Trojans get the win on Homecoming!

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: October 7, 2023

By Joshua Yoder

MOUNT UNION – The Trojans took advantage of a second half surge and defeated rival Juniata Valley by the final score of 35-14 in an Inter-County Conference football game Friday evening.

The Hornets got on the board first as Luke Uplinger hustled his way into the endzone to complete an 11 yard touchdown run as Juniata Valley went up 7-0.

But from then onward it became all Mount Union as during the second quarter, the Hornets were attempting to punt the ball back to the Trojans. However, they were near the endzone and the ball sailed well over the head of the punter and the ball went out of bounds to give Mount Union a safety.

Then literally the very next play as Juniata Valley kicked off, the ball fell right into the hands of freshman Nasir Collins who managed to get to the outside and was off to the races and completed a 57 yard kick return for the score to make it 8-7 but failed the two point conversion.

After halftime, it became the Nasir Collins show as Collins just went off like a rocket scoring three of the four rushing touchdowns scored in the entire second half. And it seemed like Collins was trying to out do himself with each touchdown run.

The first score by Collins was a 17 year run, his second one was even more impressive as he busted out a 41 yard run before completing his third touchdown run of the quarter with this time going 45 yards to the house.

As Collins was the lightning, you can say Josh Ryan was the thunder as he too also scored a rushing touchdown. Ryan powered his way for a six yard run.

The Hornets continued to battle and found their way into the endzone as quarterback Jett Rand moved the ball over to an open Logan Brantner for a 27 touchdown pass.

Along with the special teams, the Mount Union defense came up big in the second half as well. The Trojans collected two interceptions in the game one from Ja’Saun Robinson and the other being Quartey Williams.

Also a big difference for the Mount Union defense between both halves was the amount of first downs that the Hornets were able to produce. In the first half, Juniata Valley had eight first downs while only having four in the second half.

Collins led the offense for the Trojans and had eight carries for 97 yards to go along with his three rushing touchdowns and kick return touchdown. Robinson also had a big game and had 13 carries for 91 yards before having to leave the game with an injury.

With this win Mount Union moves to (6-1) and will travel to face Southern Huntingdon next Friday while Juniata Valley falls to (5-2) and will hit the road as well as the Hornets will do battle with Curwensville.