Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–Union City must turn the page quickly with the next chapter of its 2021 season just around the corner.
The Tornadoes will look to rebound from Friday’s 48-14 loss to seventh-ranked Huntingdon when they hit the road to play Fairley in Memphis in Round 1 of the Class 2A state playoffs next week.
The postseason contest will be a rematch of 2019 and 2018 second-round meetings between the two programs. The Bulldogs won the most-recent game two years ago, 34-6, after Union City beat Fairley 35-28 the season before at the same juncture. The venue for this year’s game will be announced Monday.
UC will bring a 7-3 record into the matchup, while Fairley sports an 8-2 mark. The two have a common regular-season opponent – Trinity Christian Academy. The Twisters beat TCA 28-20 in Week 4, while Fairley lost to the Lions 29-22 two Fridays after that.
Tornado head coach Nick Markle says he’ll use the “glass-half-full” approach, then immediately move on when evaluating Union City’s regular-season finale against a rugged Huntingdon bunch that appears poised for a deep playoff run.
“I’ll show them our first drive after halftime, and we’ll focus on all the positives we had on that possession,” said Markle, whose team trailed 35-0 at halftime after gaining just 19 yards and making one first down over the first two quarters. “I could point out the negatives, but I thought we did some good things in the second half.
“I challenged our guys at the half. We simply didn’t play well enough to beat the caliber of teams we’ll see from here on out. Those teams will be talented and well-coached. We have to be more physical, and we have to do the things that we do well on a more consistent basis. We’re certainly capable.”
The Mustangs, fresh off a convincing win over Peabody that broke the nation’s second-longest winning streak a week ago, pushed UC around on both sides of the ball in the first half.
Cade Wood ran for five touchdowns and Huntingdon converted a blocked punt and a fumble recovery into easy scores to take a commanding 35-0 intermission advantage.
The Tornadoes did show some grit after the break, though, reverting back to their traditional flexbone offense to score twice behind the play of quarterback Keaten Brown. Brown took his first snaps since a thumb injury in Week 3 and engineered a 10-play, 62-yard TD drive on the opening second-half possession to get Union City on the scoreboard with his 11-yard keeper.
He finished with 60 yards on 16 carries, fighting for tough yards after contact on many of his rushes.
Freshman Tayehari Jones dashed 69 yards to paydirt with less than nine minutes to play for the Twisters’ other score.
“We jumped back in the flexbone with Keaten running the football and that was the plan all along – to alternate with the power-I and (Jackson) Chism taking snaps and then going with the flex,” Markle said. “We kept the same personnel in the game, so the transition was an easy one.
“I really do think the second half and what we were able to do on that first possession against Huntingdon’s starters was crucial for us. I can show them (on film) what we did well and just stress that we have to continue to be consistent with that. If we can do it once, we can do it all the time.”
Both Kyrell Littleton and Jamal Cox had five solo tackles for UC with Littleton finishing with nine stops all totaled.
The Mustangs outgained the Purple and Gold 358-163.
Markle gave a quick preview of the Tornadoes’ first-round playoff opponent, saying Fairley was athletic with big-play capabilities but also has some areas he believes Union City can exploit.
“Naturally, they’ll be tough for us to prepare for because their speed is something we can’t replicate in practice,” the coach said. “We’ll just focus on flying around to the football, attacking and being physical.
“I have no doubt our guys will put tonight behind them quickly and be focused. We’ve won seven football games so far and done so while battling a lot of things – including multiple injuries and a ton of other obstacles we had no control over. We’ve played with heart and great spirit. I’m proud of our guys and how hard they play and how they care for each other.
“We’ll be ready next week.”
HUNTINGDON 48, UNION CITY 14
Union City 0 0 7 7 — 14
Huntingdon 14 21 7 6 — 48
SCORING
H — Cade Wood 4 run (kick failed) 2:49, 1st
H — Wood 13 run (Aden Hutcheson run) 0:05, 1st
H — Wood 44 run (Hunter Britt kick) 5:33, 2nd
H — Wood 34 run (Britt kick) 1:52, 2nd
H — Wood 14 run (Britt kick) 0:38, 2nd
UC — Keaten Brown 11 run (Miguel Sanchez kick) 5:04, 3rd
H — Gray Eubanks 55 run (Paxton Neeley kick) 4:27, 3rd
H — Landon Gordon 33 run (conversion failed) 9:44, 4th
UC — Tayehari Jones 69 run (Sanchez kick) 8:45, 4th
UC H
Total Offense 163 358
Rush Att.-Yards 45-163 37-324
Comp.-Att.-Int 0-1-1 2-5-0
Passing Yards 0 34
First Downs 9 15
Punts-Avg. 2-23.3 2-50.0
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 0-0
Penalties-Yds. 1-15 6-59
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: Union City — Tayehari Jones 4-69, Keaten Brown 16-60, Kyrell Littleton 10-20, Gage Smith 8-15, Kolby Craig 4-5, Jacob Arnold 1-(-2), Jackson Chism 2-(-4). Huntingdon — Cade Wood 11-156, Aden Hutcherson 17-71, Gray Eubanks 3-50, Landon Gordon 2-35, Tayshawn Rivers 3-11, Ashton Hutcherson 1-1.
PASSING: Union City — Jackson Chism 0-1-0 – 0, Keaten Brown 0-1-1 – 0. Huntingdon — Gray Eubanks 2-5-0 – 34.
RECEIVING: Union City — None. Huntingdon — Blake Reeves 1-30, Blane Fields 1-4.
RECORDS: Union City 7-3 (3-2); Huntingdon 8-2 (4-1).
NEXT GAME: Both teams will advance to the Class 2A playoffs next Friday night. UC will play Fairley (8-2) in Memphis, while Huntingdon will host Mitchell (8-2).