RIMERSBURG — It’s a hot mid-summer day and Union wide receivers Shane Murphy and Chet Charmichael are running pass routes.

Golden Knights’ quarterback Lane Cicciarelli is throwing spiral after spiral in their direction.

The work they did in the summer is paying off already just two weeks into the high school football season.

“The whole summer, I learned all the plays and ran routes with Lane,” Murphy said. “Chet Carmichael and I, we went out and (Cicciarelli) threw us every kind of pass. Every throw he made was perfect.”

In two games, Cicciarelli and Murphy have hooked up for five touchdowns. They had a sixth in a 34-18 loss to Punxsutawney Friday, but it was called back because of a penalty.

Cicciarelli, a junior, is 12-of-25 for 257 yards and the five scores to Murphy.

Murphy, a senior, has caught six passes for 164 yards.

It’s been the Lane and Shane Show in the passing game for Union.

And it isn’t exactly unexpected in Rimersburg, even though outside of the borough it is.

“I told Shane last year he had the best hands on the team,” said Union coach Dave Louder. “But he didn’t know the offense well enough.

“Also,” Louder added, “we had some seniors who were pretty special.”

Murphy only caught three passes for 17 yards last season.

But the 5-foot-11, 162-pounder dedicated himself to learning the routes.

He also dedicated himself in the weight room and worked on improving his already exceptional speed.

Murphy bought a parachute online and strapped it to his back to run sprints at Union High School this summer.

“It was actually pretty hard to run with that thing,” Murphy said, laughing. “I had the wind blowing in my face, so that didn’t help any. It worked, though. I felt so much lighter running without it.”

And quicker.

Cicciarelli, who was 5-of-8 for 53 yards last season, said he has complete confidence now that Murphy will be where he is supposed to be.

“When I throw it up, I know he’s going to get it,” Cicciarelli said. “He’s a ball hawk.”

Cicciarelli also worked hard on his passing in the offseason.

Louder said he knew last year watching Cicciarelli perform on the junior varsity team that he would be ready to take over this season.

“Lane is a heck of a nice passer,” Louder said. “We knew in JV games he was something special. He was looking off safeties and throwing nice passes.

“He’s probably the best true passer I’ve ever had,” Louder added. “Taylor Smith was such a threat running and throwing and Brody (Shick) was a hard-nosed runner. But Lane is a true passer.”

Union opened the season with an impressive 36-7 win over A-C Valley. In that game, Cicciarelli and Murphy hooked up for three touchdowns.

In the loss to Punxsy, Union fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter but made things interesting in the fourth.

Not many outside of Union’s halls believed the Golden Knights would contend this season.

“It actually feels real good that we are opening some eyes,” Murphy said. “We have a really young team and we’re all playing really hard. I think we can do much better. So much better. We have so many weapons.”