Pancoast, Indians get back on track

Photo by Bill Rudick/ Unionville quarterback Tom Pancoast takes off during Friday's win over Oxford.

By BILL RUDICK
brudick54@gmail.com

UNIONVILLE — A week removed from a spanking at the hands of Coatesville, Unionville needed to get itself back on track. A 43-18 win over visiting Oxford on Friday night did the trick.
“Last week was an embarassment,” said Indians all-everything player Tom Pancoast, who finished the night with 100-yards rushing and a pair of touchdowns, threw for another 136 and two touchdowns, and for good measure, picked off two passes playing defense. “We wanted to come out and send the message that we are on top of the division and plan to stay there.”
And the Indians wasted no time in getting that message across, scoring on a 63-yard strike from Pancoast to Tim Christopher on the first play from scrimmage. Christopher finished the day with 2 catches for 130 yards and two touchdowns. He also scored on an 8-yard run.
“The coaches did a great job scheming that play,” said Christopher. “I just got myself wide open. It felt really great to score on the first play of the game.”
But Oxford answered right back, marching off a 10 play, 65-yard drive capped with a 3-yard pass from Ethan Herb to tight end Josh Davis.
“We moved the ball well tonight, but we just made too many mistakes,” said Oxford coach Mike Pietlock. “You can’t make mistakes like we did and expect to beat a team like Unionville.”
On the stat sheet, the game was far closer than the final tally that showed on the score board. The Hornets actually had more first downs than Unionville, 24-11, and the difference in total yards was just 54 yards, 392-338.
But turnovers doomed the Hornets, and drive-killing turnovers at that. Still within two scores just before the half, the Hornets had the ball deep in Unionville territory when they fumbled inside the 20.
Midway through the third, Oxford had just made good on a huge gamble, picking up 31-yards and a first down on fake punt when Ryan Hubley connected with Brendan Frazier down to the Indians’ 19. But on the next snap, Herb’s pass was picked off by Pancoast in the endzone.
“The D-line did a great job of pressuring (Herb),” said Pancoast. “They rushed him out of the pocket and forced him into a bad position to throw from. The ball basically came right into my hands.”
Leading the way for the Hornets offensivley was Colton Turns. The quick halfback was a workhorse Friday night, carrying the ball 31 times for 117 yards and a touchdown. The other Hornet score came on a 1-yard run from Herb.
“We still have four games to play,” said Pietclock. “If we can take care of the ball, we can still do some things that haven’t been seen in Oxford in a long time.”
Count Unionville coach Pat Clark among those who see the strides Oxford is making as a program.
“They are light years improved from just a few years ago,” said Clark. “Herb is a polished, good quarterback. We tried to cloud things up underneath and got good pressure on him tonight. We executed well.”
With the win, the Indians stay on track to win the American.
“We’ve been very fortunate to have some very good kids come through here, and Tom Pancoast is certainly one of those very good kids,” said Clark, “But we got some great complementary play from throughout the line-up, too.”

Unionville 43, Oxford 18
Oxford    6 0 0 12 -- 18
Unionville     7 15 7 21 -- 43
Scoring
U- Christopher 67 pass from Pancoast (A. Pechin kick)
O- Davis 3 pass from Herb (kick failed)
U- Christopher 8 run (Pancoast run)
U- Pancoast 4 run (A. Pechin kick)
U- Pancoast 1 run (A. Pechin kick)
O- Turns 1 run (pass failed)
U- B. Pechin 2 run (A. Pechin kick)
O- Herb 1 run (pass failed)
Team Totals
    OX     U
First downs     24    11
Yards rushing     177    246
Yards passing     161    148
Total yards    338    392
Passing     12-23-2    4-7-0
Fumbles-Lost     2-1    1-1
Penalties    1-10    4-45
Punts-Avg.     1-36.0    2.26.5
Individual Statistics
RUSHING - O: Turns 31-116, TD; Herb 7-42, TD; Way 4-20; Lopez 1-1. U: Pancoast 13-100, 2 TDs; DiBaggio 3-93; B. Pechin 8-33, TD; Christopher 2-12, TD; Scargill 3-8.
PASSING - O: Herb 11-22-1, 129 yards, TD; Hubley: 1-1-0, 32 yards. U: Pancoast 3-6-0, 136 yards, 2 TDs; A. Pechin 1-2-0, 12 yards.
RECEIVING - O: Summer 7-90; Dawkins 2-26; Davis 2-13; Frazier 1-31; Turns 1-11. U: Christopher 2-130, TD; Nash 1-12; Johnson 1-6.
SACKS - O: None. U: Biggs 2, Cheyney.
INTERCEPTIONS - O: None. U: Pancoast 2.