Union Local's Jaksan Price (4) runs past Shenandoah defenders during Friday's win.

MORRISTOWN – Entering week five of the Ohio prep football season, there were 104 undefeated teams remaining, and that was guaranteed to shrink by one as 4-0 Shenandoah made the trek to Morristown to face off against the 4-0 Union Local Jets. While the first quarter was something that could have reminded fans of the back-and-forth usually seen in the Big 12 and Arena ball, a record-breaking evening by UL senior running back Jaksan Price and a few key defensive adjustments gave the host Jets another big win on the season, taking a 49-20 decision to improve to 5-0.

“First, and foremost, credit to Shenaodah, they are a great team, they were 4-0 for a reason,” complimented Union Local coach Bernie Thompson. “They have got a young gunslinger that we knew was going to come out and throw the ball, and he lit us up in the first half, and a lot of that too was some mistakes on our end, some things we tried to do differently throughout the week. We realized it didn’t work early on, so we went back to what we do best and we made adjustments because here’s the thing; it’s not going to be easy every week. We knew that going into this week Shenandoah is a great team. We faced some adversity and I’m happy, and I’m happy how we handled it.”

When asked about his team’s efforts, and how the team was slowed offensively after a hot start, Shenandoah coach Josh Lowery was honest but upbeat, stating: “It’s the little things. We were making dumb penalties, false starts, we missed a couple blocks here and there, missed a couple reads, and it just came back to bite us.” Lowery also noted; “After the week we just had, we were only able to practice Monday and Thursday this week due to sickness, so for us to come out and compete the way we did, to be 4-1 going into the second half of the season, I’m not disappointed in that. We came out, we fought, and they are a good football team. They have a lot of talent, and that Price boy is pretty good. To come in here and survive and not have any injuries coming out is a win in our books.”

Shenandoah opened the game by squibbing an onside kick to the hosts that was downed at the hosts 44. From there, UL pieced together an eight-play opening drive that was capped off when the Jets came out of a time-out on third-and-10 with senior QB Carter Blake hitting sophomore wideout Dre Saunders for a 19-yard touchdown. Blake split the uprights and the Jets led 7-0 at the 8:15 mark.

Shenandoah, on the other hand, took much less time to strike back. Following junior Hunter Yates’ return to the 22, freshman dandy quarterback Braxton Barnett hit Yates on the second play from scrimmage, who in turn ducked a defender off of his back, shed another one, and rumbled 69-yards for a touchdown. The conversion pass was no good, keeping the stunned hosts up 7-6.

Union Local recovered the onside kick to take over at the 43 and Price ripped off a 29-yard play to start the drive. Five plays later, Blake and Price ran the option to perfection, with the senior signal-caller keeping the ball and tucking it for a 14-yard scoring jaunt. The PAT was no good, giving the hosts a 13-6 cushion with 4:49 remaining in the first.

If Shenandoah’s first drive stunned the home crowd, the second one left them speechless. After a run by junior running back Jacob Feldman got no traction, Barnett took the second-down snap and lifted a beautiful pass to junior wide-out Brenden Portman, flew down the sideline for an 81-yard score. Barnett then hit Weston Miley for the two-pointer to give the visitors a 14-13 lead with 4:06 showing on the first quarter clock.

Union Local turned their next possession over on downs, but the Jets defense held to force a punt and give the hosts their first possession of the second quarter. Union Local took advantage of this one on the legs of Price and Blake, with Price rumbling around the left side and getting deft blocking from his receivers near the goal line to score from 25-yards out. The conversion pass failed, as the hosts held a 19-14 lead.

The Jets defense came up big on the next drive, ripping the ball out of a Zeps receiver’s hands to gain possession on the Green-and-White’s 40. Price found the end zone again, this time from 10-yards out. The conversion run failed, staking the Jets to a 25-14 advantage.

