By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City admittedly had a lingering bad taste in its mouth after leaving Dresden’s Rotary Field last November with its fourth consecutive loss there.
Consider the Tornadoes’ palate mostly cleansed after Friday night.
Eighth-ranked UC put on a dizzying offensive display in the first 18 minutes when sophomore quarterback Zak Summers had a hand in six touchdowns to fuel the Twisters’ 51-6 mercy-rule thrashing of the overmatched Lions.
Union City’s fourth straight win kept the Purple and Gold tied atop the Region 7-1A standings with No. 6 Halls. The Tornadoes (5-2, 4-0) will now enjoy an open date before paying the sixth-rated Tigers (7-0, 4-0) a visit on Oct. 18 in a showdown that will go a long way toward determining the league champion.
Based on Friday night, the Twisters surely must like their chances.
Showcasing a rarely-seen passing attack highlighted by four Summers’ touchdown passes that perfectly complimented its trademark physical ground game, UC exorcized its demons from recent visits to Dresden that had resulted in a pair of playoff losses there as part of the aforementioned skid.
“Our kids were well aware coming in of the success Dresden has had against us in recent years,” Union City head coach Nick Markle said. “They always play hard, and even though they have a new head coach (Justin Cruse) and lost many of the players they had last year when they made the semifinals, they had our attention after ending our season on this field a year ago.
“I thought our guys played with tremendous energy and passion. We were confident, and we played fast. We were efficient offensively. We were aggressive defensively. More than anything, we were focused. We had a great week of preparation, and it carried over to tonight.”
While the Tornadoes’ rushing prowess (332 yards) was expected, Dresden was undoubtedly blindsided by the Twisters’ aerial attack that saw Summers go 6-for-6 for 139 yards. His TD toss that covered 75 yards to Cohen Simpson was truly a thing of beauty on his team’s second possession. Summers later hit Simpson for a second score, covering 13 yards, and hooked up with Troy Joslin on a pretty 28-yard touchdown on another go-route.
A 23-yard scoring strike to a wide-open Tucker Davis over the middle was also part of a blitz of 48 points scored by UC in the first quarter-and-a-half.
Summers additionally rushed for two TDs – both in the first quarter – darting to paydirt on plays covering 42 and 18 yards as the Tornadoes zoomed to a 27-0 lead.
“Hopefully, it sends a message to opposing defenses that you can no longer walk down your safeties against us to get more people in the box to stop the run,” Markle responded when asked if future opponents would now respect his team’s passing game that has produced more than 500 yards and seven touchdowns to-date.
“As much as anything, we hope it makes people play more vanilla defenses. We see a lot of made-up stuff that just tries to stop our run game. I think we showed we can throw it over your head now. We have some dynamic guys who can catch the ball and make big plays after they catch it.”
Speedster Tayehari Jones, seeing limited playing time due to injury, broke a 65-yard TD run in the first period. Marcos Landeros – who made 6-of-7 PAT attempts – concluded the scoring with a 30-yard field goal halfway through the fourth quarter.
The Twister defense totally overwhelmed a Dresden offense that did not manage a single first down until just over three minutes remained in the contest. The Lions scored on the final play against the youngest of Union City reserves to avoid the shutout.
The unit forced three turnovers, including fumble recoveries by Alijah Simpson – who also had a pair of QB sacks – and Kelan Roberson. Adrian Crawford snagged an interception. Aiden Reid made a team-high six tackles from his linebacker post.
“It did my heart good to see our older kids encouraging our younger ones in the second half,” Markle concluded. “Those young guys work hard in practice and deserve their chance. They make our starters better with the effort they give in practice.
“Now, we’ll depend on our upperclassmen and their leadership as we head into the open date. We’ll take a little time off but quickly refocus on what’s ahead of us. Winning a region championship was one of our preseason goals, and I expect the opportunity we have to do that to serve as motivation as we get ready for the stretch run.”
Union City 51, Dresden 6
Union City 27 21 0 3 — 51
Dresden 0 0 0 6 — 6
UC — Zak Summers 42 run (Marcos Landeros kick). 9:53, 1st
UC — Cohen Simpson 75 pass from Summers (Landeros kick). 7:51, 1st
UC — Summers 18 run (kick blocked). 4:36, 1st
UC — Tayehari Jones 65 run (Landeros kick). 2:21, 1st
UC — Simpson 13 pass from Summers (Landeros kick). 9:32, 2nd
UC — Tucker Davis 23 pass from Summers (Landeros kick). 7:32, 2nd
UC — Troy Joslin 28 pass from Summers (Landeros kick). 5:20, 2nd
UC — Landeros 30 field goal. 5:18, 4th
D — Mika Lawrence 25 pass from Luke DiPietro (no attempt). 0:00, 4th
UC D
Total Offense 479 28
Rush Att.-Yards 41-332 21-(5)
Comp.-Att.-Int. 8-10-0 5-16-1
Passing yards 147 33
First Downs 18 4
Punts-Avg. — 8-39.0
Fumbles-Lost 2-2 4-2
Penalties-Yds. 3-30 2-30
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: Union City — Kyle Price 18-120, Zak Summers 4-80, Tayehari Jones 1-65, Aiden Reid 8-47, Troy Joslin 8-30, Team 1-(-4), Kenny Moss 1-(-6). Dresden — Mika Lawrence 3-15, Luke DiPietro 11-(-1), Aiden Carrington 1-(-3), Bruce Willis 6-(-16).
PASSING: Union City — Zak Summers 6-6-0—139, Troy Joslin 2-4-0—8. Dresden — Luke DiPietro 3-4-0—33, Bruce Willis 2-12-1—0.
RECEIVING: Union City — Cohen Simpson 4-88, Troy Joslin 1-28, Tucker Davis 1-23, Kirben Thompson 1-8, Kenny Moss 1-0. Dresden — Mika Lawrence 1-25, Cooper Allman 1-12, Aiden Carrington 2-1, Conner Evans 1-(-5).
RECORDS: Union City 5-2 (4-0); Dresden 2-5 (1-3).
NEXT GAME: After an open date next week, UC plays at Halls Friday, Oct. 18 at 7 p.m.