By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–Union City’s football schedule the next two years will be a mixture of old, new and tough foes.
Nick Markle, who recently completed his first year at the Tornado helm, has put together a slate for 2021 and 2022 that includes four new region foes and four non-league opponents that made it to at least the state quarterfinals this season.
UC will be members of an overhauled Region 7-2A after reclassification. Joining the Purple and Gold in the new league are newcomers Westview, Huntingdon, Camden, Houston County and holdover Gibson County.
Westview and Camden will both drop down from Class 3A, while Huntingdon will come up from the Class 1A ranks due to changes in their enrollment. Houston County had been a member of Region 6-2A the past several years.
The Tornadoes’ non-region slate will likely be a challenging one, given the 2020 results of Union City’s five opponents.
They include University School of Jackson, this year’s Division II-A state runner-up; Lake County, which made the Class 1A semifinals this past season; and both Class 4A Ripley and private school entry Trinity Christian Academy, each of which made to the quarterfinals of their respective state playoff brackets in 2020.
Another Class 4A foe, Liberty Tech, will round out a schedule that will have four home games and six away contests in 2021, then the reversal in ‘22.
“It’s a good schedule, a challenging schedule,” Markle said of his program’s slate of the next two seasons. “We’ll face some teams that are very athletic, and we’ll face some others that have been known for their physicality. And we’ll play a couple of others that are both.
“I’ve always believed that playing your best football at the end of the season was the ultimate goal and I believe this group of opponents will prepare us for that and the postseason.”
The resumption of the UC-Westview rivalry and getting reacquainted with a proud and tradition-rich Huntingdon program makes the schedule attractive for the Twisters.
Union City and Westview have played 40 times before (UC leading 27-13) and met on 29 other occasions (UC leads 17-12) when the school was Martin. The Tornadoes hold a 17-12 series lead over Huntingdon with the two programs meeting twice a year regularly in the past – once in the postseason.
The Twisters beat Huntingdon in the playoffs on their way to the program’s first state title in 2009 and topped the Mustangs in both the regular season and postseason while making the state finals in both 1997 and 2000.
UC holds a 6-1 advantage over Camden in all-time meetings and has beaten Gibson County in 17 of 18 previous matchups.
The game with Houston County in Week 3 next season will be the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
As far as non-region opponents, the Tornadoes will retain USJ and Ripley from this past year’s slate.
The Bruins will be coming off back-to-back state runner-up finishes in the private school ranks. USJ has seven second-place finishes in all in its history.
Ripley has made three straight appearances in the 4A playoffs and advanced to the quarterfinals this past season before being ousted by state runner-up Haywood.
Lake County is again back on the Union City schedule after the teams’ season opener this past season was canceled due to COVID-19. The Falcons went on to make the state semifinals in Class A, beaten there by eventual Single-A champ Fayetteville.
UC leads the series with LC, 29-14, and won all eight meetings with Tiptonville High School before it became Lake County High School.
The remainder of the UC grid slate the next two seasons will be filled by a pair of Jackson schools, TCA and Liberty.
The Lions made the D-II quarterfinals in 2020, but the 4A Crusaders went winless.
TCA has won three of the five previous meetings with Union City, while the Twisters and Liberty have never played.
2021 Union City High School Football Schedule
Week 1 Aug. 20 Lake County Home
Week 2 Aug. 27 USJ Away
Week 3 Sept. 3 Houston County* Home
Week 4 Sept. 10 Trinity Christian Away
Week 5 Sept. 17 Gibson County* Away
Week 6 Sept. 24 Ripley Away
Week 7 Oct. 1 Westview* Home
Week 8 Oct. 8 Bye
Week 9 Oct. 15 Camden* Away
Week 10 Oct. 22 Liberty Tech Home
Week 11 Oct. 29 Huntingdon* Away