Coming off a tough loss on the road at Pacific, Dale Long’s Owensville Dutchmen football team hoped to get back in the win column with a homecoming victory Friday night against the visiting Union Wildcats.

Unable to turn a pair of Derek Brandt interceptions in the first quarter into points, OHS fell behind 14-0 after one quarter before eventually falling to Union, 42-14.

“We gave ourselves a chance in the first quarter with some solid defense,” Long said. “We simply weren’t able to move the ball on offense tonight.”

Rushing touchdowns from Matt Bray and Derek Hulsey helped Union lead 14-0 after 12 minutes of football from Dutchmen Field.

Limited to one first down in the first half on an 11-yard run by Cason Gray, Union added three more touchdowns in the second quarter to go into halftime with a 35-0 lead.

Coming out in the second half, Owensville still had a tough time moving the ball on offense with a running clock also hampering their comeback efforts due to the 35-point mercy rule.

Trailing 42-0 going into the fourth quarter, Long’s Dutchmen finally got on the board moving closer to stopping the running clock.

Junior quarterback Trevor Abernathy capped a two-play drive with a 50-yard touchdown run at the 10:29 mark of the final quarter. Sebastian Dixon’s extra point cut the Wildcat lead to 42-7.

Later in the fourth quarter, Abernathy found the end zone again from a yard out stopping the clock with 1:34 left. Dixon’s kick was the final point scored in the game.

Abernathy finished the game with 58 yards rushing on 11 carries and both Dutchmen touchdowns.

On defense, Dallas Heckelmann recorded a team-high seven tackles.

Kayne Elms, Dixon and Heckelmann each also recorded 1.5 sacks. Earning half-a-sack each were Jarett Payne, Garret West and Brad Long.