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.