Union win over Battle Ground comes down to confidence

The Union football team had confidence in Jordan Lawson on Friday. And the junior quarterback had confidence in Caleb Browning and his offensive line.

Browning rushed for 279 yards and scored three touchdowns as Lawson, making his first start for Union, passed for 168 as the Titans pulled away from Battle Ground 44-14 on Friday at McKenzie Stadium.

“It’s so nice just to be able to hand off and watch Caleb run,” Lawson said. “And that’s a testament to the line. They work so hard all week, and they don’t get the recognition. And when we passed, I got time because of them.”

Browning had 145 yards rushing after his first three carries.

His first attempt came on the second play from scrimmage for Union when he broke free on a 70-yard touchdown run.

After Battle Ground drove down to tie the game 7-7, Browning took his third carry of the game 73 yards for another touchdown and a 14-7 lead.

“I could have driven trucks through those holes,” Browning said. “(The offensive linemen) do their job, and it makes my job a heck of a lot easier.”

After Union took a 21-14 lead into halftime, Browning took his first carry of the second half 24 yards, which set up his second carry of the third quarter — a 20-yard TD run for a 27-14 lead.

From there, the Titans just put the game away with Browning and the pounding ground attack.

“That’s just who we are,” Union coach Gary McGarvie said. “We try to do a lot of things. But at the end of the day, we’ve got to be able to get into the (I-formation) and run at people.”

When McGarvie asked Lawson to pass the ball, the junior responded, completing 13 of 21 passes.

Lawson, who moved to Vancouver after playing at Kentridge last season, was making his first start for the Titans after senior Nolan Henry suffered a concussion last week.

But Henry, whose status going forward will be evaluated week by week, is still making an impact on the Titans’ success, McGarvie said.

“It starts with Nolan,” McGarvie said. “Nolan is a great leader. He’s a leader by example, and he’s taken Jordan under his wing and done a great job. Even though Nolan hasn’t been around this week, he’s given a great example for Jordan to follow all season. Jordan kind of took it upon himself to live up to what Nolan has done.”

Tyler Dionne also came up with a big play on defense in the second quarter. With Battle Ground driving, the Tigers were three yards away from making it a 14-14 game.

That’s when the Titans forced a fumble, and Dionne picked the loose ball up and returned it 99 yards for a touchdown.

Then in the second half, the Titans’ defense shut out Battle Ground.

“It’s an attitude thing,” McGarvie said. “We just had to go out and play with a better attitude. And they did that in the second half and I think that showed.”

UNION 44, BATTLE GROUND 14

Bat.Ground 7 7 0 0—14

Union 14 7 13 10—44

First quarter

U—Caleb Browning 70 run (Jake Bauer kick)

BG—Parker Randle 15 pass from Gunner Talkington (Riley Betcher kick)

U—Browning 73 run (Bauer kick)

Second quarter

U—Tyler Dionne 99 fumble return (Bauer kick)

BG—Max Randle 20 pass from Talkington (Betcher kick)

Third quarter

U—Browning 20 run (run failed)

U—Dionne 24 pass (Bauer kick)

Fourth quarter

U—Jonathan Granados 22 FG

U—Tommy Strassenberg 21 run (Granados kick)

Individual statistics

RUSHING — Battle Ground: Curtis Stradley 16-44, Talkington 14-15, Chris Waters 1-4. Union: Browning 18-279, Strassenberg 5-39, Jack Bauer 4-9, Abe Smith 4-14, Keithen Shepard 1-3, Jordan Lawson 3-(minus 2), Nehru Faalevao 1-(minus 4).

PASSING — Battle Ground: Talkington 21-27-2-191. Union: Lawson 13-21-0-168.

RECEIVING — Battle Ground: P. Randle 6-92, M. Randle 5-52, Waters 3-20, Stradley 4-15, Betcher 2-5, Kyle Cahoon 1-7. Union: Shepard 4-64, Dionne 4-51, Strassenberg 2-20, Zach Caston 1-20, Browning 1-8, Taylor Martin 1-5.