By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–Union City is seemingly saving its best for last.
The Golden Tornadoes followed up last week’s impressive showing against Class 4A Dyersburg and clinched a playoff berth with another solid outing in a critical 36-26 Region 7-2A victory at McKenzie Friday night.
The win drew UC (5-4, 2-2) into a four-way tie for second in the league standings, trailing only No. 1 ranked and reigning state champion Trenton. And if the Purple and Gold can knock off cellar-dwelling Halls in its regular season finale in two weeks and if Peabody does the same to Gibson County on that last regular season date, Union City will finish as region runner-up and play a first-round postseason game at home.
The surging Twisters have now put together back-to-back impressive efforts after Friday’s no-turnover outing that included another 300-yard-plus rushing performance (326) and a couple of timely defensive stops in the late-going that featured a forced turnover inside the red zone and a goal line stand.
Head coach Darren Bowling sported a proud grin when proudly acknowledging how his troops had turned things around after a tough middle-of-the-season stretch that saw Union City lose three straight games and struggle with fumbles and poor defense.
“I’m proud of the guys for keeping their spirit and camaraderie during the tough times when we weren’t playing very well,” the veteran Tornado skipper said after Friday’s contest. “It’s refreshing to not turn the ball over and move the ball well. And it’s good to see us getting some timely stops on defense to get the ball back to our offense.
“We’ve come a long way, and we’ve done things the last two weeks that I envisioned us doing all season. And we still have the things in front of us that were some of our goals at the start of the season, and the first of those is hosting a first-round playoff game.”
Bowling also had words of praise for his offensive line (DJ Gray, Carter Bondurant, Carson Corley, Neil Brown and Alex Rodriguez) for their continued good work that paved the way for UC’s eighth game (out of nine) with more than 300 yards rushing.
“Those guys just quietly go about their business play-after-play. They’ve come a long way, too, since the beginning of the season and they continue to get better. When you can get those five moving people around, that really makes this offense go,” the coach added.
Fullback Justin Wiggins ran for 181 yards and a pair of touchdowns and Sam Theobald scampered for 110 and a couple of scores as the duo both went over the 100-yard mark in the same game for the fourth time this season.
Wiggins went over 1,500 yards for the season and now has 18 TDs, while Theobald – who has 13 scores — now needs just 37 more yards to go over the century mark.
UC jumped out to a 21-0 lead and was never seriously threatened against the Rebels (4-4, 2-2).
Wiggins capped a game-opening 13-play, 68-yard drive that ate up over seven minutes with a 16-yard scoring run. Theobald then ripped off TD keepers coving 11 and 30 yards to put the Tornadoes comfortably ahead late in the first half.
Twice McKenzie made it a one-possession game in the third quarter, before Wes Tilghman sprinted 25 yards for what proved to be a clinching touchdown and tacked on the subsequent two-point conversion with just over nine minutes to play.
Tilghman then provided the defensive highlight of the night when he lowered the boom on Rebel running back Marquez Taylor, forcing a fumble at the UC six that Kevin Van Brocklin recovered to stave off a McKenzie threat.
The Twisters then turned away another drive by the hosts when Theobald knocked away a fourth-down pass in the endzone on a 4th-and-goal play.
“Tilghman’s play was huge there in the fourth quarter,” Bowling confirmed. “That was a big-time hit that gave us back any momentum McKenzie might have gained. Then we had the goal line stand and were able to breathe a little bit easier there late.
“We gave up some passing yards, but that’s going to happen when the other team is behind and having to throw the ball every play. I thought we did do a decent job of getting them on the ground though, and making them huddle up and use some clock.”
Theobald and Alexander Cox both were in on eight tackles to top the Union City hit list, while Tilghman and Littleton recorded seven stops apiece.
The loss of freshman kicker Miguel Sanchez to an undetermined knee injury when he was roughed on a third-quarter punt attempt was one of just a few downers in the contest.
Sanchez had earlier run his streak of consecutive made PATs to 40 by drilling 4-of-4 extra points.
His future status will be decided next week after an examination.
Union City will enjoy an open date next week before playing at Halls on Nov. 1.
Union City 36, McKenzie 26
Union City 7 14 7 8 — 36
McKenzie 0 7 13 6 — 26
UC — Justin Wiggins 16 run (Miguel Sanchez kick). 4:47, 1st
UC — Sam Theobald 11 run (Sanchez kick). 6:44, 2nd
UC — Theobald 30 run (Sanchez kick). 4:21, 2nd
M — Kaden Allen 8 pass from Evan Jarrett (Zach Aird kick). 1:16, 2nd
M — Marquez Taylor 6 run (kick failed). 10:49, 3rd
UC — Wiggins 7 run (Sanchez kick). 4:24, 3rd
M — Logan Lyles 1 pass from Jarrett (Aird kick). 1:07, 3rd
UC — Wes Tilghman 25 run (Tilghman run). 9:01, 4th
M — Taylor 3 run (pass failed). 1:10, 4th
UC M
Total Offense 326 353
Rush Att.-Yards 52-326 21-108
Comp.-Att.-Int 0-0-0 23-30-1
Passing Yards 0 245
First Downs 20 17
Punts-Avg. 2-24. —
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 2-1
Penalties-Yds. 7-50 6-65
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: Union City — Justin Wiggins 31-181, Sam Theobald 15-110, Wes Tilghman 2-28, Kyrell Littleton 1-7, Travon Westbrook 1-3, Team 2-(-3). McKenzie — Marquez Taylor 13-82, Evan Jarrett 3-14, Micah Austin 5-12.
PASSING: Union City — None. McKenzie — Evan Jarrett 23-30-1—245.
RECEIVING: Union City — None. McKenzie — Kaden Allen 6-73, Logan Lyles 5-59, Will Latimer 4-47, Marquez Taylor 4-34, West Cook 4-32.
RECORDS: Union City 5-4 (2-2); McKenzie 4-4 (2-2).
NEXT GAME: UC has an open date next week before closing out its regular season, Friday, Nov. 1, at Halls at 7 p.m.
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