Union and A-C Valley collided on the high school football field for 49 consecutive years.

The schools' football players will soon be running into each other daily — as teammates.

This longtime small-school gridiron rivalry — with Union holding a 34-14-1 advantage — has ended through a consolidation of resources. The Union Golden Knights and A-C Valley Falcons have become the Union-A-C Valley Falcon Knights for the 2016 season.

“Now is the time to do this,” said Union coach Dave Louder, who will serve as head coach of the consolidated team. “A-C Valley has been hurting in terms of numbers and Union has lost a number of outstanding athletes the past couple of years.

“We're excited about what we can accomplish working together.”

A-C Valley head coach Brad Dittman resigned in May and one of his top assistants, Chris McNany, stepped down in March. Ray Fox, who coached wide receivers and defensive backs for the Falcons, will serve a similar role with the Falcon Knights.

Former A-C Valley assistant Kline Terwilliger will coach the junior high team. Union and A-C Valley merged into one junior high football squad last year in preparation for this season.

A-C Valley has not defeated Union in football since 2006. While the Golden Knights reached the District 9 playoffs and produced the first postseason win in program history in 2014, the Falcons have lost their last 32 games.

Union finished 5-5 last year, falling short of the playoffs. A-C Valley's last football win was a 21-7 triumph over Keystone in October of 2012.

“Our incoming seniors have never won a varsity football game,” Fox said. “They are excited about this merger because now they feel like they can realize the experience of winning at the varsity level.

“These kids deserve to reap the benefits of all their hard work the past few years.”

Fox pointed out that more than 22 Union and A-C Valley players showed up for voluntary drills last month.

“We were actually able to do some 11 on 11 walkthroughs and install a few plays,” he said. “We couldn't go 11 on 11 in a regular season practice at A-C Valley the last year or so because of our lack of numbers.”

Numbers will not be a problem this season.

“We're looking at a roster of between 45 and 53 players for varsity,” Louder said. “We're ecstatic about that.”

Union-A-C Valley will still be in Class 1A and will play a nine-game regular season schedule. It will be one of the four biggest 1A programs in District 9. Three of the home games will be at Union while two home games and a home scrimmage will be at A-C Valley.

New uniforms will feature a black, blue and gold color scheme. Union's helmets, with the 'U' featured on the side, will now display the Falcon logo inside of the U.

“We've been doing weight-room workouts at both schools,” Louder said. “Both schools have solid facilities that way. We're dividing time at both locations as much as possible.

“We don't want one school's kids always having to be the ones bussed to the other school. It's been clear from the start that this team is representing both schools. It's all been good so far.”

Two assistants from the 2015 Union staff — Dana Hawk and John Stiglitz — will remain with the program this year.

“The kids are all getting along well and the coaching staff is working well together,” Fox said. “A lot of the duties involving coaches for the junior varsity team have yet to be sorted out, but that will get there.

“We've got about 20 A-C Valley kids on this team now and they are fired up. We just didn't have enough numbers to be successful before. Now we do.”