By Mike Hutchens UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–It might not have been the prettiest of wins, but it was a much-needed one that got Union City right back in the thick of the Region 7-2A race.
The Golden Tornadoes scored on their first two possessions, then survived eight fumbles and more than 100 yards worth of penalties to beat Trinity Christian Academy 14-6 Friday on “Pink Out” night at War Memorial Stadium.
The victory, coupled with Gibson County’s 14-10 upset of third-ranked and previously-unbeaten Trenton, left UC as one of four teams with one loss in league play – behind only GC, which will host Union City next week.
Sam Theobald, back in the starting line-up after second-stringer Wes Tilghman suffered a concussion in last week’s loss to Penns Grove (NJ), ran for both Twister TDs and 98 yards against TCA.
Fullback Kaleb Craig rushed for 219 yards on 33 carries, going over 1,000 yards for the season with his second 200-yard game of the year and sixth straight of more than 100 yards.
It was the play of the Union City defense that made up for a mistake-prone offense though, the Purple and Gold giving up just two field goals and but 174 total yards.
The return of secondary stalwart Conner Hurt, who had a pair of interceptions despite sporting a hard cast on his lower left arm that was broken in Week 3 against Jackson South Side, gave the Tornadoes a huge boost. Hurt also had a couple of pass break-ups and Theobald knocked away four Lion aerials by QB Lane Lamberth who completed just 12-of-31 attempts.
“The two picks by Hurt were huge, but so too, were all the break-ups,” UC head coach Darren Bowling said afterward. “I know just knocking the ball down or away isn’t really sexy to the fans, but they were big against a team that throws like TCA does.
“The ultimate thing is to keep them out of the endzone and we did that.”
Linebacker Jay Ramsey topped the Twister tackle chart with eight stops, including two for lost yards and a sack. Theobald was in on 5 ½ total hits in addition to his multiple pass break-ups.
Bowling likewise acknowledged that his team – which is now 2-4 overall with each of those losses coming vs. state-ranked teams who were unbeaten before Friday – put itself in a good position with the win, moving forward.
“The (region) race is wide open now for us, with this win and with Gibson County knocking off Trenton. I really thought Gibson County was somebody to keep an eye on before the season started, and them beating Peabody sorta opens things up for a lot of us.,” the coach claimed.
“Winning is definitely a healer. We’ve played some really good teams so far and had our share of adversity with so many injuries. This will make everyone sleep a little better, especially me.”
The triumph certainly could’ve been achieved in a less-stressful manner however.
One UC fumble came at the TCA two yard line when the Twisters were threatening to go up by three scores. Another occurred at the Lion 14 when it again looked like the Purple and Gold was going to add to its early lead.
Still another that Union City recovered stalled a drive inside the visitors’ 20 and the last lost fumble set up TCA’s second field goal with less than two minutes to play.
The Tornadoes also missed a short field goal.
“That’s about 15 fumbles the last two weeks, and they’re tough to overcome,” Bowling admitted. “I think several of them were the result of the quarterback and fullback mesh. We’re playing our third quarterback of the season now, and some of that timing stuff just takes reps and practice.
“We showed some flashes of good football with our first two drives. In others, we just weren’t as crisp. We’re playing a lot of young guys because of injuries, but we’re not going to use that as an excuse.”
Theobald and Craig combined to march UC down the field on its first two possessions, those scoring marches covering seven and eight plays, respectively.
Theobald had a key 11-yard pick-up to set up his first scoring keeper, then ripped off a pretty 18-yarder with a spin move to position the Twisters for their second TD.
Craig recorded 157 of his yards in the first half and drew praise from Bowling as “maybe the best fullback I’ve had pound-for-pound since I’ve been at Union City.
“I hate to single him out over some of the others, because we’ve had some really good fullbacks like Josh Nicks, Ricky Henry, Trey Jones and Keylon Hyde. But Kaleb isn’t as big as those guys were and he uses way more energy than they had to because of that.
“Some times he runs out of steam because he has to give 100 percent on every play and expends so much energy. He’s really, really good.”
TCA fell to 3-3 overall and suffered its first region loss in three games.
Union City 14, TCA 6
TCA 0 3 0 3 — 6
Union City 14 0 0 0 — 14
SCORING
UC — Sam Theobald 15 run (Austin Atwill kick). 9:11, 1st
UC — Theobald 1 run (Atwill kick). 5:03, 1st
TCA — Joao Lopes 41 field goal. 8:25, 2nd
TCA — Lopes 30 field goal. 1:28, 4th
TCA UC
Total Offense 174 347
Rush Att.-Yards 20-42 63-331
Comp.-Att.-Int 12-31-2 1-1-0
Passing Yards 132 16
First Downs 13 21
Punts-Avg. 1-45 ‑‑
Fumbles-Lost 3-0 8-3
Penalties-Yds. 9-100 12-108
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: TCA — Lane Lamberth 7-28, Addison Coleman 6-18, Kevin Davis 7-(-4). Union City — Kaleb Craig 33-219, Sam Theobald 20-98, Kaylon McLendon 2-15, Travon Westbrook 3-4, Justin Wiggins 2-0, Team 3-(-5).
PASSING: TCA — Lane Lamberth 12-31-2 — 132. Union City — Sam Theobald 1-1-0 — 16.
RECEIVING: TCA — Kevin Davis 4-45, Riley Graves 3-22, Addison Coleman 2-15, Eli Stewart 1-24, Jay Looney 1-20, Mitch Sisk 1-6. Union City — Jackson Whaley 1-16.
RECORDS: TCA 3-3 (2-1), UC 2-4 (1-1).
NEXT GAME: UC plays at Gibson County next Friday.
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