Columbiana’s Lucas Barber and Jordan Kucek tackle United’s M’Kyan Haynes on Friday in Columbiana. United’s Quentin Taylor is also in on the play.

COLUMBIANA –United looked like it would be in a dogfight at the start of the third quarter as Columbiana began a solid drive on its first offensive possession of the third quarter on Friday at Fisher Stadium.

But United senior Wyatt Swanson squashed all of that momentum with an impressive 60-yard fumble return for a touchdown to put the game out of reach for Columbiana in a 27-7 Golden Eagle win in the Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference opener for both schools.

The Eagles led 20-7 at the break, but Columbiana had crossed into United’s side of the field and were marching toward a potential score that could have turned the game around.

“My D line had the guy wrapped up and we do this drill every day,” Swanson said. “I was the second guy in, ripped it out and it bounced off the dude and came right to me. I just had green grass and a bunch of blockers behind me.”

It wasn’t the actual fumble recovery that got people excited though. Swanson gave Columbiana quarterback Hayes McCoy a stunning stiff arm to free himself. There was also a key block from Rohan Kelly involved too.

“That was pretty impressive and Rohan had a great down field block,” United coach D.J. Ogilvie said.

And where did he learn that move?

“Every day in practice I get my couple reps running the ball,” Swanson said. “Coach doesn’t give me the ball much though.”

Will that change the coach’s mind?

“Maybe he will,” Swanson said.

United moved to 3-1 overall and shook off a rather humbling loss to unbeaten Crestview the week prior. Columbiana sank to 1-3 and has lost six straight to the Eagles.

In the first half, United moved the ball with precision gaining 235 yards on the ground on 38 carries. Columbiana, on the other hand, ran just 22 offensive plays in the first half.

Quentin Taylor opened the scoring on a 4-yard touchdown run with 59 seconds in the first half. Columbiana tied the game on a Jensen Nordquist 1-yard touchdwon with 10:03 left in the second quarter.

M’Kyan Haynes and Taylor added short touchdown runs to expand the United lead to 20-7 at the half.

“Once (United) is in a rhythm where they are left, right, left, right, middle, that’s a bear to stop,” Columbiana coach Bob Spaite said. “That’s the toughest offense we’ve faced as far as Xs and Os. D.J. does a great job with that. It’s a pain in the rear end.”

At some points Haynes, who had 123 yards rushing on 16 carries, played in the wildcat formation and handed off to the quick quarterback Tom Brown who had 81 of his 86 yards rushing in the first half.

While United did show superiority in the run game, it did eventually come back to earth in the second half. Also, 10 penalties for 100 yards did not do the Golden Eagles favors.

“We have to shore up our penalties for sure,” Ogilvie said. “We’re shooting ourselves in the foot on that.”

The Clippers with just three seniors — two of which played — showed they might be in contention for a playoff spot if they can continue to improve.

“We have a legit chance to win out,” Spaite said. “We got a puncher’s chance to finish 7-3 and put us in the playoffs. That’s a great turnaround from the last two or three years.”

McCoy led the Clippers with 68 yards rushing and 102 yards passing. Senator Johnson caught five balls for 44 yards.

Notes

¯ Columbiana punter John Parks put three punts inside the 5 during the game.

¯ United heads to rival Lisbon next Friday. It’s the second of three straight road games for the Eagles.

¯ Columbiana is scheduled to host Leetonia next Friday. With Leetonia ending Friday with only 12 healthy players, plans could change.

UN: 7-13-7-0–27

CO: 0-7-0-0–7

SCORING

U– Quentin Taylor 4 run (Liam Jones kick)

C–Jensen Nordquist 1 run (Geoffery Malcomson kick)

U–M’Kyan Haynes 6 run (kick failed)

U–Quentin Taylor 4 run (Liam Jones kick)

U–Wyatt Swanson 60 fumble return (Liam Jones kick)

——

U C

First downs 18 12

Total Yards 358 203

Rushes-yards 63-356 22-101

Passing 2 102

Comp-Att-Int 1-4-0 13-26-0

Punts 3-38 5-38

Fumbles-Lost 1-1 1-1

Penalties-Yards 10-100 3-45

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INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING–United, M’Kyan Haynes 16-123, Quentin Taylor 10-49, Tom Brown 16-86, Braden Schwartz 15-71; Columbiana, Hayes McCoy 8-68, Danny Mangiarelli 9-29, Jensen Nordquist 4-4.

PASSING–United, Tom Brown 1-4-2-0 ; Columbiana, Hayes McCoy 13-26-102-0

RECEIVING–Columbiana, Senator Johnson 5-44, Danny Mangiarelli 3-29, Drennan Bosela 5-29.

FUMBLE RECOVERIES — United, Wyatt Swanson; Columbiana, Kaden Smith