KEYSTONE HEIGHTS - With a tragic car accident involving one of their own and a season-ending injury for one of their best, the Keystone Heights High football team survived a tough week of character testing and faith that ended with a 35-0 rout at the hands of Union County on Friday night.

"This has been a tough week from start to finish," said Keystone Heights High coach Steve Reynolds. "I'm going to pray with the guys and with a bye week, we can heal a little and let some of this settle in, but regroup on Tuesday and come back stronger from everything that has happened."
Reynolds, who first got jolted by a car accident that put freshman Ryder Trull in a Gainesville hospital with severe head injuries earlier in the week, got a second jolt in the first half of the Indians' game against Union County when sophomore center Bryce Daniels left the field on a stretcher with a possible fractured ankle incurred on a scrum in the middle of the line.
"These are just kids out here and to handle a game like tonight; 35-0 against a strong playoff team, is a tough ask," said Reynolds. "But, I'm proud of how they handled themselves and I even saw some sportsmanship among the mess with our guys playing hard and then helping the Union County guys up after tackles. Union County also showed a lot of class after Bryce's injury."
For most of the game, it was Union County's girth up front versus the Keystone Heights defensive line that was led by Jackson Herman up front and linebacker Zane Leger in the second wave.
"Zane continued to run strong and Jackson was all over the place," said Reynolds. "I'm proud they still played hard all night. It would have been easy to just finish out the night."
Union County's team speed got to a 23-0 halftime lead off long runs and some nifty downfield passes.
A third-period scoring run got the score to 35-0 with a running clock to end the game.
Offensively, Keystone Heights quarterback Baylor Ford had limited time to look downfield but did have success with passes to Tanner Campbell and Tyler Sapp that got the Indians to the Union County one-yard line, but Leger was stopped on a fourth down plunge. A fake field goal attempt that Jackson Parmeter ran to a first down with a targeting flag put the Indians inside the Union County 10-yard line.
Leger finished with 10 tackles on the night as Union County rolled for more than 400 yards of total offense.
Keystone Heights gets a week off on a BYE week, then returns to Newberry on September 13. Newberry lost a 28-27 overtime game on Friday to two-time 1A state champion Hawthorne with the Panthers beating University Christian 44-20 in their opener on August 23.