By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
It’s official: Union City is the Region 7A football champion.
The fourth-ranked Golden Tornadoes fulfilled the preseason prediction of most everyone by locking up the program’s first regional title in seven years with a convincing 42-6 Senior Night thumping of Humboldt Friday night at War Memorial Stadium.
UC’s sixth straight victory also secured home-field advantage throughout the first four rounds of the playoffs for the Purple and Gold should they advance that far in the postseason.
The Twisters (7-2, 6-0) – who’ve beaten each of their six league opponents by at least 28 points – can cap a perfect wire-to-wire run through region play with a win over Lake County in next week’s regular-season finale.
“Regional championships are hard to come by no matter what classification you’re in,” Union City head coach Nick Markle said afterward. “We set goals we wanted to achieve at the beginning of the season, and this was a big one. I’m proud of our 10 seniors and the leadership they’ve shown to get us to this point.
“We’re not hanging our hat on this, though. We have a lot more lofty goals we’ve set. We’ve made it to the quarterfinals each of the last two years, and we want to surpass that this year. This is just one step on the road to getting there.”
UC scored all its points in the first half, including a 28-point blitz in the opening quarter.
Sophomore quarterback Zak Summers threw three more touchdown passes – giving him 10 for the season – and ran for a fourth score to lead a quick-strike Tornado offense that had four one-play TD drives against the Vikings.
Summers completed all six of his attempts, marking the second time this year he’d had a perfect passer rating in a game. He hit Cohen Simpson (30 yards), Tayehari Jones (32 yards), and Adrian Crawford (29 yards) with TD tosses and finished with 146 yards through the air.
Jones accounted for a second score on a 12-yard scamper, and fullback Aiden Reid, who bolted up the middle for a 50-yard touchdown on the Twisters’ first play, rushed for 99 yards on just five carries.
UC took just 19 offensive snaps in the contest – just three in a chippy penalty-filled second half when the clock ran continuously. Humboldt was penalized 12 times for 109 yards in the contest – five of those personal foul or unsportsmanlike conduct flags.
“It was nice to have the referees commend the class of our kids when things got chippy,” Markle continued. “Our guys did a good job of keeping their composure when things could’ve gotten really ugly.”
The contest was stopped several minutes late in the third quarter when Humboldt’s Jeremiah Jones suffered an apparent ankle injury and was taken from the field in an ambulance.
Secondary stalwart Andre Small continued his recent outstanding play with a team-high 11 tackles and a fumble recovery for the UC defense. Kirben Thompson, who also had a couple of nice catches on offense, was in on nine stops, while Reid recorded eight takedowns.
Alijah Simpson had three tackles behind the line of scrimmage, including a sack, and Tucker Davis was credited with a QB drop. Kelen Roberson came up with a fumble recovery, and Khazarion Scates picked off a pass on the final play of the game for the last of the Twisters’ three forced turnovers.
Union City has given up one touchdown or less in five of its six region games, and no opponent has scored more than 14 points against the Tornadoes.
“Since the Dresden game three weeks ago, I feel like we’ve been playing better and better each time out,” Markle concluded. “That’s always the goal when you get to this point of the season, and I like where we are right now with just one more regular season game before the playoffs begin.
“Our kicking game with Marcos (Landeros) has been spot on, and we showed again tonight that we have weapons on the outside that can make plays in the passing game if teams want to load the box. We’re evolving offensively, and we’re beginning to get really salty on defense.
“I’m very proud of what we’re doing heading into Week 11.”
Union City 42, Humboldt 6
Humboldt 0 6 0 0 — 6
Union City 28 14 0 0 — 42
UC — Aiden Reid 50 run (Marcos Landeros kick). 11:50, 1st
UC — Tayehari Jones 12 run (Landeros kick). 6:54, 1st
UC — Cohen Simpson 30 pass from Zak Summers (Landeros kick). 4:34, 1st
UC — Jones 32 pass from Summers (Landeros kick). 0:03, 1st
UC — Summers 50 run (Landeros kick). 9:50, 2nd
UC — Adrian Crawford 29 pass from Summers (Landeros kick). 2:04, 2nd
H — Kendrick Taylor 7 pass from Kavein Taylor (pass failed). 0:00, 2nd
H UC
Total Offense 154 301
Rush Att.-Yards 23-(-1) 12-155
Comp.-Att.-Int. 18-25-1 6-7-0
Passing yards 155 146
First Downs 8 11
Punts-Avg. 3-24.6 1-13
Fumbles-Lost 3-2 1-1
Penalties-Yds. 12-109 7-72
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: Humboldt— Jayden Champion 5-13, Jeremiah Jones 10-8, Demarion Standifer 1-6, Tyland Richmond 1-(-3), Qua Hampton 1-(-3), Team 1-(-8), Kavein Taylor 4-(-14). Union City — Aiden Reid 5-99, Zak Summers 3-44, Tayehari Jones 2-21, Troy Joslin 2-(-9).
PASSING: Humboldt — Kavein Taylor 15-20-1—136, Jaden Champion 3-5-0—19. Union City — Zak Summers 6-6-0—146, Troy Joslin 0-1-0—0.
RECEIVING: Humboldt — Darion Taylor 6-30, Kendrick Taylor 4-75, Tyland Richmond 3-2, Tyon Campbell 2-24, Jeremiah Jones 2-15, Jayden Champion 1-9. Union City — Kirben Thompson 2-40, Tayehari Jones 2-37, Cohen Simpson 1-30, Adrian Crawford 1-29.
RECORDS: Humboldt 3-6 (1-5); Union City 7-2 (6-0).
NEXT GAME: UC plays host to Lake County next Friday at 7 p.m.