The Zeps stuck back one more time, as Barnett found Portman at the 39 of UL. The slick junior rolled out of contact from a Jets DB, slipped another one, and got to the end zone from 56-yards out. The conversion pass failed, leaving the visitors trailing 25-20. Unfortunately for the Noble Countians, this was the closest they got for the remainder of the game as the Jets made defensive adjustments.

UL squashed the rally in one play, with Price ripping off a 49-yard run after the hosts recovered an onside attempt. Blake ran the conversion in for 33-20 lead.

The Red-and-White D tightened the screws on the visitors, with Alex Beaver sacking Barnett on fourth down to give the hosts the ball back. Price found pay dirt again, this time going up the gut on a draw, then cutting left to score from 14 out for his fourth touchdown of the evening. Blake’s conversion run made it 41-20 Jets, which stood at halftime.

The Jets defense was able to keep the high-octane Zeps offense in toe from this point on, as Clay Akers picked off Barnett twice and Johnny Sabinski and Vin Roach picked up huge sacks to quell drives. The hosts found the end zone one more time before the end of the third, with Blake scampering in from the four and the PAT was wide, giving Union Local a 47-20 lead in the waning seconds of the third. Both teams effectively cleared their benches throughout the fourth, and scoring closed when Shenandoah was hit in the end zone with 45 seconds left, giving Union Local a 49-20 victory.

Jacksan Price broke a pair of career records on the evening, all the more impressive when taking into account that he lost most of last season to injury. Price’s third touchdown of the evening gave him 33 in his career to surpass former Jets stalwart Chad Rogers, who held the record at 32. Price also broke another record of Rogers, who was in attendance, taking over the all-time scoring record, which was previously 218. It now stands at 224 and counting.

“Jacksan is phenomenal,” noted Thompson. Genuinely, I love Jacksan and he deserves everything he gets, and I’m not surprised. Jacksan has been putting in a tremendous amount of time and effort in this program in the last four years, and he’s seeing his fruit right now. He’s one of the hardest working and most selfless individuals I’ve been around.”

Price ended the evening with 24 carries for 230 yards and four scores.

Barnett led Shenandoah, who finished the evening 13-22 for 311 yards, three scores, and two picks.

“He’s a special talent, but he’s still young and he’s still making mistakes,” stated Lowery “When he does the correct things, he’s on it, he’s showing everybody what he can do in the valley.”

Union Local will take their show on the road, visiting Weir, while Shenandoah will regroup and hit the road again for a trip to Buckeye Local.

Union Local 49,

Shenandoah 20

Shenandoah 14 6 0 0 20

Union Local 13 28 7 2 49

U — Sanders 19 pass from Blake (Blake kick)

S — Yates 69 pass from Barnett (pass failed)

U – Blake 14 run (kick failed)

S – Portman 81 pass from Barnett (Miley pass from Barnett)

U -Price 25 run (pass failed)

S – Portman 56 pass from Barnett (pass failed)

U -Price 49 run (Blake run)

U -Price 14 run (Blake run)

U -Blake 4 run (kick failed)

U -Safety

Rushing: Shenandoah 16-0 (Barnett 9-(-9); 6-15; Devolld 1-(-6)); Union Local 42-346-6TD (Price 24-230-4TD; Blake 10-94-2TD; Myers 3-10; Cross 2-4; Tomolonis 2-10; Team 1-(-2)).

Passing: Shenandoah 13-22-311-3TD-2X (all by Barnett); Union Local 7-16-72-TD (Blake 5-14-55-TD; Tomolonis 2-2-17).

Receiving: Shenandoah 13-311-3TD (Portman 6-204-2; Yates 6-95-TD; Rataiczak 1-12): Union Local 7-72-TD (Sanders 2-13-TD; Schumacher 2-15; Higgenbotham 1-21; Akers 1-9; L. Hess 1-14).

First Downs: Shenandoah 7; Union Local 22

Penalties: Shenandoah 10-75; Union Local 7-65

Fumbles: Shenandoah 2-1; Union Local 3-1