By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Memphis, Tenn. – All Union City had left to give simply wasn’t enough against seventh-ranked Fairley.
A gritty bunch of Tornadoes — who dressed just 23 players and lost two more two-way starters during the contest due to injury – saw their season end in the second round of the Class 2A state playoffs with a 34-6 loss to the Memphians Friday night at Crump Stadium.
UC, which made it to the second round of the postseason for a ninth consecutive year, finishes the 2019 campaign with a 7-5 mark. The contest was the last in a Golden Tornado uniform for four seniors, including Sam Theobald, Carson Corley, Alex Rodriguez and DJ Gray.
Though the shorthanded Purple and Gold gamely “emptied its tank,” both physically and emotionally, it was basically unable to keep up with a veteran Fairley squad, which dressed 22 talented seniors.
The Bulldogs big-played UC on offense with four of their five touchdowns covering more than 50 yards, and also turned away two Twister drives inside the redzone, including one at the eight yard-line just before halftime.
“I’m not sure I could be any more proud of them,” veteran UC head coach Darren Bowling — who wrapped up his 12th season at UCHS and 26th overall — said afterward of his troops. “This group came such a long way. I remember when I walked into the weightroom last December, this was the weakest group that I’ve ever had in my coaching career.
“As a coach, you just roll up your sleeves and go to work though, and I thought our seniors took it upon themselves to lead in a great way. I saw our maxes go up and our strength get so much better. A lot of the young guys stepped in and stepped up and they really came a long way.
“The journey might not have ended where we wanted it to, but it was a great journey and one that I’m proud of.”
The Tornadoes were without five players who were dismissed from the team for missing practice in the week prior to the game, including fullback Justin Wiggins, who’d rushed for more than 1,800 yards in 11 games.
UC then lost a pair of two-way starters to injury within a three-play span in the second quarter that severely damaged its hopes of an upset.
Sophomore Kyrell Littleton, who started a fullback and had a handful of good, hard runs while keying the Tornadoes’ lone scoring drive with 47 yards rushing on 11 carries, suffered a broken wrist on a rush down to the Bulldogs’ one-yard line. Then, on the ensuing kickoff after Carson Corley’s short scoring plunge, linebacker/receiver Alexander Cox suffered a concussion and had to be transported by ambulance to LeBonheur Children’s Hospital after a delay of more than 30 minutes.
“I thought that Kyrell, to be a sophomore, came into a big-stage game and played hard. I’m very proud of him for that and his injury was unfortunate for both him and us,” Bowling said. “And Cox, he’s really been a fireplug for us emotionally and we missed him, both as a blocker on offense and with the plays he’d made on defense.
“And even then, I thought Corley came in and did a great job at fullback after not getting any snaps there for six or seven games. We had a couple of freshmen, Hayden Kennedy and Gage Smith, step in and give us a good effort at linebacker, but it hurts when you don’t have a lot of depth to choose from.
“We hope and pray both Kyrell and Alexander are going to be OK and look forward to getting them back with us in the program.”
Corley indeed was a warrior after taking his number 68 jersey from the offensive line to the backfield. He carried 24 times for 108 yards, regularly pounding between the tackles while also ripping off big gains of 25 and 13 yards.
Travon Westbrook keyed Union City’s TD march with an impressive 42-yard run on a 3rd-and-20 play during a 14-play, 80-yard scoring sequence that took up almost seven minutes before Corley found the endzone. The score cut the Tornadoes’ deficit to 14-6 midway through the second period.
Any joy was short-lived, however, as Kody Jones returned the following kickoff 78 yards for a Fairley touchdown.
UC then missed out on a chance to make it a one-possession game just before halftime when its drive died on downs inside the Bulldog 10 with just 10 seconds left before intermission. A pretty 33-yard catch of a Theobald pass by Kevin VanBrocklin and Wes Tilghman’s 17-yard gainer on a sweep had advanced the ball into scoring territory for the Twisters.
“Anytime you can put points on the board, but don’t, it can change a game,” Bowling said. “Failing to do that has really hurt us several times this year. And it always shows up in big games like this. You never know what might happen if we punch one in right there before the half.”
Jerald Jones threw TD passes of 67 and 61 yards for the 10-2 Bulldogs, who’ll now travel to top-ranked and defending state champion Trenton for a quarterfinal game next week. Heralded running back Terry Wilkins ran for 87 yards and two scores, one a 53-yard sprint on the second play of the second half for the victors.
Theobald and Neil Brown topped the UC tackle chart with five apiece, while both Gray and Littleton were in on four stops.
Bowling, who led the Tornadoes to all four of the program’s state titles during his dozen years at the helm, said after a couple weeks off, he and his staff will get right back to work, molding next season’s team. Numbers and depth will be a focus, but he and his fellow coaches will continue with the methods that have made Union City one of the premier programs in West Tennessee and the state.
“We’d like to have more kids, sure,” he said. “More than sheer numbers, we want people who want to play the game, people who care about the program and their teammates. It’s hard nowadays to find a lot of kids willing to make the commitment we demand and who care enough to dedicate themselves to play in our program.
“We do have some really good ones, right now. We’re just hopeful a few more want to come and join us.”
Fairley 34, Union City 6
Union City 0 6 0 0 — 6
Fairley 14 6 14 0 — 34
SCORING
F — Jalen Harris 67 pass from Jerald Jones (pass failed). 6:50, 1st
F — Terry Wilkins 1 run (Thomas Vaughn pass from J. Jones). 1:20, 1st
UC — Carson Corley 1 run (run failed) 5:39, 2nd
F — Kody Jones 78 kickoff return (pass failed). 5:21, 2nd
F — Wilkins 53 run (Vaughn pass from J. Jones). 11:05, 3rd
F — Vaughn 61 pass from J. Jones (run failed). 4:55, 3rd
UC F
Total Offense 268 303
Rush Att.-Yards 55-235 23-164
Comp.-Att.-Int 1-5-1 3-5-1
Passing Yards 33 139
First Downs 16 7
Punts-Avg. — —
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties-Yds. 5-48 12-95
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: Union City — Carson Corley 24-108, Travon Westbrook 8-53, Kyrell Littleton 13-47, Wes Tilghman 4-22, Sam Theobald 6-6 . Fairley — Terry Wilkins 9-87, Cameron Spencer 5-28, Kody Jones 4-24, Jerald Jones 1-14, Kiwan Carr 3-12, Team 1-(-2)
PASSING: Union City — Sam Theobald 1-5-1 — 33. Fairley — Jerald Jones 3-5-1 — 139.
RECEIVING: Union City — Kevin VanBrocklin 1-33. Fairley — Jalen Harris 2-78, Thomas Vaughn 1-61.
RECORDS: Union City 7-5; Fairley 10-2.
NEXT GAME: Fairley plays at Trenton next Friday in Round 3 of the Class 2A state playoffs. UC’s season ends.
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