United’s Tom Brown runs against East Palestine on Friday.

HANOVERTON — East Palestine began the season with its best start since 1982.

The United Golden Eagles reminded the Bulldogs on Friday night that they are still the big dogs in the Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference.

Golden Eagle quarterback Tom Brown showcased his dynamic ability with 236 rushing yards in the first half alone along with touchdown runs of 63, 54 and 67 yards then added two long bomb touchdown strikes to Kota Shasteen in the United 63-24 rout.

United, which has won the last two Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference titles, improved to 6-1 overall and 4-0 in the league. East Palestine, which has lost eight straight to United, falls to 6-1 and 3-1 in the EOAC.

United coach D.J. Ogilvie has seen plenty of Eagles light up the scoreboard over his long tenure at United, but Brown’s first half was something to behold.

“I’ve not seen that in a half here at United and we’ve had a lot of great athletes here,” Ogilvie said.

Brown highlighted three two-play or less touchdown drives in the first half. He ended the night with 10 carries for 265 yards with three rushing touchdowns. His 80 and 82-yard touchdown strikes to Shasteen were the only two passes he threw on the night.

“We were super confident in winning,” Brown said. “We were just going to beat their undefeated team. It was an important game. We showed up and played ball.”

Brown credited the offensive line for opening up those long touchdown runs.

“So basically our offensive line just killed them up front,” Brown said. “The guys just blocked well and we scored.”

United outgained the Bulldogs 579 to 220. On the ground it was 419 to 59. Braden Schwartz aided the effort with 80 yards rushing and a touchdown, while power back M’Kyan Haynes had six carries for 67 yards and two touchdowns.

The Bulldogs seemed ready to go from the outset as a long kickoff return from Colton Early set up a Kealin Simon 6-yard touchdown strike from Clark Rutledge on the first possession of the game. That would be the only time East Palestine led in the game.

Rutledge ended up 22 of 36 for 161 yards and three touchdowns through the air. He also threw an interception in the fourth quarter that was returned 40 yards for a touchdown by Kadin Schonauer.

“They were undefeated for a reason,” Ogilvie said. “In the early going they had that great kickoff return but we fought back and played hard.”

The Bulldogs were down 21-18 with 4:09 left in the first half before the Eagle onslaught took over. Brown’s 67-yard touchdown run with 3:25 left in the half and then an 80-yard strike to Shasteen with 2:12 left in the first half had United up 35-18 at the break.

That pressure didn’t stop as United put it in running clock territory with 5:35 left in the third quarter. East Palestine did briefly stop the running clock with a score in the early stages of the fourth quarter to put the lead under 30 points, but the Golden Eagles tacked on two more touchdowns to put it out of reach.

East Palestine coach Michael Demster said the game illustrated the strides East Palestine has made and how much more it has to go to hang with the Eagles.

“They are at that level we want to be at,” Demster said. “We’ll just continue to fight and continue to get better. That’s really all we can do.”

Notes

¯ Coming into Friday’s game, the opponents United had already played this season had a combined 23-13 record. East Palestine’s were 9-27.

¯ Drew Pasteur’s Fantastic 50 computer prediction web site had United winning by 24.

¯ United leads the all-time series 27-18. The two teams played every year from 1969 to 1973 then every year since 1986.

¯ United hosts Valley Christian next Friday. After that the Eagles have 0-7 Wellsville and 1-6 Southern to close the season.

¯ East Palestine is at Leetonia next Friday and still has rival Columbiana and Valley Christian at home to close the season.

EP: 6-12-0-6–24

UN: 14-21-14-14–63

SCORING

EP–Kealin Simon 6 pass from Clark Rutledge (kick failed)

UN–M’Kyan Haynes 27 run (Liam Jones kick)

UN–Tom Brown 63 run (Jones kick)

EP–R.J. May 6 pass from Rutledge (pass failed)

UN–Brown 54 run (Jones kick)

EP–Rutledge 1 run (pass failed)

UN–Brown 67 run (Jones kick)

UN–Kota Shasteen 80 pass from Brown (Jones kick)

UN–Haynes 9 run (Jones kick)

UN–Shasteen 82 pass from Brown (Jones kick)

EP–May 7 pass from Rutledge (pass failed)

UN–Braden Schwartz 3 run (Jones kick)

UN–Kadin Schonauer 40 interception return (Jones kick)

——

E U

First downs 11 16

Total Yards 220 579

Rushes-yards 15-59 24-419

Passing 161 160

Comp-Att-Int 22-36-1 4-4-0

Punts 4-35 1-30

Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0

Penalties-Yards 4-40 10-100

——

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING–East Palestine, Zach Schnelle 9-31, Clark Rutledge 6-28; United Tom Brown 10-265, M’Kyan Haynes 6-67. Braden Schwartz 7-80, Quentin Taylor 1-9.

PASSING–East Palestine, Clark Rutledge 22-36-161-1; United, Brown 2-2-162-0, M’Kyan Haynes 2-2-(-2)-0.

RECEIVING–East Palestine, Kealin Simon 8-59, R.J. May 8-62, Braydon Plum 3-19, United, Kota Shasteen 2-182.

INTERCEPTIONS–East Palestine, United, Kadin Schonauer.