CLARION — Union/A-C Valley figured to have its hands full in a rematch with Redbank Valley.

The first 13 minutes of Friday's District 9 Class A football semifinal turned the difficult task into a daunting one.

The Falcon Knights never recovered from an early 19-0 hole and saw their season ended with a 32-6 loss to the Bulldogs at Clarion University's Memorial Stadium.

Included in Redbank's flurry to begin the game were a pair of interceptions returned for touchdowns. Sam Hetrick and Joseph Mansfield picked off quarterback Luke Bowser and raced 41 and 40 yards, respectively. They were the first two of six Falcon Knight turnovers on the night.

“Turnovers put us in a huge hole tonight,” said Union/ACV coach Brad Dittman. “You can't turn the ball over six times against a good football team.”

The Falcon Knights defeated Redbank 28-7 Oct. 18 on the Bulldogs' home field, costing the latter an outright District 9 Small School South Division title.

“Our guys aren't into celebrating a three-way tie for the conference title,” said Redbank coach Blane Gold. “There was a lot of motivation for us tonight.

“They are capable of scoring a lot of points,” he added of the Falcon Knights, “but I'm a defensive guy and we've been preaching that since day one. That's November football.”

The Falcon Knights showed offensive flashes early on. To begin their third drive of the game, Eli Penny took a handoff and raced 47 yards down to the Bulldog 14. But Union/A-C Valley turned the ball over on downs four plays later.

On the next series, Bowser hooked up with Caden Rainey for a 35-yard pass, setting the team up at Redbank's 47.

But following a penalty, Bowser's screen pass was tipped and intercepted by Mansfield. His pick-6 made it 19-0 just over a minute into the second quarter.

“In the playoffs, you have to punch it in for points and we just couldn't hold the momentum on offense,” Dittman said.

Bowser did find a streaking Colton Hoffman for a 23-yard scoring pass midway through the second quarter and the deficit was 19-6 at halftime.

Union/A-C Valley actually out-gained the Bulldogs, 129-118, in the first half.

“We had some missed tackles early, but I thought we came back and did pretty well,” said Dittman. “We played well enough defensively to win.”

Three fumbles over the final two quarters thwarted any hope of a comeback.

The Bulldogs' ground attack has been by committee throughout the season, but they turned to Ray Shreckengost, who piled up 118 yards and a 20-yard touchdown run to open the scoring just one minute, 43 seconds into the game.

“They were doing what they could to stuff us,” said Gold of the Falcon Knights, “but Ray runs hard. Some of his biggest runs tonight came when nothing was there and he was able to bounce it.”

Mansfield blocked Kylar Culbertson's punt deep in Union/A-C Valley territory in the third quarter, setting up the first score of the second half, Kobe Bonanno's two-yard plunge with 4:37 left in the period.

Mansfield caught a late 7-yard scoring toss from Cam Wagner to cap the scoring for the Bulldogs (9-2), who will face top-seeded Coudersport in the district final next week.

Penny finished with 94 yards rushing on 12 carries for Union/A-C Valley..

The Falcon Knights (7-4) made marked improvement from last year when they finished 4-7.

“Our guys have heart and character and I enjoyed coaching them,” said Dittman. “They took us to a new level.

“They put us in the position we wanted to be in for the playoffs. We just didn't get it done tonight.”

Union/ACV 0 6 0 0 — 6

Redbank Valley 12 7 6 7 — 32

First Quarter

RV — Ray Schreckengost 20 run (kick blocked), 10:17

RV — Sam Hetrick 41 interception return (pass failed), 5:46

Second Quarter

RV — Joseph Mansfield 40 interception return (Anthony Baileys kick), 10:46

U/ACV — Colton Hoffman 23 pass from Luke Bowser (pass failed), 6:42

Third Quarter

RV — Kobe Bonanno 2 run (run failed), 4:37

Fourth Quarter

RV — Mansfield 7 pass from Cam Wagner (Baileys kick), 2:52

Individual Statistics

Rushing:Union/A-C Valley, Tony Thompson 4-5, Eli Penny 12-94, Gaven Bowser 3-2, Caden Rainey 1-(-2), Luke Bowser 8-(-3), Kylar Culbertson 2-5, Tanner Merwin 1-(-1). Redbank Valley, Ray Schrecengost 20-118, Kobe Bonanno 2-2, Hudson Martz 6-(-6), Joseph Mansfield 4-36, Sam Hetrick 2-(-1), TEAM 2-(-2).

Passing:Union/A-C Valley, Luke Bowser 5-20-77-3. Redbank Valley, Cam Wagner 6-18-60-1.

Receiving:Union/A-C Valley, Eli Penny 2-17, Caden Rainey 2-37, Colton Hoffman 1-23. Redbank Valley, Ethan Hetrick 2-42, Javin Brentzel 3-11, Joseph Manfield 1-7.