Photo by Sandy Thoompson Union Local quarterback Carter Blake (18) runs against Harrison Central during Friday’s 45-14 win.

MORRISTOWN — Each week, Union Local has been preparing for a bigger test than the previous week.

And each week, the Jets pass with flying colors.

Such was the case again Friday when they put forth 490 yards of total offense, limited Harrison Central to negative 10 yards on the ground and cruised to a decisive 45-14 victory against the Huskies.

Union Local set the tone for the night on its very first play from scrimmage. As it’s done each week thus far, the Jets wanted to establish senior running back Jaksan Price. They handed him the ball on the first play, the UL offensive line basically moved Harrison Central’s defense out of the way and Price did the rest, ripping off a 73-yard touchdown.

“We started off with a bang,” Union Local head coach Bernie Thompson smiled. “That was a great first play. I am just proud of our guys for how they executed not only on that play, but throughout the entire game.”

The Huskies settled in and knotted the game at 7 when junior quarterback Hayden Cassidy found talented senior receiver Tre Rex behind the Jets’ defense for a 43-yard touchdown. Jace Madzia’s PAT knotted the game at 7.

Union Local proceeded to score 38 of the game’s next 45 points, however.

“We knew who Union Local was and what they liked to do,” Harrison Central head coach Anthony Hayes said. “I thought we had guys in place, but we just didn’t make plays. I don’t want to be too critical without watching the film, but all credit to UL. They came to play, executed their plan, dominated the game and the rest is history.”

Similar to what they’ve done each of the last three weeks, the Jets set the tone with Price, added in a little bit of quarterback run with senior Carter Blake, but against the Huskies they showed glimpses of a passing game that Thompson has been seeking.

“Each week Jaksan and Carter bring it,” Thompson said. “We had a few completitions, which definitely helped (the offense). We’re going to start working on our passing game more and more as the season goes on. I am really proud of our effort.”

Continuing to play without senior Hayden McCrate, who is nursing a knee injury from Week One, the Jets discovered another playmaker at their disposal in sophomore Dre Saunders. He was on the receiving end of six of the eight Jets’ completitions for 130 yards. He took a bubble screen 58 yards for a touchdown, which gave the Jets a 21-7 lead in the second quarter.

“Dre is another playmaker for us,” Thompson said.

Harrison Central got within seven again when Cassidy and Rex hooked up on a 33-yard pitch and catch on what was a beautifully thrown ball, but the Jets’ defense turned it up from there.

“Defensively, it was frustrating because we gave up two big plays (in the passing game) and avoiding those is something we stressed all week, so give Harrison credit for connecting on those,” Thompson said. “Other than that, we didn’t let them go back and forth with us.”

Blake and Price closed the scoring. Blake, who had a 22-yard scoring jaunt early in the second quarter, added an 18-yard burst. Price followed up his aforementioned score with touchdown runs of 38 yards and the lone score in the second half was from 10 yards out.

All told, Price finished with 241 yards on 19 carries. Blake, who completed 6 of 10 throws for 130 yards, added 89 on 12 carries.

The Huskies (3-1), meanwhile, were victimized by several bad snaps, which led to Cassidy being charted for negative 27 yards. He did complete 12 of 24 for 193. Rex caught five balls for 111 stripes.

“We have to figure out how we’re going to battle back from taking a good, sound thumping,” Hayes said. “We want this to hurt and it should hurt. We invested a lot of time and effort in this, but come (Saturday), we have to turn the page to East Liverpool.”

Union Local 45, Harrison Central 14

HC 7 7 0 0 – 14

UL 13 26 6 0 – 45

UL — Price 73 run (Blake kick).

HC — Rex 43 pass from Cassidy (Madzia kick).

UL — Blake 22 run (kick failed).

UL — Saunders 58 pass from Blake (Blake run).

HC — Rex 33 pass from Cassidy (Madzia kick).

UL — Blake 18 run (run failed).

UL — Price 38 run (kick failed).

UL — Price 10 run (kick failed).

RUSHING: Harrison Central, 16-(-10) (Quito, 7-17; Cassidy, 9-(-27)). Union Local, 37-352-5td (19-241-3td; Blake, 12-89-2td; Myers, 2-9; Keller, 2-2; Cross, 2-11).

PASSING: Harrison Central, 12-24-193-2td-2x (All by Cassidy). Union Local, 8-13-138-td (Blake, 6-10-130-td; Tomolonis, 2-3-8).

RECEIVING: Harrison Central, 12-193-2td (Rex, 5-111-2td; Fluharty, 3-16; Quito, 1-0; Vermillion, 1-10; Hutton, 2-56). Union Local, 8-138-td (Saunder, 6-130-td; Carpenter, 1-1; Duncan, 1-7).

First Downs: Harrison Central, 8; Union Local, 20.

Fumbles: Harrison Central, 6-0; Union Local, 0-0.

Penalties: Harrison Central, 7-40; Union Local, 7-58.