By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City’s 42-9 thumping of Greenfield Friday night looked a whole lot like the Tornadoes’ other two Region 7A games this season.
The eighth-ranked Golden Tornadoes did as they pleased against the ‘Jackets, scoring on all five of their offensive possessions and a special teams play while putting into motion a continuously running clock with still seven minutes left in the first half.
Tayehari Jones ran for two touchdowns and returned a punt 53 yards for another score, and Jacob Arnold rushed for 89 yards and a pair of TDs on just eight carries for the Purple and Gold, which won its fourth straight game and improved to 3-0 in league play while outclassing the host team.
Things will get much tougher next week for UC, which hosts unbeaten and second-ranked Dresden in a contest that could decide the regional championship.
Before turning his attention to a Lion squad that has won every game this year by two or more TDs, Twister head coach Nick Markle wanted to ensure his troops enjoyed another lopsided victory — even if it was widely expected.
“We can’t take for granted winning football games – I don’t care who it’s against,” said Markle, whose team has outscored three overmatched regional foes by a combined 144-17 margin. “Our coaches and our kids work hard for these results, and it’s a must that they enjoy success when they have the opportunity.
“Union City football has a level of expectations of how we do things and what results we achieve. It’s important we never take a step back and allow who we play to dictate our preparations and our performance. Trying not to look past a team is sometimes easier said than done.
“We will always work hard to not overlook an opponent, and we’ll always allow our people to feel good about positive results for the right amount of time when it’s appropriate.”
Three Greenfield pass completions and a defensive holding flag on the Tornadoes led to a Kinzer Pratt 28-yard field goal on the ‘Jackets’ first possession, but UC dominated Friday’s game thereafter.
Jones opened the Twisters’ scoring with a 42-yard sprint and then added a 53-yard punt return to paydirt after Arnold tallied with a 13-yard scamper.
Ahead 21-3 at the first-quarter horn, Union City tacked on two more TDs – a two-yard run by quarterback Keaten Brown after a wild Greenfield punt snap – and Arnold’s 12-yard touchdown that made it 35-3 with still more than seven minutes left before the intermission.
The mercy rule then went into effect, and Greenfield head coach Don Pitt did his best to milk every second off the running clock. The ‘Jackets ran just three plays and were assessed a delay penalty to eat up the remaining first-half time with the ploy designed to keep the Tornadoes from adding to their lead.
UC did so anyway with its initial second-half possession as Jones capped a seven-play drive with a two-yard sweep to paydirt at 4:50 of the third stanza.
Markle then turned things over to his reserves, who gained valuable playing experience for the third consecutive week.
Greenfield got its only touchdown on the last play of the game, a two-yard run by Drake Ricketts.
Union City had just 21 offensive snaps in the contest due to the running clock. The Twister defense tackled Greenfield ball carriers for losses on 12 of their 20 rushing attempts – the Jackets ending the contest with minus-42 yards on the ground.
Rex Griffin was No. 1 on the Tornado tackle chart with five stops. Alijah Simpson, Aiden Reid, and Brown recorded four tackles apiece.
Marcos Landeros assumed fulltime kicking duties for UC due to a back injury suffered by Finn Frankum and was perfect on all six PAT attempts.
“I gave the guys the usual 24 hours to enjoy this, and then it’s on to Dresden,” Markle added. “It’ll be a tough task for us – they have a really good football team that has a lot of experience over the last two years.
“Probably the most difficult thing for us will be that our starters haven’t played a full game in three weeks. I can run the guys until their tongues hang out in practice, but the only way to get ready to play football is to play football. That’s why I left our starters in the game tonight early in the second half, to get some reps because of how little they’ve played recently.”
“I do think the front end of our schedule has kept us from having ‘fool’s gold.’ We know what our issues are, and they were exposed in the first couple of weeks. It’s critical that we have a solid week of preparation and focus on the fundamentals of not putting the ball on the ground, tackling in the open field, and limiting our penalties next week.”
Kickoff for the UC-Dresden game is set for 7 p.m.
Union City 42, Greenfield 9
Union City 21 14 7 0 — 42
Greenfield 3 0 0 6 — 9
G — Kinzer Pratt 28 field goal. 9:07, 1st
UC — Tayehari Jones 42 run (Marcos Landeros kick) 6:42, 1st
UC — Jacob Arnold 13 run (Landeros kick) 3:04, 1st
UC — Jones 53 punt return (Landeros kick) 1:00, 1st
UC — Keaten Brown 2 run (Landeros kick) 9:58, 2nd
UC — Arnold 12 run (Landeros kick) 7:06, 2nd
UC — Jones 2 run (Landeros kick) 4:50, 2nd
G — Drake Ricketts 2 run (no attempt). 0:07, 4th
UC G
Total Offense 234 85
Rush Att.-Yards 16-183 20-(-42)
Passing yards 51 127
Comp.-Att.-Int 2-5-1 7-24-0
First Downs 10 10
Punts-Avg. — 3-27.0
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 2-1
Penalties-Yds. 3-35 5-25
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: Union City — Jacob Arnold 8-89, Tayehari Jones 4-68, Keaten Brown 4-26. Greenfield — Drake Ricketts 9-19, Trey Maben 3-11, Austin Griffin 1-0, Landon Clark 1-(-13), Team 1-(-25), Easton Sullivan 4-(-34).
PASSING: Union City — Keaten Brown 2-5-1 – 51. Greenfield — Easton Sullivan 7-24-0 – 127.
RECEIVING: Union City — Aiden Reid 1-32, Jacob Arnold 1-19. Greenfield — Trey Maben 2-59, Landon Clark 2-24, Austin Griffin 1-26, #35 1-15, Eli Leach 1-3.
RECORDS: Union City 4-2 (3-0); Greenfield 3-3 (2-2).
NEXT GAME: UC hosts Dresden, Friday, Sept. 29 at 7 p.m.