What’s behind Union/A-C Valley football’s undefeated start? 1 early morning, dynamic RBs and an underdog mentality
Max Gallagher probably didn’t spring out of bed. The Union/A-C Valley senior running back/linebacker’s teammates didn’t have to know that, though.
For the second year in a row, the Falcon Knights worked through heat acclimation late this summer at Clarion University, an excursion Union/A-C Valley coach Dan Reed described as: “Just football for four days.”
It was a tone-setter, too. The team is 8-0 and off to its best start in its decade-long existence ahead of Friday night’s trip to Port Allegany (8-0), last year’s PIAA Class 1A runner-up.
“The last day, we have a 6 a.m. practice. The sun’s just starting to come up,” Reed said of that morning. “We get together with our position groups and everybody jogs down to the stadium from the dorm room, which is probably half a mile. It’s dark and we’re jogging through the streets of Clarion.”
Waking up for football was easier for Gallagher than getting going for school or work.
“I knew waking up that I kinda had to mask my tiredness because if you have a guy at 5 in the morning screaming and yelling, hyping people up, they’re gonna kind of take after that,” Gallagher said. “We all got in a group before we ran, and we were like, ‘Hey, we gotta get this done, get this quick so we can get a break.’ And that’s what we did.”
It seems everyone else is following suit. About the Falcon Knights, anyway.
“We’re definitely a sleeper team,” Gallagher said. “Being 8-0, there’s still a lot of people doubting us. We love being the underdog. ... I think it’s just that, since the co-op, Union/A-C Valley’s never really been able to beat the Redbank (Valleys) or the top dogs like Port (Allegany).”
Union/A-C Valley consolidated on the gridiron in 2016. Since then, the program has gone a combined 4-12 against those two teams. A win Friday over the Gators would tie the Falcon Knights’ record for wins in a single season, thanks in large part to their senior guidance.
Union/A-C Valley has blanked its last three opponents — Moniteau, Kane and Smethport — winning by a combined score of 137-0. It hasn’t allowed more than two touchdowns since its Week 2 win over Redbank Valley, a 26-22 decision. Since then, opponents have averaged 5.8 points per game.
On offense, the backfield combination of Gallagher and fellow senior Logan Skibinski is about all the Falcon Knights could ask for. The pair provides a 1-2 punch without a defined No. 1 running back. Reed doesn’t force the ball to one more than the other, but can count on both to bounce off and drag defenders.
Gallagher leads the team with 882 yards and 16 touchdowns on 133 carries. Skibinski has 768 yards and 13 scores on 96 totes.
“Max kinda plays the fullback and Logan’s more like a tailback,” Reed said. “There’s different plays for them. ... Some weeks, we run the ball a lot out of one-back sets. Max would get a lot of carries there. Some weeks, we run out of a pistol with the tailback and Logan gets a lot of the carries there. It really depends.”
“Any time I have 10 rushing yards and Logan has 200, that’s a win in our books,” Gallagher said.
While at Clarion, Gallagher and a handful of the other seniors gathered their position groups in their dorms for players-only meetings, helping set the expectations for younger players.
Due to transportation logistics involving players from two schools nearly 30 minutes apart, Union/A-C Valley doesn’t practice longer than two hours a night. Taking more time out of some of his players’ nights wouldn’t be fair, Reed said.
“At this point of the year, we’re not installing a lot of new things,” Reed said. “Maybe some new things to our game plan. We’re also trying to cut back on the contact during practice a little bit just because of injuries at this time of year. ... Sometimes I wonder if the teams who practice a lot longer are actually doing more harm than good.”
Port Allegany will be their stiffest test yet. The Gators have scored at least 66 points on four different occasions this season. The winner will likely lock up District 9 Class 1A’s No. 1 seed.
