By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Nick Markle immediately put Union City’s first loss into perspective.
“Every regular season goal we had is still attainable and right in front of us,” the Tornado head coach said after his third-ranked team was beaten 47-20 by reigning Class 2A state champion Westview Friday night.
The loss was UC’s first in seven games and dropped the Twisters a game back of the Chargers and Huntingdon in the race for the Region 7-2A championship. Union City could still claim the title by winning its final three games, provided that Huntingdon beats Martin next week.
The Tornadoes host Huntingdon in their final regular season game on Oct. 28.
UC has some things to clean up following next week’s open date – namely penalties (10 for 115 yards), turnovers (two), and a lost squibbed kickoff — all suffered against No. 9 Westview.
More importantly, the Purple and Gold needs to get healthy as two-way starters Durrell Littleton (hip) and Tayehari Jones (ankle) were sorely missed Friday due to those injuries.
“We’re not going to use injuries as an excuse,” Markle continued. “I really thought we played hard for 3 ½ quarters with what we had available. We just ran out of gas, and our lack of depth showed up. The penalties didn’t go in our favor, and they turned both our turnovers into scores.
“In reality, we just didn’t make plays when plays were there to be made. Give Westview some credit. They played very well. Their quarterback threw it well, their receivers caught it well, and when we dared them to run the ball, they did it effectively.”
UC started slow offensively, not gaining a first down until its third possession. The Twisters then found their groove, however, behind the power running of quarterback Keaten Brown, who had bullish runs of 21 and 41 yards before getting his team into the endzone early in the second period on a nine-yard run that evened the score at 7.
Brown found Cohen Simpson on a nice fade pattern for a 19-yard touchdown after the Tornadoes had recovered an onside kick five minutes into the second frame to put Union City up 14-7.
After the Chargers tied things up on the first of two Craig Ross to Omarion Harris TD passes, it appeared the teams would go into the intermission break deadlocked.
But Quincy Hamilton swung the momentum Martin’s way by stepping in front of a Brown pass and returning it 53 yards to paydirt with just 16 seconds left before halftime, putting Westview ahead 20-14.
UC forged the third tie of the contest when Brown carried a QB sneak into the endzone at 6:17 of the third stanza before the Chargers then took over and scored the game’s final 27 points.
Hamilton accounted for two of those scores on direct-snap keepers covering three and 49 yards. Ross and Harris hooked up again from 11 yards out, and Drew Shanklin capped his 140-yard rushing performance with his second touchdown (six yards) with less than two minutes to go.
UC had a promising drive halted inside Martin territory via a rare offensive facemask flag with the score 27-20. The Twisters then failed to jump on an onside kickoff and lost a fumble on consecutive possessions, allowing the host team to pull away with ensuing scores.
Brown ran for a team-best 134 yards for the Tornadoes, with a hand in all three scores. He has either run or thrown for 10 TDs in Union City’s last three games.
Gage Smith topped the Twister tackle chart with 14 – eight of those solo hits. Jacob Arnold had nine individual tackles.
After a much-needed open date next week, Markle expects to see a healthy and hungry group heading into the stretch run of the regular season.
“This should leave a bad taste in our mouths, but we can’t let it linger,” he concluded. “It’s one loss. We have to learn from it and move on.
“We’ll utilize next week to try and get healthy for the rest of the year. I’m confident our senior leadership will help us bounce back and put us in the position to achieve everything we wanted to when the season began.”
Union City will host Camden on Oct. 14.
WESTVIEW 47, UNION CITY 20
Union City 0 14 6 0 — 20
Westview 7 13 7 20 — 47
W — Drew Shanklin 1 run (Cason Totten kick) 9:31, 1st
UC — Keaten Brown 9 run (Finn Frankum kick) 5:12, 1st
UC — Cohen Simpson 19 pass from Brown (Frankum kick) 6:55, 2nd
W — Omarion Harris 14 pass from Craig Ross (Totten kick) 2:57, 2nd
W — Quincy Hamilton 53 interception return (kick failed) 0:16, 2nd
UC — Brown 2 run (kick failed) 6:17, 3rd
W — Hamilton 3 run (Totten kick) 4:53, 3rd
W — Harris 11 pass from Ross (Totten kick) 11:56, 4th
W — Hamilton 49 run (kick failed) 7:12, 4th
W — Shanklin 6 run (Totten kick) 1:58, 4th
UC W
Total Offense 330 402
Rush Att.-Yards 49-305 37-256
Passing Yards 25 146
Comp.-Att.-Int 2-5-1 7-15-0
First Downs 14 15
Punts-Avg. 3-28.0 2-34.5
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 0-0
Penalties-Yds. 10-115 5-58
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: Union City – Keaten Brown 23-134, Jacob Arnold 10-96, Kolby Craig 8-59, Gage Smith 7-13, Aiden Reid 1-3. Westview — Drew Shanklin 23-140, Quincy Hamilton 7-83, Craig Ross 4-23, Cam Davis 3-9.
PASSING: Union City — Keaten Brown 2-5-1 – 25. Westview — Craig Ross 7-15-0 —146.
RECEIVING: Union City — Cohen Simpson 1-19, Kolby Craig 1-6. Westview — Omarion Harris 4-59, Quincy Hamilton 3-87.
RECORDS: Union City 6-1 (2-1); Westview 5-2 (3-0).
NEXT GAME: UC plays host to Camden, Friday, Oct. 14.