By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–Sometimes, you just tip your hat and move on.
That’s the plan for Union City head coach Nick Markle and his troops.
“We played a really good, well-coached football team. They found weak spots and exploited them,” the Tornado skipper said after UC fell to fourth-ranked Westview 42-7 Friday night in front of a large War Memorial Stadium crowd.
“It just wasn’t our night. But we have a lot more football still to play and a lot of good things in front of us.”
The Chargers (6-1, 3-0) converted a pair of Union City turnovers into touchdowns during a 35-point second quarter after the two teams had battled to a scoreless opening-period deadlock.
Westview’s Javion Goins ran for scores three times over a four-minute span, and the visitors tallied three TDs in the final 3:29 before halftime to blow open the first meeting between the close programs since 2008.
Heralded for their passing attack centered around Alabama commitment Ty Simpson, the Chargers instead did the majority of their damage on the ground with 293 yards rushing. Simpson, who hit on just 3-of-13 aerials for 44 yards, did run for 113 yards and a score to cap Martin’s second-period explosion.
“It’s obvious they have a high-powered offense, and the quarterback is dynamic running the ball in space,” Markle continued. “We left ourselves vulnerable in some spots to strengthen others defensively, and they took advantage of that.
“The bottom line is that you can’t turn the ball over against them and you have to capitalize on every scoring chance you have. You can’t have three-and-outs and punt the football to give them extra possessions. We did that and it cost us.”
Faced with a mercy-rule running clock in the second half and having been challenged by Markle at halftime, the Tornadoes did show some character and fight over the last two quarters.
Grinding out every foot of a 24-play, 80-yard drive against the Westview starting defense, Union City executed its methodical option offense as scripted late in the third quarter and throughout most of the fourth.
Four times on the scoring sequence, the Twisters converted on fourth down — the last when Jackson Chism veered over left guard and into the endzone from the one on a quarterback sneak with 2:19 to play. Gage Smith and Chism shared the ball-carrying load during the march with three rushes by Jacob Arnold also critical to the end result.
“I wish I could live in that drive forever,” Markle said. “That was our game plan all night – to keep the ball away from them and grind out drives and eat up clock. And we did that in the first quarter, even though we didn’t score.
“Being able to do what we did against their No. 1 defense in the first quarter was something to hang our hats on. It showed us we could do it. We just didn’t earlier in the game.
“I thought our guys showed a lot of heart and pride. I told them at halftime I wanted us to go out and represent our program and our community by playing Union City football. And we played to the bitter end.”
Chism ran for a team-best 74 yards, while Smith added 64. UC’s offense was void of the big-play though, as, after a 32-yard fake punt run by Kyrell Littleton, the Tornadoes could manage but three other gainers of 10 or more yards.
Smith was the team-leader in tackles with six, including a sack. Tayhari Jones was in on four stops.
The Tornadoes (5-2, 2-1) will take a much-needed break next week with an open date before returning to action Oct. 15 with a Region 7-2A road game against Camden.
“It’ll be nice to be able to take a step back, hopefully, get healed up a little bit, and focus on the last three weeks of the regular season and getting ready for the playoffs,” the UC coach concluded.
“We’ve had one challenge after another since the season began and being able to refocus and concentrate on finishing strong and be playing our best football heading into the postseason will be our goals.”
WESTVIEW 42, UNION CITY 7
Union City 0 0 0 7 — 7
Ripley 0 35 7 0 — 42
SCORING
W — Ashton Carter 1 run (Jackson Abel kick) 11:55 2nd
W — Javion Goins 58 run (Abel kick) 6:55, 2nd
W — Goins 13 run (Abel kick) 3:29 2nd
W — Goins 23 run (Abel kick) 3:14, 2nd
W — Ty Simpson 5 run (Abel kick) 0:27, 2nd
W — Cam Davis 21 run (Abel kick) 4:55, 3rd
UC — Jackson Chism 1 run (Miguel Sanchez kick) 2:19, 4th
W UC
Total Offense 340 215
Rush Att.-Yards 23-293 59-215
Comp.-Att.-Int 4-14-0 0-0-0
Passing Yards 47 0
First Downs 14 12
Punts-Avg. 1-38 3-24.8
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 4-3
Penalties-Yds. 2-10 3-45
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: Westview — Javion Goins 5-136, Ty Simpson 9-113, Cam Davis 4-26, Miles Vincent 2-13, Ashton Carter 3-10, Team 1-(-5). Union City — Jackson Chism 20-74, Gage Smith 21-64, Kyrell Littleton 4-48, Jacob Arnold 3-19, Kolby Craig 8-7, Tayehari Jones 3-3.
PASSING: Westview — Ty Simpson 3-13-0 – 44, Miles Vincent 1-1-0 – 3. Union City — None.
RECEIVING: Westview — Drew Shanklin 2-31, Quincy Hamilton 1-13, Omarion Harris 1-3. Union City — None.
RECORDS: Westview 6-1 (3-0); Union City 5-2 (2-1)
NEXT GAME: After an open date next week, UC plays at Camden, Oct. 15.