Mike Hutchens
Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–The effort was pleasing to Nick Markle, even if the result wasn’t.
“I hate losing, but I love the way we lost,” the Union City head coach said after his team dropped a tough 24-14 season-opening decision to Jackson Christian School Friday night at War Memorial Stadium.
The gritty Tornadoes battled a superior-talented and much-deeper JCS squad to the very end, rallying from a 17-point halftime deficit to within three with a little over four minutes remaining before coming up short.
UC won most statistical battles in the contest, if not the most important one – outgaining the Eagles 329-213 and netting 11 more first downs (18-7) than the visitors with their methodical ground-and-pound running attack that ran 66 plays to 27 for JCS.
The combination of the Twisters’ own mistakes and the big-play making abilities of the Eagles, though, proved to be the difference.
Union City had a pair of first-half touchdowns negated by penalties, threw an interception inside the Eagles’ 10-yard line, and gave up a 45-yard scoring pass on the final play of the first half to trail 17-0 at the intermission. The back-breaker for the Purple and Gold, however, came when Jackson Christian’s Duece Lawrence returned a kickoff 82 yards for a TD after UC had crept to within 17-14 with 4:24 play.
Markle, however, focused on the resilience of his troops, who rebounded from a shaky jamboree outing against Covington to give Tornado faithful hope as the team embarks on a demanding schedule that includes games against nine teams that made the playoffs last season.
“Heart is going to win us some ballgames,” said the Union City skipper, who began his sixth season at the helm. “We had warriors laying it on the line tonight. We only played about 15 kids against a team that has a lot of talent and way more depth than we do.
“I had some questions after last week, but I told the kids after tonight, ‘we’re going to be OK.’”
After spotting the Eagles 10 points on their first two possessions and giving up the aforementioned critical score just before the intermission, UC largely controlled the second half with its methodical running game that moved the ball in small but effective increments.
The Tornadoes – who ran 36 plays to nine for JCS after the intermission before three kneel-downs to end the game – got on the board when Kirben Thompson darted 53 yards for a TD with 3:44 showing in the third quarter. Thompson mainly played at running back but temporarily stepped in for a cramping Jack Theobald at quarterback and broke free from traffic on a keeper on his long scoring run that made it 17-7 after Alex Landeros’ PAT.
Union City’s defense, which did not allow a second-half first down, got the ball right for the Twister offense, which then mounted an impressive 17-play, 72-yard drive that ended when Adrian Crawford recovered Theobald’s fumble in the endzone on a fourth-down play as the QB was fighting for the goal line.
Rodney Jenkins highlighted the scoring drive with runs of 10 and 17 yards, with Thompson and Theobald – the latter a workhorse with 125 yards on 29 carries – also contributing hard-nosed rushes in the sequence. Landeros’ point-after narrowed the difference to three points and gave the Twisters clear momentum.
Those good vibes lasted just 14 seconds, however, as Lawrence took the ensuing kickoff to the house, speeding down his team’s sideline to essentially seal UC’s fate with 4:10 to play.
An interception inside the JCS 30 ended the Tornadoes’ last-gasp threat.
“The big penalties and mistakes were ones of effort, and they can be corrected,” Markle added. “We certainly have plenty to clean up before next week, but part of that is seasoning. We started a couple of sophomore linemen, and we were trying to gain some experience against a very talented team, which is a hard thing to do.
“Our motto, though, has been ‘resilient.’ It’s been that way since the offseason, when we’ve had to negotiate so many twists and turns with injuries and other things that have affected the make-up of our squad. We’re going to win and lose together, though. And I feel reassured that our hearts are in the right place and everything is going to be OK.”
Thompson (10-96) and Andre Small (15-67) gave the offense three effective ballcarriers in its attack, with Small also posting a team-high six tackles from his secondary post. Kaleb Wright was in on a trio of stops.
Union City will be at home again next week against Class 4A Dyer County.
JCS 24, Union City 14
JCS 10 7 0 7 — 24
Union City 0 0 7 7 — 14
JCS — Kelsey Rose 11 pass from Eli Smith (Tucker Jones kick). 9:33, 1st
JCS — Jones 20 field goal. 1:33, 1st
JCS — Carlos Roberson 45 pass from Eli Smith (Jones kick). 0:00, 2nd
UC — Kirben Thompson 53 run (Alex Landeros kick). 3:44, 3rd
UC — Adrian Crawford fumble recovery in endzone (Landeros kick). 4:24, 4th
JCS — Duece Lawrence 82 kickoff return (Jones kick). 4:10, 4th
JCS UC
Total Offense 213 329
Rush Att.-Yards 17-90 60-329
Comp.-Att.-Int. 7-10-0 0-6-2
Passing yards 123 0
First Downs 7 18
Punts-Avg. 3-44.6 1-31
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-0
Penalties-Yds. 8-70 6-55
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: JCS — Duece Lawrence 7-43, Carlos Roberson 2-38, Eli Smith 5-6, Hudson Little 1-6, Jay Pirtle 2-2, Team 3-(-6). Union City — Jack Theobald 29-125, Kirben Thompson 10-96, Andre Small 15-67, Rodney Jenkins 3-35, Adrian Crawford 3-6.
PASSING: JCS — Eli Smith 7-10-0—123. Union City — Jack Theobald 0-6-2—0.
RECEIVING: JCS — Kingston Robinson 3-54, Kelsey Rose 2-20, Carlos Roberson 1-45, Duece Lawrence 1-4. Union City — None.
RECORDS: JCS 1-0; Union City 0-1.
NEXT GAME: UC hosts Dyer County Friday at 7 p.m.