By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–Less than Union City’s best was still plenty good enough for the Golden Tornadoes to move on to Round 2 of the Class 2A state playoffs.
UC shook off five lost fumbles and erupted for 21 third-quarter points to break open a tight game and go on to beat Douglass 49-13 Friday night at War Memorial Stadium.
The opening-round postseason triumph will send the Purple and Gold (6-5) to Memphis next week where it will play eighth-ranked Fairley (9-2) in Round 2. The venue for that contest will be announced on Monday.
Kaleb Craig scored three different ways – twice via long runs, another time on a blocked field goal return and once more on an interception return – and Conner Hurt had three TD runs to help the Twisters overcome an up-and-down performance.
The contest was called final with 6:07 to play when Douglass freshman running back Anfernee Wilson was injured and subsequently airlifted to Memphis as a precaution. Wilson did have feeling in his extremities, but was stabilized with a neck brace and removed from the field by stretcher before then being transported by ambulance to the Baptist Memorial Hospital-Union City helipad.
Players from both teams and fans left the stadium quietly when the game was ruled official early.
While Craig was indeed Mr. Do-It-All for Union City, it was the efforts of the Tornado defense that likely saved the Twisters from a first-round disaster.
Three times in the second period with UC clinging to a 14-7 lead, the offense fumbled away possession on its side of midfield. On every occasion though, the Purple and Gold defenders turned away the visitors – not only preserving the one-touchdown edge, but producing a turnover of its own via a Sam Theobald interception.
The Tornado defense came up with three picks and two fumble recoveries in all, Craig and Wes Tilghman snagging interceptions in addition to Theobald and Jay Ramsey and DJ Gray pouncing on loose balls. The defense allowed just 200 total yards, 123 of that coming on two long passing plays that went for the Red Devils’ scores in the first half.
Theobald led the Purple and Gold tackle chart with eight stops from his secondary post while Justin Wiggins was in on 6 ½ hits. Ramsey recorded 5 ½ tackles and Neil Brown was credited with five..
“We played really well defensively all night and I felt very confident going into the game with our defense,” UC head coach Darren Bowling said afterward. “Our offense put us behind the eight-ball several times with fumbles in the first half, but the defense came to our rescue and kept the turnovers from being killers.”
Craig, who recorded his fourth 200-yard rushing game of the season and now has over 1,750 yards for the year, had touchdown romps of 69 and 68 yards – the first to open the Tornado scoring after they trailed 7-0, the second to cap his night with just under seven minutes to play.
He also first blocked a 30-yard field goal attempt with 4:06 left in the opening period, then wrestled the recovery away from teammate Neil Brown and rambled 64 yards to paydirt to give his team a lead it would never relinquish.
Craig also had a 45-yard pick-six in the third quarter, stepping in front of a Damion Mitchell pass and racing untouched to the endzone.
“Kaleb’s been ‘that guy’ for us all year,” Bowling said of Craig. “He’s been a workhorse – on offense, on defense and on special teams. He’s been a real playmaker and he obviously made several big plays in all facets of the game tonight.
“He’s been a little quiet the last two weeks, but he’s a team player who is not selfish at all. He loves the game and he cheers on his teammates when they do well.”
Hurt ran for three straight touchdowns covering one, 26 and three yards over an 8 ½-minute span from late in the first half until midway through the third period. Tilghman had a 64-yard sprint on a 4th-and-4 late in the first half to set up the first of those scores and make it 21-7 at the intermission.
Austin Atwill was a perfect 7-for-7 on PAT kicks for the second week in a row.
“The first half of the game was one of worst called games from my standpoint that I’ve ever had,” Bowling continued. “I felt like we couldn’t get anything going. We tried to do some stuff that we really hadn’t had time to implement and our center-quarterback exchanges weren’t very good.
“We essentially went in the turf building and practiced 15 minutes at halftime and came out and played a lot better. I told the guys you have to be able to play on a bad night, and, offensively, it was a bad night but we still put a lot of points on the board.”
Douglass had its season ended by Union City for the second straight year in the postseason and finishes this season with a 4-7 record.
Union City 49, Douglass 13
Douglass 7 6 0 0 — 13
Union City 14 7 21 7 — 49
SCORING
D — Jamelle Gaither 57 pass from Damion Mitchell (Christopher AmPerez kick). 6:44, 1st
UC — Kaleb Craig 69 run (Austin Atwill kick). 6:24, 1st
UC — Craig 64 return of blocked field goal (Atwill kick) 4:06, 1st
UC — Conner Hurt 1 run (Atwill kick). 2:33, 2nd
D — Gaither 66 pass from Mitchell (pass failed). 1:29, 2nd
UC — Hurt 26 run (Atwill kick). 10:19, 3rd
UC — Hurt 3 run (Atwill kick). 5:45, 3rd
UC — Craig 45 interception return (Atwill kick). 3:03, 3rd
UC — Craig 68 run (Atwill kick). 6:52, 4th
D UC
Total Offense 200 359
Rush Att.-Yards 31-66 37-359
Comp.-Att.-Int 3-14-3 0-1-0
Passing Yards 134 0
First Downs 9 10
Punts-Avg. 6-30.5 2-27.5
Fumbles-Lost 5-1 6-5
Penalties-Yds. 10-80 4-26
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: Douglass — Eric Davis 15-67, Anfernee Wilson 10-35, Wilbur Jackson 1-(-6), Damion Mitchell 5-(30), Union City — Kaleb Craig 16-211, Wes Tilghman 4-81, Conner Hurt 14-43, Travon Westbrook 2-24, Team 1-(-1).
PASSING: Douglass — Damion Mitchell 3-14-3 — 134. Union City — Conner Hurt 0-1-0 — 0.
RECEIVING: Douglass — Jamelle Gaither 2-123, Eric Davis 1-11. Union City — None.
RECORDS: Douglass 4-7; Union City 6-5
NEXT GAME: UC plays at Memphis next Friday, against Fairley, in Round 2 of the Class 2A state playoffs.
Photo by Mike Hutchens.
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