The Eisenhower Knights travel to Union City tonight coming off only their second region loss in three years, a 48-0 defeat to Cambridge Springs last week.

The Knights are looking at this week’s game, according to head coach Jim Penley, as an opportunity to fix their mistakes that occurred in last week’s game.

“We want to see last week’s loss be a learning tool to allow us to learn our deficiencies, fix them, and be a better team for it,” Penley said.

Eisenhower will be facing a Union City (1-1) team that is coming off a big 63-40 win against Kennedy Catholic. The Bears have scored 69 total points in their first two games, but their defense has given up 84 points. The Knights skill players have proven they can score on long drives and are capable of striking quickly.

“Our experienced skill players will need to step up and make plays to help us put points on the board,” Penley said.

Union City is led by a trio of seniors on offense who move the ball. Six-foot, 160-pound Austin Sherwood gets the nod at quarterback. The bears have had three different players take snaps in their opening two games with Sherwood getting the bulk of the snaps. He has completed 3-of-8 passes for 51 yards and a touchdown. At running back, three players will carry the ball: 5-foot-10, 170-pound Skyler Olmstead, who has 34 carries for 198 yards and three touchdowns; 5-foot-11, 165-pound Owen Kerns, who has 16 carries for 127 yards and two touchdowns; and 5-foot-6, 135-pound Austin Brown, who has nine carries for 125 yards and three touchdowns.

One player the Knights will have to account for is 6-foot-3, 275-pound senior lineman Joe Pituch, who can open holes on offense and has proven to be a force on defense.

“They are a team that ran the ball very effectively against Kennedy Catholic last week,” Penley said. “They play an aggressive style of defense that stacks the box to stop the run. The have a couple of very nice athletes that have shown some physical skills in running the football.”

The Knights will counter with senior quarterback Shawn Pascuzzi, who has scored two touchdowns rushing and has three touchdown passes. Senior fullback Tucker Lindell is a proven runner and outstanding blocker. Pascuzzi has a large target in 6-foot-4 senior tight end Kris Bunk, who has three touchdown receptions already this season.

“We will have to do a much better job up front in dealing with pressure and firing off the ball to control the line of scrimmage in order to put ourselves in position to win the game,” Penley said.