Unaka took the first round on Friday night.
The Rangers captured a 16-12 victory over Happy Valley on Warrior Hill in the first of two meetings this season between the county foes.
Points were hard to come by in the early going.
Happy Valley quickly moved down the field on the opening drive, but a fumble inside the Unaka 15 was recovered by Marcus Shoemaker to stall the drive out.
The HV defense limited the Unaka offense and the teams traded possessions to end the first quarter.
Early in the second, Unaka moved the ball to midfield – including converting a fourth down deep in their own territory – but a sack from HV’s Hayden Walls put Unaka behind the sticks, and UHS was forced to punt.
After Unaka repaid the favor and stopped HV on fourth down, Pedro Colunga jumped on an Unaka fumble to set up the Warriors at the Unaka 33.
That set up the first score of the game as Joseph Sowards broke free on fourth down for a 10-yard touchdown.
TJ Thomas opened the third quarter in style for Unaka as he took the opening kick 79 yards for a score, and Landon Ramsey hit Joe-Z Blamo for the two-point conversion to give Unaka an 8-6 lead 15 seconds into the third quarter.
Sowards and the Warriors answered quickly as the running back scored on an eight-yard run to regain the lead for HV.
The Rangers, however, two plays later as Blamo broke free for a 57-yard touchdown, and then caught the two-point conversion to take a 16-12 advantage.
HV looked to answer but saw a drive stall out at midfield in the closing minutes of the third quarter.
Both teams continued to battle in the final 12 minutes as Unaka was able to limit HV to preserve the win.
Jam. Blamo had 116 yards on 10 carries for the Rangers, while Ramsey added 50 rushing yards. Ramsey finished 9-of-19 passing for 74 yards, while Ja. Blamo had 29 receiving yards.
Joe-Z Blamo added three catches for 22 yards.
Sowards led HV with 156 yards on 24 carries.
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