By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–It certainly wasn’t the start Nick Markle had hoped for in his Union City High School head coaching debut.
It wasn’t the end of the world either, though.
“It’s obviously not the final score that we wanted, but I saw a lot of things I liked,” said Markle, whose team was beaten 35-3 in its 2020 season opener by second-ranked (Division II-A) University School of Jackson Thursday night at War Memorial Stadium.
The combination of big plays by the Bruins, wasted chances by the Tornadoes and UC’s inexperience was simply too much for the Purple and Gold against a USJ program that was the state runner-up last season and already had a win under its belt this year coming into the contest.
Andrew Smith threw three touchdown passes and the visitors had a kickoff return for a TD and also scored on a fake field goal.
“I’m not discouraged at all,” continued Markle, who was upbeat with his troops and in his postgame comments. “I really appreciated the energy our kids had and their overall effort and enthusiasm. We played a lot of sophomores against a program that had quite a bit coming back from their second-place state finish a year ago. Plus, they had what we didn’t – the experience of having already played a game.
“You could tell they were more crisp with the things they did. They were more polished. We had some cramping issues, too, and it’s just so hard to simulate game conditions in practice and use the same adrenaline that you need in games.”
Union City started off with a bang, Kyrell Littleton recovering a USJ fumble on the second snap from scrimmage and then Twister quarterback Wes Tilghman galloping 35 yards on his team’s first play to give UC a first down inside the Bruin 15.
The drive stalled there, however, but Miguel Sanchez – fully recovered from a torn ACL suffered last season – nailed a 30-yard field goal to give the Tornadoes a 3-0 lead before the game was three minutes old.
The visitors wasted no time answering, though, Tyke Tabor taking the ensuing kickoff and darting 86 yards for a touchdown.
USJ then scored on consecutive series on the same play – Smith hitting Steele Haynes on a seam route for TDs covering 56 and 55 yards for a 21-3 halftime lead.
Union City crossed midfield on three other first-half possessions, but couldn’t cash in. The Twisters also came up empty on two second-half threats, including on the opening sequence of the third quarter when they kept the ball for 11 plays and moved to the USJ 30 with the help of strong runs by Gage Smith and Littleton.
The Tornadoes’ final chance at denting the endzone fizzled as the clock expired at the Bruin six yard line after Tilghman had raced 62 yards on the longest gainer of the night from scrimmage.
USJ tacked on two fourth quarter scores to account for the final margin – one of those TDs coming on a fake field goal with kicker Ben Pledger hitting Haynes with an aerial and the last via a Smith connection with Tabor on the same seam rout.
“We don’t have to fix attitudes and effort because they were there,” Markle added. “And we can fix everything else that went wrong tonight. The old coaching adage is that you make the most improvement from Week 1 until Week 2, and I think that’s especially true this season since we had no preseason scrimmages or a jamboree.
“I have all the confidence in the world that our guys are going to show up tomorrow, eager to correct our mistakes and look to get off to a good start in the region next week at Adamsville.
Tilghman ended up with 151 rushing yards on 16 carries and also completed passes to Jonathon Stone and Grant Jernigan totaling 47 yards.
Union City travels to Adamsville Friday, Sept. 4.
USJ 35, Union City 3
USJ 14 7 0 14 — 35
Union City 3 0 0 0 — 3
SCORING
UC — Miguel Sanchez 30 field goal. 9:01, 1st
USJ — Tyke Tabor 86 kickoff return (Ben Pledger kick) 8:48, 1st
USJ — Steele Haynes 56 pass from Andrew Smith (Pledger kick). 6:26, 1st
USJ — Haynes 55 pass from Smith (Pledger kick) 11:50, 2nd
USJ — Haynes 18 pass from Pledger (Pledger kick). 8:28, 4th
USJ — Tabor 20 pass from Smith (Pledger kick). 2:53, 4th
USJ UC
Total Offense 343 317
Rush Att.-Yards 25-123 46-270
Comp.-Att.-Int 12-22-0 2-6-0
Passing Yards 220 47
First Downs 14 11
Punts-Avg. 3-35.2 2-6-0
Fumbles-Lost 3-1 3-1
Penalties-Yds. 3-25 3-27
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: USJ — Andrew Smith 8-48, Logan Antwine 6-38, Kevin Finch 8-24, Myles Mayo 3-13. Union City — Wes Tilghman 16-151, Trevon Westbrooks 16-69, Kyrell Littleton 8-29, Gage Smith 3-24, Jacob Arnold 1-2, Team 2-(-4).
PASSING: USJ — Andrew Smith 11-21-0 – 202, Ben Pledger 1-1-0–18. Union City — Wes Tilghman 2-6-0 — 47.
RECEIVING: USJ — Steele Haynes 4-134, Tyke Tabor 3-52, Andrew Coy 4-25, Drew Morris 1-9. Union City — Jonathon Stone 1-33, Grant Jernigan 1-14.
RECORDS: USJ 2-0; Union City 1-1.
NEXT GAME: Union City plays its Region 7-2A opener next Friday night (Sept. 4) at Adamsville.