By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–The Union City of Friday night looked a lot like the Tornadoes of the first six weeks of the season.
Rebounding from its lone loss of the season to Westview two weeks ago, ninth-ranked UC ran over, around, and through outmanned Camden in a 55-14 romp at War Memorial Stadium.
Quarterback Keaten Brown rushed for 203 yards and four touchdowns, Jacob Arnold had 149 yards and a score, and Gage Smith found the endzone three times for the Purple and Gold, which improved to 7-1 overall and officially clinched a playoff berth with its third win in four Region 7-2A games.
The mercy-rule triumph – the Twisters’ six this season – mirrored Union City’s dominance in those previous lopsided victories. The convincing win also removed some of the bitter taste left when Westview knocked the Tornadoes from the ranks of the unbeaten before last week’s open date.
Still missing a handful of key performers due to injury, UC relied on their trademark physical ground game and a mauling offensive line against the Lions – but out of the I-formation rather than the flex-bone set.
“We didn’t change anything schematically. We just did what we do out of a different formation,” Twister head coach Nick Markle said afterward. “We had to go with some different personnel because our perimeter players weren’t healthy, but our offensive line just moved bodies around, and our backs ran so hard.
“I guess you can call me a young guy with an old soul, but I love watching our guys do their thing. They’re hard-nosed, and they play the game the way it was intended to be played. I know some folks like watching teams throw the ball around the lot, but seeing our guys succeed on their homefield and the community coming out to enjoy it is just the best for me as a head coach.”
Union City ran for 444 yards all totaled and had two rushers eclipse the 100-yard mark in a game for the fourth time this year. Brown’s total and four ground TDs marked career highs, while Arnold’s performance left him just 22 yards shy of 1,000 for the season.
The steady Smith, meanwhile, did a little bit of everything – planting Lion defenders with a handful of devastating blocks that sprung teammates for big gainers while also adding to his season-best tackle total at linebacker in addition to his offensive workload.
UC scored on its first five offensive possessions, leading 20-7 after one quarter and comfortably ahead 34-7 at halftime. Smith and Brown reached the endzone twice each in the first half on short plunges, and Arnold darted 28 yards to paydirt behind Smith’s huge pancake block of a Camden defender.
Brown, who had keepers covering 46 and 58 yards among his 18 carries, ended successive drives with TD runs in the second half before Smith accounted for the last Twister score. Finn Frankum drilled seven straight PATs after missing his first attempt.
Save for a couple of Camden pass plays, the Tornado defense likewise bounced back from a sub-par showing against Martin and held the Lions to just 103 total yards.
The unit sacked Will Dobson five times, stuffing the visitors to minus-41 yards on 13 running plays.
Kelan Roberson had a pair of those QB drops behind the line, while Hayden Moon, Jace Rogers, Hayden Kennedy and Brown were also in on sacks. Arnold had a team-high five tackles, while Kennedy snagged an interception.
“They (Camden) scared me a little coming in because they do have some offensive weapons,” Markle continued. “We just overmatched them up front though.
“It’s really rewarding for me as a coach and gives me a great sense of pride to see the work we did in the weight room in the offseason pay off.”
UC will be a heavy favorite next week at winless Liberty Tech in Jackson before ending the regular season with a critical home game against Huntingdon that will decide who finishes second to Westview in the region standings and earns a first-round home playoff game.
Getting fully healthy before then is priority number one for Markle and his troops.
“We certainly aren’t overlooking anybody and never will as long as I’m the head coach here,” he concluded. “We’ll be the favorite on paper, but we’ll prepare to play our best like we do every week.
“I’d like to continue to pepper into the lineup some of our guys who’ve been injured. They need the reps to stay in game shape. It’s a fine line, and we want to be careful, but we will be sensible in hopes of having everywhere healthy for when Huntingdon comes to town.”
UNION CITY 55, CAMDEN 14
Camden 7 0 7 0 — 14
Union City 20 14 7 14 — 55
UC — Gage Smith 2 run (kick failed) 8:12, 1st
C — Issac Moore 68 pass from Will Dobson (Jack Odom kick) 7:53, 1st
UC — Keaten Brown 1 run (Finn Frankum kick) 2:27, 1st
UC — Jacob Arnold 28 run (Frankum kick) 0:31, 1st
UC — Brown 1 run (Frankum kick) 7:40, 2nd
UC — Smith 1 run (Frankum kick) 5:05, 2nd
UC — Brown 3 run (Frankum kick) 9:34, 3rd
C — Jalen Boggs 6 run (Odom kick) 6:45, 3rd
UC — Brown 4 run (Frankum kick) 11:54, 4th
UC — Smith 1 run (Frankum kick) 0:54, 4th
C UC
Total Offense 103 444
Rush Att.-Yards 13-(-41) 53-444
Passing Yards 144 0
Comp.-Att.-Int 8-19-1 0-2-0
First Downs 5 20
Punts-Avg. 5-33.6 —
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 1-0
Penalties-Yds. 2-17 1-15
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: Camden – Jalen Boggs 2-10, Tucker Jackson 1-3, Gage Lee 3-(-1), Team 1-(-19), Will Dobson 6-(-34). Union City — Keaten Brown 18-203, Jacob Arnold 16-149, Gage Smith 16-82, Tayehari Jones 2-7, Kolby Craig 1-3.
PASSING: Camden — Will Dobson 8-19-1 – 144. Union City — Keaten Brown 0-2-0 —0.
RECEIVING: Camden — Tucker Jackson 5-54, Issac Moore 2-76, Jalen Boggs 1-14. Union City — None.
RECORDS: Camden 3-6 (1-3); Union City 7-1 (3-1).
NEXT GAME: UC plays at Liberty Tech, Friday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m.