By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
MEMPHIS -‑ They are the few and the proud.
And they are headed to the Class 2A quarterfinals.
Dressing just 25 players and with more than a dozen sidelined due to injuries, Union City, nonetheless, went to the Bluff City and knocked off eighth-ranked Fairley 35-28 Friday night in Round 2 of the state playoffs.
Kaleb Craig rushed for a career-best 276 yards and three touchdowns on 41 carries – the last of those scores coming from five yards out with just 2:38 to play to break a 28-all tie ‑- and lift the gritty Tornadoes (7-5) to their sixth win in their last seven games.
The reward for the Purple and Gold: A rematch with Region 7 rival Trenton, which handed UC a 56-14 loss back in Week 3 of the season.
That Union City remains among the Final 8 teams in the state after a grueling regular season that saw them face a brutal schedule that included losses to four teams with 10 or more victories, while also suffering through a rash of injuries that sidelined 14 players in all heading into Friday’s game, is simply amazing.
“These guys have beaten the odds all year long,” an obviously-pleased Twister head coach Darren Bowling said afterward. “As a coach, you coach in the moment, you coach every day and you coach the ones who are there. You lose one here, you have to sub someone in and coach them up. You lose another, you sub somebody in, and you plug somebody else in and keep coaching.
“Tonight, for the first time, it hit me. When we came out, we didn’t have run through, didn’t have our cheerleaders, and didn’t have stands. I looked back and saw a whole other team in street clothes behind us. And that makes what we did tonight and what we’ve done the last several weeks very special.”
Craig – running behind great work in the trenches by DJ Gray, Neil Brown, Alex Rodriquez, Jay Ramsey and Carson Corley -‑ posted his fifth 200-yard rushing game of the season and went over the 2,000-yard mark for the year in the process. He became just the fourth Union City running back to accomplish that feat, joining Trey Jones, Ricky Henry and Mario McElrath.
Craig had 191 of those yards before halftime, and grinded out another 85 in the second half, despite Fairley stacking as many as 10 defenders within a few yards of the line of scrimmage. He had touchdown runs of 3, 1 and 5 yards, the last serving as the game-winner and capping a 12-play, 62-yard drive that came after the Bulldogs had drawn even at 28 on the last of Terry Wilkins’ three TDs at 9:52 of the fourth quarter.
Wilkins, a Class 2A Mr. Football semifinalist, was every bit as good as his advanced billing, running for 220 yards and regularly both slipping out of UC defenders’ grasp and also running through tackles.
Riddled by both Wilkins and Fairley quarterback Jalen Harris in the first half, the UC defense stiffened considerably in the second half though, allowing just a single TD and swarming Wilkins for a 10-yard loss to snuff out the Bulldogs’ last gasp with 37 seconds to play.
“We’ve faced a lot of outstanding running backs this year, but that guy (Wilkins) is special,” Bowling continued. “He’s so intimidating to tackle. If you break down, he outruns you. If you keep going straight at him, he embarrasses you.
“I thought we did a much better job defensively against him and them as a team in the second half. We got a lot more hats around the ball and were able to get him to the ground.”
Sam Theobald had a huge game and was the top defender on the Union City tackle chart from his secondary post with 12 1/2 total hits. That total included a tackle for lost yards and a forced fumble. Ramsey was in on 7 1/2 stops and recorded a sack, while both Conner Terrell and Travon Westbrook came up with fumble recoveries.
UC and the Memphians traded blows in the first quarter, Fairley scoring on its first two snaps on long runs by Wilkins and Harris, while Tornado QB Conner Hurt and Craig ran to paydirt as the Tornadoes scored on each of their four first-half possessions.
The Twisters went up 28-20 at halftime, converting a Terrell fumble recovery into a score as both Hurt and Craig scored a second time on runs of one and two yards, respectively.
Hurt finished with 66 yards on 10 carries, his scoring plays covering 32 and two yards.
Fairley (9-3), meanwhile, was its own worst enemy as it had three touchdowns called back due to penalty – all in the first half.
The Bulldogs did draw even with just under 10 minutes to play after Thomas Vaughn followed Wilkins’ last TD with a two-point conversion run.
UC’s deciding drive was aided by a 15-yard facemask penalty on the host team and Craig then carried seven times and Hurt four on the game-winning march.
Kicker Austin Atwill, who now has made 19 straight PATs the past three weeks, was 5-for-5 and capped the scoring.
Next week’s quarterfinal game at Peabody (11-1) will kick off at 7 p.m. at Walter Kilzer Stadium.
Union City 35, Fairley 28
Union City 14 14 0 7 — 35
Fairley 12 8 0 8 — 28
SCORING
F — Jalen Harris 65 run (run failed). 11:49, 1st
UC — Conner Hurt 32 run (Austin Atwill kick). 7:35, 1st
F — Terry Wilkins 67 run (run failed) 7:21, 1st
UC — Kaleb Craig 3 run (Atwill kick). 4:07, 1st
F — Wilkins 1 run (Kendrick Hightower run). 10:38, 2nd
UC — Craig 1 run (Atwill kick). 8:21, 2nd
UC — Hurt 2 run (Atwill kick). 2:14, 2nd
F — Wilkins 9 run (Thomas Vaughn run). 9:52, 4th
UC — Craig 5 run (Atwill kick). 2:38, 4th
UC F
Total Offense 342 380
Rush Att.-Yards 55-342 36-352
Comp.-Att.-Int 0-0-0 2-4-0
Passing Yards 0 28
First Downs 18 13
Punts-Avg. — 1-46
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-2
Penalties-Yds. 4-28 9-79
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: Union City — Kaleb Craig 41-276, Conner Hurt 10-66, Wes Tilghman 3-1, Team 1-(-1). Fairley — Terry Wilkins 23-220, Jalen Harris 5-111, Kendrick Hightower 5-34, Jerald Jones 3-(-13).
PASSING: Union City — None. Fairley — Jerald Jones 1-3-0 — 23, Jalen Harris 1-1-0 — 5.
RECEIVING: Union City — None. Fairley — Terry Wilkins 1-23, Thomas Vaughn 1-5.
RECORDS: Union City 7-5; Fairley 9-3.
NEXT GAME: UC plays at Trenton next Friday in Round 3 of the Class 2A state playoffs.
Menu
