Mike Hutchens
Communications Director
The combination of a mounting injury list and a plethora of their own mistakes proved to be too big a challenge for Union City.
Forced to consistently shuffle the lineup deck with the injury loss of quarterback/safety Jack Theobald and guilty of six turnovers and 145 yards of penalties, the Tornadoes fell 21-14 to Crittenden County Friday at Marion.
UC is now 1-3 and will celebrate Homecoming and the start of Region 7-2A play next week at home against Halls.
Ravaged by injuries both in the preseason and during the first month of the year, Twister head coach Nick Markle was constantly challenged to maneuver pieces against CC.
And it certainly didn’t help that Union City contributed greatly to its downfall with a bushel of untimely mistakes – most after taking a 7-0 lead and seemingly control of the contest early.
“Six turnovers and 145 yards of penalties are just outrageous,” Markle said afterward. “Trying to figure things out on the fly is tough enough, but when you have first-down fumbles that put you behind the sticks, when you struggle with the center-quarterback exchange, and when you have as many 15-yard penalties as we had, you just don’t give yourself the best chance.”
Already missing a trio of two-way starters from a roster of around 35 players, Union City was left scrambling when Theobald went down with a head injury with his team up 7-0. With back-up Kirben Thompson already sidelined with a foot injury suffered in Week 2, the Tornadoes were forced to improvise with receiver Adrian Crawford moving to QB and essentially running keepers with an occasional handoff to Andre Small as the basis of a limited attack.
Small took a turn at the signal-caller spot, too, for the first time ever, spelling Crawford at times with both suffering cramps from their respective increased workloads.
There were the expected fundamental challenges of such a necessitated move, and UC basically could not put together a consistent attack.
“We tried to simplify things, but, in those situations, you have to play a lot cleaner than we did,” added Markle, who played three freshmen extensively out of necessity. “We were trying to plug guys in and just hoping some things would work out. They obviously didn’t.”
After Rodney Jenkins’ 35-yard scoring dash capped Union City’s opening drive, things went downhill for the Purple and Gold. Turnovers on three consecutive second-quarter possessions allowed CC to hang around, with the Rockets finally scoring less than a minute before halftime via the first of two Quinn Summers’ TD passes on a fourth-and-goal play.
Crittenden County found paydirt on back-to-back offensive series to open the third period to go up 21-7 with a long Summers aerial accounting for the first touchdown and a Twister fumble setting up the second.
UC did find some success offensively in the fourth quarter with Crawford (22-124) and Smalls (14-87) taking turns churning out nice rushing gains. After one drive died on downs at the CC 28, the Tornadoes drew within the final score when Crawford threw a pretty deep ball to Khazarion Scates for a 33-yard TD with just under four minutes to play.
The host team held possession the rest of the way, though.
UC actually outgained CC 281-240 and limited the Rockets to just two yards per carry on 29 rushes. Crittenden threw for 182 yards, however, with six different receivers catching passes.
Small had a half-dozen solo tackles to pace the Tornado defense – two of those behind the line. Cohen Wood was in on nine total stops, while Alijah Simpson had a pair of tackles for minus-yards. Freshman Cameron Beeler, forced into action late due to the multiple injuries, recorded three tackles for lost yards from his linebacker post.
“Our offensive and defensive lines are giving us a chance right now,” the UC coach concluded. “I actually thought our defense played well enough to win and kept us competitive.
“We have a hard row to hoe and have our work cut out for us. We have to figure some things out. The fire is hot with where we are and what we’ve got.
“I promised the guys, though, I won’t rest until I figure it out. We’ll come up with a game plan and try to give ourselves the best chance at having success moving forward.”
Crittenden Co. 21, UC 14
Union City 7 0 0 7 — 14
Crittenden Co. 0 7 14 0 — 21
UC — Rodney Jenkins 35 run (Alex Landeros kick). 7:41, 1st
CC — Trae Taylor 5 pass from Quinn Summers (Mitchell Brown kick). 0:49, 2nd
CC — Camden Nash 48 pass from Summers (Brown kick). 8:32, 3rd
CC — Joel Bumpus 1 run (Brown kick). 3:07, 3rd
UC — Khazarion Scates 33 pass from Adrian Crawford (Landeros kick). 3:48, 4th
UC CC
Total Offense 281 240
Rush Att.-Yards 46-248 29-58
Comp.-Att.-Int. 1-3-1 13-24-1
Passing yards 33 182
First Downs 12 11
Punts-Avg. 1-35 1-40
Fumbles-Lost 8-5 2-1
Penalties-Yds. 15-145 8-50
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: Union City — Adrian Crawford 22-124, Andre Small 14-87, Rodney Jenkins 2-35, Logan Puckett 3-16, Jack Theobald 3-2, Team 2-(-16). Crittenden Co. — Trae Talor 21-45, Joel Bumpus 2-6, Caden Howard 1-3, Quinn Summers 3-2, Noah Byford 2-2.
PASSING: Union City — Adrian Crawford 1-3-1—33. Crittenden Co. — Quinn Summers 13-24-1—182.
RECEIVING: Union City — Khazarion Scates 1-33. Crittenden Co.— Caden Howard 4-69, Dokota Sosh 3-38, Trae Taylor 3-14, Camden Nash 1-48, Eli Lovell 1-8, Davis Perryman 1-5.
RECORDS: UC 1-3; Crittenden Co. 2-2.
NEXT GAME: UC hosts Halls next Friday night for Homecoming at 7 p.m.