By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–Despite clawing back from a three-touchdown first-half deficit to tie Fairley midway through the third quarter, Union City could never quite get over the hump.
The Tornadoes’ 2021 season ended in Round 1 of the Class 2A state playoffs Friday night in Memphis when the big-play Bulldogs pulled away in the final minutes for a 56-35 triumph at J.P. Freeman Stadium.
UC ends its season with a 7-4 mark.
Three lost fumbles that led to Fairley touchdowns in the first half put the Twisters in a 28-7 hole with 2:34 left before intermission.
But Union City got a TD run from Jacob Arnold and another score on a 21-yard pass from Keaten Brown to Tayehari Jones to pull within 28-21 at the break. And when Arnold capped an impressive Tornado drive with a seven-yard paydirt scamper to begin the second half, UC pulled even after Miguel Sanchez banged home the extra point.
The promise was short-lived, though.
Fairley sophomore Malik Mason — who was a thorn in the Twisters’ side all evening with three touchdowns rushing, another on a scoop and score and a fifth via an 85-yard kickoff return — darted 27 yards to the endzone to break the 28-all deadlock and put the Bulldogs up for good.
“Number-three (Mason) is a special, special football player,” Union City head coach Nick Markle said after the contest. “He made plays all over the field and in all three phases – offense, defense and special teams. He’s going to be a handful for a while longer, too.
“I really thought we had things going in our favor with the way we finished the first half and how we began the second half. We had momentum. They had a different demeanor than they had early in the game.
“But hat’s off to them. They answered the bell. And as we saw in both the first half and there at the end, they can score points in bunches. They have four or five guys who can really run. You just can’t let them get in the open field or they’ll do things like they did tonight.”
UC fumbled possession away the first two times it had the ball, each leading to Bulldog TDs. Mason’s scoop-and-score capped a three-turnover first half for the host team. The Tornadoes ended up with four giveaways in all after an interception on their final series.
“You obviously can’t turn the ball over like we did and expect to advance,” Markle continued.
“We just didn’t get it done when we had the opportunity.”
UC got on the scoreboard via a 13-play, 79-yard drive halfway through the second quarter after falling behind 14-0. Brown’s two-yard keeper capped the march after his bulled his way close to the goal line with an extra-effort run two plays earlier.
Another long and methodical offensive sequence to open the second half drew the Tornadoes even as they moved 68 yards on 14 snaps – converting twice on fourth down – with Arnold capping the drive with a seven-yard TD to pull the Purple and Gold even.
After Fairley retook the lead and added another touchdown to go up 40-28 with just under eight minutes to play on the firsts of two long scoring runs by Carmelo Hollingsworth, Union City again showed some grit.
A long kickoff return by Kyrell Littleton and a personal foul on the Bulldogs set up Gage Smith’s five-yard fourth-down touchdown with 3:39 showing that got the Twisters within 40-35.
Mason immediately provided a dagger, though, corralling a kickoff at his own 15 and jetting 85 yards to paydirt to seal the outcome. Hollingsworth added a 56-yard TD with less than two minutes to play to account for the final margin.
Littleton finished with his fifth 100-yard rushing game (25-111) and went over the 1,000-yard mark for the season with 1,005 total. It marks the ninth straight season that UC has produced a 1,000-yard running back.
Gage Smith had nine tackles vs. Fairley while Cohen Simpson was in on a half-dozen stops.
Despite the loss, Markle expressed pride of his troops who won seven games while weathering a couple of season-ending injuries early, a handful of nagging health issues later, and the tragic death of two UCHS students that rocked the entire community.
“God bless their hearts for them to have as much success as they did and winning the number of games that they won after all the heartaches and tragedies that they had to endure,” the coach concluded. “They overcame so much.
“This type of season and the resiliency they showed lets me know that whatever adversity comes as they grow into adulthood, they won’t back away or back down. They will rise up. I’m so fortunate to be their head coach and I love them all.
“We don’t have a lot of seniors, but we have a handful that will be very tough to replace… people like Carter Bondurant, Kyrell Littleton and Evan Alexander, who came on and gave us so many good things this year. It’ll be a critical offseason for us. We have to get bigger, faster and stronger. We started three freshmen this year and we have to have several more of our young kids step up and get ready to be key contributors next season.”
UC losses eight seniors off this year’s squad, including Littleton, Bondurant, Alexander, Champ Gray, Damon Rice, Jamaal Cox, Harris Cagle and Amare Robinson.
FAIRLEY 56, UNION CITY 35
Union City 0 21 7 7 — 35
Fairley 14 14 6 22 — 56
SCORING
F — Malik Mason 2 run (kick failed) 3:25, 1st
F — Nelly Price 20 run (Mason run) 0:31, 1st
UC — Keaten Brown 2 run (Miguel Sanchez kick) 6:27, 2nd
F — Mason 40 run (Mason run) 5:23, 2nd
F — Mason 62 fumble return (run failed) 2:34, 2nd
UC — Jacob Arnold 35 run (Sanchez kick) 1:40, 2nd
UC — Tayehari Jones 21 pass from Brown (Sanchez kick) 0:58, 2nd
UC — Arnold 7 (Sanchez kick) 5:18, 3rd
F — Mason 27 run (run failed) 2:24, 3rd
F — Carmelo Hollingsworth 61 run (run failed) 7:41, 4th
UC — Gage Smith 5 run (Sanchez kick) 3:39, 4th
F — Mason 85 kickoff return (Hollingsworth run) 3:24, 4th
F —Hollingsworth 56 run (Alton Sanders run) 1:50, 4th
UC F
Total Offense 325 448
Rush Att.-Yards 65-304 24-313
Comp.-Att.-Int 1-4-1 5-11-0
Passing Yards 21 135
First Downs 21 16
Punts-Avg. — —
Fumbles-Lost 4-3 1-0
Penalties-Yds. 1-15 14-101
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: Union City — Kyrell Littleton 25-111, Jacob Arnold 8-65, Keaten Brown 14-50, Tayehari Jones 9-48, Gage Smith 9-30. Fairley — Carmello Hollingsworth 9-193, Malik Mason 10-105, Nelly Price 2-20, Team 3-(-5)
PASSING: Union City — Keaten Brown 1-4-1 – 21. Fairley — Nelly Price 5-11-0 – 135.
RECEIVING: Union City — Tayehari Jones 1-21. Fairley — Gabe Gaines 3-70, Carmello Hollingsworth 2-65.
RECORDS: Union City 7-4; Fairley 9-2.
NEXT GAME: Fairley visits Westview (10-1) in Round 2 of the Class 2A State Playoffs Friday at 7 p.m. UC’s season ends.