final score of 58-16.

Union City had two runners eclipse the 100-yard mark, with another coming awfully close. Riley Laird led the way for the dynamic Charger offense, rushing the ball 10 times for 142 yards and two touchdowns. Dylon MacDonald also had a big game running the football, carrying the ball seven times for 126 yards and two scores while Rick Austin notched 92 yards on three carries for two touchdowns.

Brendan Labar finished off the rushing attack for Union City with nine carries for 39 yards and one score.

Eli Payne led the Union City air effort, completing 3 of 4 passes for 33 yards and a touchdown, with all three passes going to Jeremy Zehr.

Bronson was led offensively by quarterback Spencer Losinski, who finished 7 of 18 passing for 166 yards and one touchdown to go with an interception.

Union City was led defensively by middle linebacker Owen Jackson, who had eight tackles, while Riley Laird added five tackles and an interception. Aiden Decker added five tackles, two for a loss, and one fumble recovery, while Brendan Snyder recorded four tackles.

The Bronson defensive effort was led by Collin York with seven tackles.

With the loss, Bronson falls to 2-3 overall on the season, with its next matchup coming Friday when they host Springport.

"You cannot spot a team like Union City 14 points like we did with those early turnovers," said Bronson head coach Jake Miller. "We are kind of sliding backwards a bit after a great start to the season and we need to take a step back and figure out why. I've got the guys on the team who want to play, I just need to find 11 of them to put it all together at one time. We have some work to do going forward."

Union City, meanwhile, improves to 4-1 on the season with the win and officially wraps up at least a share of the Big 8 conference title. The Chargers will look to wrap up the outright crown next Friday when they head to Quincy to take on the rival Orioles.

This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Union City rolls past Bronson in Battle for the Shield