By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–While maybe not as good as it wanted to be, Union City was as good as it needed to be against Trinity Christian Academy.
The Tornadoes overcame a sluggish start and three turnovers, getting a much-improved defensive effort in the second half and two touchdowns from Kyrell Littleton and fill-in quarterback Jackson Chism to beat TCA 28-20 Friday night in Jackson.
UC now stands at 3-1 a month into the 2021 season, heading into next week’s Region 7-1A contest at Gibson County.
Friday’s victory over the winless Lions was indeed a battle and mostly a grind for the Purple and Gold, which had to rally from behind three times before taking the lead for good just 12 seconds before halftime.
But after giving up 284 yards in the first two quarters, including runs of 91 yards on the first play from scrimmage and later 71 and 43 yards, the Union City defense responded to a “spirited” halftime lecture from head coach Nick Markle and limited TCA to just 29 total yards and two first downs over the final 24 minutes.
“I had a little tantrum, and I got on them,” the UC skipper admitted. “I challenged them before the other coaches came in and made some adjustments. I told them we had some things to clean up and I wanted them to take ownership of how they played and what the results were. We had a lot of arm tackles and a lot of missed tackles.
“I challenged them to be a dominant team and to play Union City-caliber football. And they answered the bell. I love them!”
Linebacker Gage Smith added to his season-leading tackle totals with a team-best nine stops. Jacob Arnold was in on seven tackles and snagged an interception, while Kolby Craig matched Smith’s solo total (five) and had six hits in all.
Jayce Rogers and Hayden Moon had sacks.
While Littleton was again the workhorse in the Tornadoes’ triple-option offense (26 carries, 177 yards), the play of Chism — starting in place of Keaten Brown, who injured his thumb in a mid-week practice – was equally as critical to UC’s triumph.
Chism rushed for 72 yards and two TDs on 13 carries, including a two-yard paydirt keeper with just 12 seconds showing before halftime that gave the Twisters the lead for good after Miguel Sanchez’ PAT. Chism had hooked up with Smith on a 38-yard pass play earlier in the drive to set up the score and also had an 18-yard gainer on fourth down to keep alive UC’s first touchdown march.
“He really responded and came through for us,” confirmed Markle. “He’s basically a freshman, experience-wise, but we coached him up during the week and got him some live snaps. The stage was not too big for him, and other than a couple of times with the turnovers, he made some good decisions.
“I’m very proud of him and for him.”
Union City wound up rushing for 309 yards and dominated time of possession behind the muscle of linemen Carter Bondurant, Hayden Kennedy, Rogers, Moon and Carson Collins. The Tornadoes had scoring drives of 13 and 10 plays, respectively, to open each half.
“We played some good veer-midline football offensively,” Markle added. “We were able to grind it out… three yards, eight yards, five yards. You can’t get greedy with what we do, and our linemen work so hard to make it work.
“The times we were able to stay ahead of the chains, I thought we just imposed our will on them.”
TCA took an immediate lead on Jake Wilson’s aforementioned long TD sprint on the game’s first snap and led 20-14 with under two minutes remaining before intermission after field goals of 32 and 25 yards by John Mark Willard and a 10-yard TD keeper by quarterback Needham Goodwin.
The Lions had two TDs called back – one via an inadvertent whistle – and another long run negated by penalty.
Those plays did not taint the victory in the eyes of Markle, though.
“I’ll take any kind of win at any time. Ugly, pretty, whatever. A win is a win is a win,” he grinned.
UNION CITY 28, TCA 20
Union City 14 7 7 0 — 28
TCA 10 10 0 0 — 20
SCORING
TCA — Jake Wilson 91 run (John Mark Willard kick) 11:29 1st
UC — Jackson Chism 2 run (Miguel Sanchez kick) 4:42, 1st
TCA — Willard 32 field goal 0:16, 1st
UC — Kyrell Littleton 65 run (Sanchez kick) 0:00, 1st
TCA — Needham Goodwin 10 run (Willard kick) 10:37, 2nd
TCA — Willard 25 field goal 1:50 2nd
UC — Chism 2 run (Sanchez kick) 0:12, 2nd
UC — Littleton 5 run (Sanchez kick) 6:20, 3rd
UC TCA
Total Offense 347 313
Rush Att.-Yards 52-309 28-261
Comp.-Att.-Int 1-2-1 3-11-1
Passing Yards 38 52
First Downs 16 9
Punts-Avg. 1-45 2–37.5
Fumbles-Lost 2-2 1-0
Penalties-Yds. 7-51 10-94
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: Union City — Kyrell Littleton 26-177, Jackson Chism 13-72, Kolby Craig 7-54, Gage Smith 3-13, Jacob Arnold 1-3, Team 2-(-10). TCA — Jake Wilson 13-130, Needham Goodwin 13-87, Joshua Todd 1-43, #24 1-1.
PASSING: Union City — Jackson Chism 1-2-1 – 38. TCA — Needham Goodwin 3-11-1 — 52.
RECEIVING: Union City — Gage Smith 1-38. TCA — Jake Wilson 2-34, Will Allen Smith 1-18, .
RECORDS: Union City 3-1; TCA 0-3.
NEXT GAME: UC plays at Gibson County, Friday night at 7.