First time opponents Union (La Porte City) and Greene County met in the opening round of the Class 2A Iowa high school football playoffs on Friday night. The Rams won at Linduska Field by a score of 35-13 to advance to the round of 16 on Friday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. All Greene County playoff games are broadcast on KG98 and streamed on www.raccoonvalleyradio.com.

For Greene County, senior Patrick Daugherty and sophomore Camden Strennen each ran for over 100 yards and the Rams had 336 of their 396 total yards on the ground on only 31 carries. Daugherty had 149 rushing and a pair of four yard touchdown runs. Strennen had a career night in rushing yards and a TD run of 84 yards, among the longest plays all season for the rams. Quarterback Gabe Ebersole had a 20 yard scoring run and he threw for 19 yards to Jack Hansen for a touchdown. Ebersole was 6-13-0 passing for 60 yards and he now has 14 touchdown passes on the season to just one interception. Nathan Behne was five for five on extra point kicks.

Union scored on its first and last drives of the game with the Rams scoring the 35 points in between. The Knights had 179 rushing yards on 45 carries and they were 5-12-2 passing for 75 for 254 total yards. For all eight games the Rams have played, they’ve held their opponent to fewer points than their scoring average. Union went into the night averaging 17 points. One of Greene County’s wins was by forfeit vs. Shenandoah.

Greene County is 8-1 and winners of six straight while the Knights end at 2-7. Greene County’s scoring drives were 78 yards on 10 plays, 41 yards on four plays, 75 yards on 10 plays, 84 yards on one play, and 48 yards on three plays.

The Rams had no turnovers while the Knights turned the ball over three times, all in the first half. Strennen recovered a fumble, Patrick Daugherty and Hansen each picked off a pass.

The Iowa High School Athletic Association will released pairings at 10 a.m. today on their website in four team pods. Teams will know their opponent on Oct. 28, as well as knowing the Nov. 4 quarterfinal opponent should they advance that far.

F

Union 7  0   0  6  13

Rams  7  7  14  7  35

Scoring summary: Union 5:05 (1) Joren Rosauer 24 pass from Andrew Sadler (Sadler kick), 7-0. Rams 1:58 (1) Patrick Daugherty 4 run (Nathan Behne kick), 7-7. Rams :28 (2) Jack Hansen 19 pass from Gabe Ebersole (Behne kick), 14-7. Rams 4:03 (3) P. Daugherty 4 run (Behne kick), 21-7. Rams 1:58 (3) Camden Strennen 84 run (Behne kick), 28-7. Rams 9:31 (4) Ebersole 20 run (Behne kick), 35-7. Union :30 (4) Tyler Wilson 1 run (PAT failed), 35-13.