By Mike Hutchens, Union City Schools Communications Director
Turnovers and penalties proved to be Union City’s ultimate undoing.
Three lost fumbles, an interception, and a pair of untimely flags were a recipe for disaster in the Tornadoes’ bitter 20-19 loss to the University School of Jackson Friday night.
UC, which had a touchdown wiped away by penalty and committed another foul that aided USJ’s game-winning drive with less than four minutes to play, fell to 0-2 on the young season with the setback.
The Twisters play host to Dyer County (1-1) next week.
Despite its critical execution shortcomings, Union City still had a chance to pull out a victory against the homestanding Bruins. The last of the Tornadoes’ four turnovers, though, killed a potential winning drive at the USJ 25 with just 40 seconds remaining.
“You just can’t have the volume of mistakes we did and expect to be successful,” Tornado head coach Nick Markle said afterward. “It was a wild week trying to prepare amid all the heat concerns, but everyone had those challenges.
“They put pressure on us to adjust and were able to take advantage of some things that we hadn’t seen on film. We had some young guys playing like young guys in Week 2, and we struggled in some of our personnel groupings.
“I’m obviously disappointed. And I know our guys are too.”
Union City outgained USJ 297-254 with the hard-running fullback-quarterback tandem of Jacob Arnold and Keaten Brown combining to rush for 283 of those yards and all three scores.
Arnold finished with 160 yards on 27 carries, including a 20-yard TD in the third quarter that gave the Purple and Gold a 13-0 lead just after halftime. Brown, who scored on a pair of four-yard keepers, ended up with 123 yards on 22 attempts.
The Twisters failed to complete a pass for the second straight week, however.
The Bruins proved resilient while clawing back from a two-touchdown deficit, bolstered by the passing of Corben Howard, who threw for 147 yards on nine completions.
Running back Noah Spencer had TD runs of 42 and 20 yards in the second half when he rushed for the bulk of his 104 yards.
UC’s Brown broke a 13-all tie with 5:52 to play on the second of his scoring scampers. His two-point conversion attempt was stopped just short, though.
USJ immediately answered, helped by a pass interference penalty and a pair of aerials from Howard to H-back Sam McMillan. Cooper Sikes drilled the PAT to give the host team the ultimate difference with 3:51 to go.
The Tornadoes did march from their own 27 to the Bruin 25, with Arnold’s 27-yard rumble keying the drive. But Brown was hit from the backside and coughed up possession, with USJ’s Alex Wallace recovering to end Union City’s hopes.
“We had some missed assignments and didn’t sustain our blocks several times,” Markle added. “And I thought we ran out of gas a little at the end. That’s on me with our conditioning. We’re only playing 15 or 16 kids while we try to get our depth where it needs to be.
“We’re going to get it all worked out, though, I promise. We’re creatures of habit, and we’re going to get back into routine next week. We’re going to put a better product on the field.”
Cohen Wood, Cohen Simpson, Adrian Crawford, Andre Small, Arnold, and Brown all were in on four tackles to pace the Union City defense.
