By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
MEMPHIS – Union City’s pummeling of Freedom Prep Academy was an “inside” job.
The Golden Tornadoes – doing most of their damage between the tackles – gashed Shelby County’s third-best defense for 371 yards en route to a 48-12 victory Friday night in Round 1 of the Class 2A state playoffs.
UC’s convincing win earned the Purple and Gold (9-2) a rematch with Region 7 champion Westview next week at UT Martin, with the Twisters looking to avenge a 47-20 regular-season loss to the Chargers. Martin (9-2) beat KIPP of Memphis, 42-8, in its opening round game Friday.
The first-round matchup between 10th-ranked Union City and No. 9 FPA pitted the Tornadoes’ physical triple-option offense, which came in averaging 43 points per game, against a War Eagle defense that had limited seven of its previous opponents to one touchdown or less.
It wasn’t really a fair fight.
The Tornadoes – often using an extra lineman – repeatedly hammered the interior of the FPA defense with power runs by fullback Gage Smith (114 yards, two touchdowns) and quarterback Keaten Brown (104 yards and three scores) in recording their eighth mercy-rule triumph of the season.
And the only two times UC attacked downfield or on the perimeter met with similar success as Brown hooked up with a picture-perfect 65-yard TD pass to Tayehari Jones before Jones later jetted 24 yards to paydirt to cap the rout in the fourth quarter.
Head coach Nick Markle – who won his first playoff game in three tries as the Tornado skipper – heaped high praise on his squad afterward.
“They haven’t faced anything like what we do offensively, and I think the physicality and the relentless pounding showed,” Markle said. “This was another example of us winning a ballgame with what we did back in February, March and April in the weight room.
“Our backs just ran through guys and carried them for extra yards. And our linemen constantly were driving people downfield.
“It was a thing of beauty for anyone wearing Purple and Gold to see.”
Brown recorded his fifth 100-yard rushing game of the season and joined teammate Jacob Arnold in the 1,000-yard club for the year. His TDs on the ground came on runs of 8, 4 and 11 yards, and his bomb was delivered in perfect stride to Jones just a minute before halftime to give UC a commanding 34-6 lead at the break.
Smith, heralded more so for his work at linebacker, ground out scoring runs of 7 and 3 yards and went over 100 yards for the first time since a season-opening 103-yard effort vs. Lake County. He also added five tackles to his seasonal total, giving him a team-best 92 stops for the year.
Perhaps equally as impressive in the contest was that the Twisters did not commit a turnover and had a harmless total of penalty yardage (6 for 46 yards) after recently struggling in those critical areas.
“That’s something we’ve been harping on,” Markle added. “The turnovers last week (vs. Huntingdon) were obviously a killer. And we’ve hurt ourselves at times this year with foolish penalties that kept drives going for the other team.
“Tonight, we didn’t do those things. And that’s important because the deeper you go in the postseason, the smaller the margin for those errors. They can get you beat in a hurry.”
The UC defense employed a bend-but-don’t-break philosophy that worked well. FPA quarterback Ernest Gilliam did have 19 completions for 275 yards, but most of that total was accumulated between the 30s. Jacob Arnold’s interception – just the second of the year for Gilliam – thwarted one drive and set up Union City’s last first-half TD.
Hayden Kennedy, Durrell Littleton and Jones also had five tackles for the victors.
“It was a totally different game from last week defensively,” Markle continued. “Last week was a physical war against Huntingdon. This week was a track meet. I was really impressed with how their guys caught the ball, but we were able to get after them a little with a pass rush and keep some guys fresh.”
“As much as anything, I was proud of how focused our guys were and how much energy and intensity they played with. There was so much uncertainty this week about where we would play and other outside noise, but they were locked in from the minute we hit the field in warm-ups. It’s how we’ve prepared all season.”
In looking ahead to a second shot at Westview next Friday, the coach simply said he expected his team to relish the opportunity.
“I don’t imagine I’ll have to say a lot next week during preparations,” he stated. “Our guys walked off that field at UTM six weeks ago in a lot of pain for a lot of reasons.
“They’ve worked extremely hard to get another shot. And when you lose the first time, that’s all you can ask for.”
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
UNION CITY 48, FREEDOM PREP 12
Union City 20 14 7 7 — 48
Freedom Prep 6 0 6 0 — 12
UC — Keaten Brown 8 run (Finn Frankum kick). 9:14, 1st
UC — Gage Smith 7 run (kick failed) 4:59, 1st
FP — Ernest Gilliam 1 run (kick blocked) 4:29, 1st
UC — Brown 4 run (Frankum kick). 0:50, 1st
UC — Brown 11 run (Frankum kick) 6:31, 2nd
UC — Tayehari Jones 65 pass from Brown (Frankum kick). 1:11, 2nd
UC — Smith 3 run (Frankum kick) 10:42, 3rd
FP — Nathaniel Coleman 1 pass from Gilliam (pass failed). 3:37, 3rd
UC — Jones 24 run (Frankum kick) 6:43, 4th
UC FP
Total Offense 371 318
Rush Att.-Yards 48-306 11-43
Comp.-Att.-Int 1-1-0 19-39-1
First Downs 65 275
Punts-Avg. — 1-(-3)
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties-Yds. 6-46 9-100
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: Union City — Gage Smith 14-118, Keaten Brown 21-104, Jacob Arnold 11-62, Tayehari Jones 1-24, Team 1-(-2). Freedom Prep — Ernest Gilliam 7-44, Nathaniel Coleman 4-(-1).
PASSING: Union City — Keaten Brown 1-1-0 – 65. Freedom Prep — Ernest Gilliam 19-39-1—275.
RECEIVING: Union City — Tayehari Jones 1-65. Freedom Prep — Nathaniel Coleman 6-74, Jarvis McClendon 5-71, Lawrence Higginbottom 3-82, Laquan Higginbottom 3-31, Corey Carr 2-17.
RECORDS: Union City 9-2, Freedom Prep 8-3.
NEXT GAME: UC plays at Westview, Friday, Nov. 11, at 7 p.m. in Round 2 of the Class 2A state playoffs.