Football Preview
By Keith Maloy | Sep 14, 2022 11:52 AM
Indians try to knock off Northeastern for Homecoming BY RICK REED News-Gazette Sports Editor If Union City's football team wants to celebrate a Homecoming victory Friday night, it will have to do something it has seldom done. The Indians have defeated Northeastern just one time in the past 10 years, so beating the Knights (3-1) would add a huge feather in their war bonnets. Coach Keith Maloy knows it will take a supreme effort to get past the Knights, who destroyed Cambridge City to the tune of 83-6 last week. It presents a huge challenge for a Union City defense that is surrendering 43.5 points a game and until last week's win against Knightstown has struggled to stop anyone. The Knights won last year's affair 41-0. Although they have dominated the Indians of late, the series is all knotted up at 19-19 over the past 35 years. Union City's first order of business will be to contend with Knight's quarterback Carson Terrell, who is on pace to throw for 2,000 yards this season. Over the first four games Terrell has completed 50 of 84 passes for 829 yards and 13 touchdowns. Terrell's favorite target is senior Noah Ammerman, who has 12 catches for 305 yards and five TDs, but he does spread it around with four other players having at least five catches. Another senior, Dylan Isaacs, is the top rusher. Union City doesn't have the experience, and they've lost quarterback Jayson Connor, but what they do have is some young talent that has started to make some noise. Junior Alex Spence has shifted to quarterback and performed admirably. Quincy Middaugh, Brayden Huggins and Jace O'Connor, all sophomores, have been bright spots as receivers and are starting to blossom. Another sophomore, Bradin Daniels, leads the rushing attack and is coming off a school-record 20 solo tackle performance at his defensive safety position. Big junior Colson Clemons anchors the line play and has been a handful. The abundance of youth has resulted in Union City taking some lumps, but continued hard work and the potential shown can only mean positive things lie ahead for the Tribe. Rick Reed News-Gazette Sports Editor