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By Kevin Petrochko
For the Mirror
ALEXANDRIA -- Mount Union's 1-2 punch on the ground led the charge as the Trojans cruised to a 46-0 victory over Juniata Valley Friday night at AR Simkins Memorial Field.
Sophomore running back Nasir Collins led the charge, racking up 20 carries for 262 yards and three touchdowns. He also had a 37-yard interception return to seal the win for Mount Union.
"My blocking and my line," said Collins. "We worked on that all week."
Senior running back Josh Ryan contributed 79 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries.
"It's kind of hard to stop two athletes like me and him (Collins)," said Ryan. "We're both fast; we both break tackles; we're a mean duo to stop."
The Mount Union running game finished the evening with 414 yards on the ground and 604 total yards.
"He's (Collins) a special kid," Mount Union coach Jamie Brumbaugh said. "He's one of those ones where if it breaks down, we can still get yards out of it."
A lack of consistency from Juniata Valley was the biggest difference in the game.
"Whenever it came time to make that big play, we would play toe-to-toe for five plays, and on play six, we got bit," Juniata Valley coach Bill Musser said. "Consistency was the key tonight; we just didn't consistently finish drives and finish plays."
Play of the game: With 6:54 left in the first half, Nasir Collins hauled in a 65-yard touchdown pass to give Mount Union a 20-0 lead.
Player of the game: Collins finished the night with 20 carries for 262 yards and three touchdowns .
Unsung hero: Freshman running back Caizon Scott caught a 66-yard touchdown pass to increase the Warriors lead to 26-0 going into halftime.
Most vital statistic: Mount Union racked up 414 rush yards.
Brumbaugh: "We're getting more focused as the week goes on,'' said Brumbaugh. "That's one of the things that we're working on is coming and focusing at practice."
Musser: "You can't shake off a loss. You got to learn from a loss and make sure we don't continue to stack these week after week after week."
Collins: "It definitely boosts it (confidence). We came out here with a goose egg on the board.''
Notable: Juniata Valley was not penalized.
Records: Juniata Valley (2-5), Mount Union (6-1)
Next week: Juniata Valley hosts Curwensville while Mount Union welcomes Southern Huntingdon.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Mount Union 7 19 7 13 -- 46
Juniata Valley 0 0 0 0 -- 0
First Quarter
M--Ryan 1 run (Swanger kick), 8:52.
Second Quarter
M--Ryan 3 run (Kick failed), 9:22.
M--Collins 65 run (Swanger kick), 6:54.
M - Scott 66 pass (Kick failed) 1:01
Third Quarter
M--Collins 45 run (Swanger kick), 1:23.
Fourth Quarter
M--Ryan 8 run (Swanger kick), 7:35.
M--Collins 37 interception return (kick failed), 5:13.
TEAM STATISTICS M JV
First downs 13 6
Total yards 604 131
Rushes-yards 45-414 24-25
Yards passing 91 50
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 6-11-0 6-19-2
Punts-avg. 3-30.6 6-44.6
Fumbles-lost 0 0
Penalties-yards 5-45 0
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Mount Union, Collins 20-262, Ryan 16-79, Hobbs 7-0, Weirich 1-10, Scott 1-63. Juniata Valley, V. Hoover 9-32, Williams 6-(-20), Rand 1-0, Hess 5-(-2), Rodkey 3-15.
PASSING--Mount Union, Hobbs 6-11-91-0. Juniata Valley, Williams 2-11-42-1, Rand 4-8-8-1.
RECEIVING--Mount Union, Collins 1-26, Bilger 1-5, Weirich 1-35, Ryan 3-25. Juniata Valley, Neri 2-44, Norris 2-7, Hoover 1-5.