By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–It was business as usual for Union City.
The third-ranked Golden Tornadoes won by mercy rule for the fifth time in six games Friday night, a familiar storyline producing an impressive 41-3 victory over visiting Class 3A Ripley.
Quarterback Keaten Brown and fullback Jacob Arnold both rushed for more than 100 yards as UC scored 40 or more points for the fifth time this season. And the Twister defense – after an adjustment following the first series – mounted three fourth-down stands and shared the headlines in another convincing triumph.
Union City (6-0) has now outscored its first six opponents 289-69 and has trailed for less than nine of 288 minutes played this season.
“We just did what we do… and what we’ve done,” Tornado head coach Nick Markle said after his team spotted Ripley an early field goal before then putting up 41 consecutive points. “We know what we want to do coming into every game, and, while we may tweak a thing or two here and there, our game plan is the same each week.
“Tonight, we just played Tornado football.”
Once again, the Tornadoes controlled things in the trenches on both sides of the ball.
The collective efforts of Hayden Kennedy, Davion Jeffries, Kelan Roberson, Hayden Moon, Corban Avery and Carson Collins on offense paved the way for Brown to rack up 137 yards and UC’s first three touchdowns. The hard-charging Arnold went for another 133 yards and a score – marking 10 times this season a Twister rusher has eclipsed the century mark.
Arnold (12 stops) and leading tackler Gage Smith (14) spearheaded a Tornado defense that stood up to its biggest challenge just before halftime by holding Ripley on four downs from the 5-yard-line after a foiled fake punt. Cohen Simpson racked up nine tackles and Kennedy finished with eight.
Union City recorded nine tackles behind the line of scrimmage with Arnold, Brown and Kennedy in on two apiece. Smith filled up his stat sheet by adding a forced fumble, a recovery and a sack.
Markle had glowing words for both the trenchmen and the defense.
“We’d talked all week about how this was going to be a lineman’s game,” the coach continued. “We were going to find out who was the baddest and talked about how we wanted to have ‘knock-backs’ on both sides of the ball every play. We did that, and our big guys are doing a great job.
“Defensively, they (Ripley) came out in a different formation that we hadn’t seen. But our defensive staff did a great job of adjusting on the fly. Our guys communicated, did a great job of rallying to the ball, and putting it all together. We pretty much shut them down after that.
“Having great leadership and coachable kids means you can make those adjustments in-game and don’t have to wait until halftime.”
After Ripley took an early lead on Landon Baltimore’s 29-yard field goal on the Tigers’ opening possession, Brown scored on three straight series to give the Twisters a 21-3 halftime lead.
Arnold, who now has three 100-yard games this year and leads the Tornadoes in rushing (733) and scoring (11 TDs), opened a 20-point UC second half with an 11-yard paydirt scamper.
Kolby Craig (13 yards) and Smith (5 yards) accounted for the final two scores, with Finn Frankum knocking home 5-of-6 PATs to make him 35-of-40 for the season.
Union City now turns its attention to rival Westview and a Region 7-2A showdown with the defending state champions at UT Martin’s Skyhawk Stadium next Friday.
“We’ll give them our best, and I’m sure we’ll get their best,” Markle said while downplaying the significance of the matchup. “It’ll be all business for us – nothing personal. It’s the next one (game) on the list, and that’s how we’ll approach it.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
UNION CITY 41, RIPLEY 3
Ripley 3 0 0 0 — 3
Union City 7 14 13 7 — 41
R — London Baltimore 29 field goal 6:39, 1st
UC — Keaten Brown 3 run (Finn Frankum kick) 5:12, 1st
UC — Brown 33 run (Frankum kick) 11:00, 2nd
UC — Brown 1 run (Frankum kick) 4:36, 2nd
UC — Jacob Arnold 11 run (kick blocked) 6:59, 3rd
UC — Kolby Craig 13 run (Frankum kick) 5:25, 3rd
UC — Gage Smith 5 run (Frankum kick) 3:58, 1st
R UC
Total Offense 177 354
Rush Att.-Yards 33-155 41-334
Passing Yards 22 20
Comp.-Att.-Int 2-5-0 1-1-0
First Downs 7 19
Punts-Avg. 2-43.5 —
Fumbles-Lost 3-1 1-0
Penalties-Yds. 5-34 5-25
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: Ripley – Omarion Pitts 19-77, Terrance Hunter 8-43, Cobe Maners 1-29, MarJay Barbee 3-9, Josh Heam 2-(-3). Union City — Keaten Brown 19-137, Jacob Arnold 9-133, Kolby Craig 4-23, Gage Smith 5-22, Tayehari Jones 4-19.
PASSING: Ripley — Omarion Pitts 2-2-0 – 20, Josh Heam 0-2-0—0, Terrance Hunter 0-1-0—0. Union City — Keaten Brown 1-1-0 —20.
RECEIVING: Ripley — Josh Heam 2-22. Union City — Cohen Simpson 1-20.
RECORDS: Ripley 3-3; Union City 6-0.
NEXT GAME: UC plays at Westview, Friday, Sept. 30, at 7 p.m.