By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–Down by a point with under five minutes to play and facing a possible fourth straight loss, Union City stared adversity dead in the eye.
The Tornadoes never blinked.
Miguel Sanchez drilled a 33-yard field goal with 11 seconds to play to put UC ahead and Wes Tilghman returned a fumble for a touchdown as time expired to lift the Purple and Gold to a thrilling 29-21 victory over Ripley Friday night at War Memorial Stadium.
The much-needed win was the Tornadoes’ second in three meetings against Class 4A competition this season. Union City is now 5-4 heading into next week’s regular season finale against visiting Halls.
Not only was the triumph timely as far as reversing recent trends, it also gave the Twisters a critical shot of momentum heading into the postseason, where they’ll likely face two-time reigning state champion Peabody after a first-round playoff bye.
And the win came against a surging Tiger bunch that was coming off a stunning 51-44 upset of Dyersburg – a team that had beaten UC 49-7 just two weeks ago. Huge up front with dynamic playmakers at the skill positions, it was a Ripley team that certainly was top-flight competition.
“What a great way to get off a losing skid,” first-year Tornado head coach Nick Markle smiled afterward. “That was a win against a good-quality football team and I’m just so proud of our guys and the resiliency they showed – both tonight and in bouncing back from a rough patch over the last few weeks.
“Before Miguel made his kick, I took a timeout and we all just took a collective breath as a team. I told them we were going to have a good snap, a good hold and good kick… just like we’ve done so many times in practice.
“I thought our whole season essentially just led up to a moment like this with what we’ve gone through. And, I’m telling you, our kids have some grit about them. We might not be the biggest or the fastest, but we’ll battle you.”
Sanchez, who ironically had missed his first-ever extra point in two seasons in the second quarter after making more than 75 in a row, calmly lined up his deciding kick from the left hashmark and split the uprights on a boot that would’ve been good from 45 yards.
Battering ram fullback Travon Westbrook went over the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the season with another strong performance that included 167 yards and a touchdown. His backup, Kyrell Littleton, was a critical contributor as well with 60 yards and a fourth-quarter TD, doing his best work to set up Sanchez’s heroics with 30 yards in five carries on the winning drive in the final minutes.
And the maligned Tornado defense, that had given up 49 points in three successive weeks, turned in an inspired performance and was equally important in the grand scheme of the victory.
Playing with great passion and intensity and attacking the line of scrimmage at every snap, the Twister unit recorded eight tackles for lost yards and displayed considerable improvement over recent weeks in the communication department.
Tilghman had monster numbers from his secondary post, recording 15 tackles (nine solos) in addition to his game-sealing scoop-and-score play at the end as Ripley tried a failed hook-and-lateral play. Donovan Martinez was in on seven stops, including a sack, while Kyrell Littleton, Alexander Cox and Kolby Craig were credited with six hits apiece. Hayden Kennedy pounced on a fumble recovery and freshman Jacob Arnold came up with an interception to end a Ripley threat at the end of the first half.
“So many of them had really good nights and gave great efforts,” Markle said when identifying his multiple standouts. “Travon (Westbrook) is a load. I’ve heard stories about the past when people have told me a good strong wind would blow him down. Now it takes the whole team. Kyrell came in there when Travon had a little bit of an ankle sprain, and I told him I wanted him to run like a scalded dog and take care of the football. He did both of those things and those two really gave us a great 1-2 punch.
“Defensively, hat’s off to Coach (Wade) Maddox this week. He really stressed to our guys that they had to not only figure it out, but play with energy, communicate and encourage one another. You could hear our guys talking to each other, calling out things and getting each other in the right places. We preached attack, and it took everything we had to control a really dynamic group on the other side.
UC led 13-0 at the half on scoring runs by Tilghman and Westbrook and thanks to a defense that gave up just 119 yards over the first two quarters.
Turnovers on back-to-back plays by the Tornadoes after the intermission let Ripley back into the game though. Corterrion Moore ran for the first of his three touchdowns, before Littleton came up with a big defensive play on fourth down to deny further damage inside the Twister 10 after a Union City fumble.
Tied at 13, Littleton burst into the endzone from the five to put the Tornadoes back ahead before Moore answered and then tacked on a two-point conversion to give the Tigers a 21-20 lead with 4:39 to play.
Moore finished with 169 yards on 29 carries.
UC’s Westbrook joined teammate Tilghman in the 1,000-Yard Club for the season and now has over 1,030 yards in his senior campaign.
Union City 29, Ripley 21
Ripley 0 0 7 14 — 21
Union City 7 6 0 16 — 29
SCORING
UC — Wes Tilghman 1 run (Miguel Sanchez kick) 2:32, 1st
UC — Travon Westbrook 5 run (kick failed) 9:02, 2nd
R — Corterrion Moore 4 run (Tanner Hendrix kick) 8:02, 3rd
R — Moore 32 run (kick failed) 6:54, 4th
UC — Kyrell Littleton 5 run (Sanchez kick) 5:02, 4th
R — Moore 32 run (Moore run) 4:36, 4th
UC — Sanchez 33 field goal 0:11, 4th
UC — Tilghman 26 fumble return (no attempt) 0:00, 4th
R UC
Total Offense 275 262
Rush Att.-Yards 48-226 44-262
Comp.-Att.-Int 2-6-1 0-2-1
Passing Yards 49 0
First Downs 14 14
Punts-Avg. 1-49 1-31
Fumbles-Lost 3-2 1-1
Penalties-Yds. 6-50 5-35
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: Ripley — Corterrion Moore 29-169, Omarion Lake 12-58, Philander Draine 1-2, Jack Hearn 5-1, Terrance Edler 1-(-2). Union City — Travon Westbrook 22-167, Kyrell Littleton 10-60, Wes Tilghman 11-36, Jacob Arnold 1-(-1).
PASSING: Ripley — Jack Hearn 2-6-1 – 49. Union City — Wes Tilghman 0-2-1 — 0.
RECEIVING: Ripley — Terrance Edler 2-49. Union City — None.
RECORDS: Ripley 5-4; Union City 5-4.
NEXT GAME: Union City hosts Region 7-2A foe Halls for Senior Night, Friday, Oct. 30, at 7 p.m.