RIMERSBURG — Moniteau forced four turnovers and returned two interceptions for touchdowns in a 34-20 victory over Union on Friday night.

“We had three plays that killed us tonight,” Union coach Dave Louder said. “The two interceptions were costly for sure.”

The Warriors got their first turnover on the second play from scrimmage when Cody Skiver intercepted a Lane Cicciarelli pass over the middle and returned it 36 yards for a touchdown.

Union responded by moving the ball into Warrior territory, but a false start penalty on a fourth-and-2 was costly and an incomplete pass ended the drive.

Moniteau took over on their own 35 and it took just four plays to get on the board again.

Trevor Shaffer took a handoff and broke a few tackles, gaining 34 yards to advance the Warriors to the Union 23. Two plays later, Skiver found a wide-open Austin Blauser in the end zone for a touchdown.

A holding penalty on the ensuing kickoff return forced Union to start its next drive at its own 18-yard line.

The bad field position didn’t hurt the Golden Knights, though, and they were able to earn a couple of first downs. On the first play of the second quarter, Cicciarelli threw to an uncovered Chet Carmichael and the junior wide receiver did the rest going 62 yards down the sideline untouched for Union’s first score of the night, cutting the deficit to 14-6.

The Golden Knights forced Moniteau to punt on its next possession and received the ball back at their own 35.

Union didn’t have the ball long, though, as they fumbled on the first play and Moniteau recovered for the second turnover of the night.

It took just two plays for the Warriors to turn the fumble into points as Dustin Geagan scored from 5 yards out to give Moniteau a 20-6 lead.

“Geagan gave us all he had tonight,” Moniteau coach Cecil Blauser said. “He got injured in the first quarter and battled through the game.”

After the teams traded possessions, the Golden Knights took the ball on their own 27 and seemed to have a touchdown on a long pass to Carmichael, but a holding penalty negated the score.

Union (3-5) didn’t recover from the infraction and turned the ball over on downs in the final minute of the half.

Moniteau (2-6) received to start the second half and held the ball for about half of the quarter, scoring on a Skiver 4-yard run to increase the lead to 26-6. The touchdown was set up by a 45-yard pass from Skiver to Shaffer, who dove and made a spectacular catch.

Union needed a big play to get back in the game on the next drive and Carmichael delivered, scoring on a 30-yard pass from Cicciarelli.

“(Carmichael) is such a threat,” Louder said. “He expends all his energy out there and it is great to have a kid like that on our team.”

Cicciarelli hit Shane Murphy in the end zone on the two-point conversion to cut the lead to 26-14.

After recovering an onside kick at their own 47, Moniteau moved the ball methodically down the field in 10 plays, but the drive ended on an interception at the Union 6 on a fourth-down play.

With just over eight minutes to play and down by two scores, Union went to its passing game on the next drive and Cicciarelli found Cody Stockdill for a 22-yard completion. On the next play, though, Moniteau picked up its third and perhaps biggest turnover of the game.

A couple of Warriors were able to pressure Cicciarelli and he threw a screen pass right to lineman Brendon Stamm who rumbled 28 yards for a touchdown.

“I don’t know if he has ever had a touchdown before,” Blauser said. “It will take a lot to wipe the smile off his face after that one.”

Union added a touchdown on the next drive when Cicciarelli hit Murphy with a pass in stride and he went 68 yards for the score.

After Moniteau turned it over on downs with their next possession, Union started out at their own 25 in the final minutes and Shaffer intercepted a pass to seal the victory.

“Our kids are believing, and they showed a lot of heart tonight,” Blauser said. “The defense stepped up and everyone wants to make plays for us.”