Despite a dominating defensive effort, Union coach Jordan Wren looked up in the third quarter and saw his Yellowjackets trailed 14-7 with just over 16 minutes left against West Marion.
But then he saw the Yellowjackets do something they haven’t done all year and that was finish a game.
Union scored 21 unanswered points and pulled away late to take a 28-14 win over West Marion in the first round of the Class 3A playoffs.
Union improves to 5-6 on the season and will host undefeated Tylertown on Friday night.
Union coach Jordan Wren said he saw something he was waiting to see all season.
“I saw something that we have been waiting to see all year and that was finishing a game,” Wren said. “We didn’t finish games against Morton and Enterprise and probably should have been the No. 1 or two seed. We talked about playing for 48 minutes and we finally did that on Friday night. And our defense played lights out and our offense answered the bell.”
The Yellowjackets got the ball to open the game and needed just two plays to go 72 yards. The first play was a 62-yard screen pass to Ky’Yon Harris. Clay then scored on a 10-yard touchdown run and Union led 7-0 early in the first quarter.
Harris got the ball right back for Union with an interception but the turnover bug also hit the Yellowjackets when Clay fumbled and West Marion scooped up the loose ball and returned it 74 yards for a touchdown. The PAT was good and Union tied the game at 7-7, a score that stayed until halftime.
“I thought our defense played really well and has dominated every game the last six weeks,” Wren said. “They scored twice and both of those were off of turnovers by the offense. It took us a while to realize we had some people in the wrong place on defense. We made some changes over there and Leake was the last team that had over 300 yards of offense on us. Nobody has had over 265 yards and you can’t ask for better than that.”
In the second half, West Marion got the ball to open the half and put together an 11-play drive but turned the ball over on downs at the Union 15. Four plays later, Clay threw an interception and West Marion returned it 30 yards fora touchdown. The PAT was good and West led 14-7. With 4:32 left in the third quarter.
Union responded as Carlos Hickmon scored on a 30-yard touchdown run and Rigdon kicked the PAT as Union tied the game back up at 14-14 late in the third quarter.
Union took the lead midway through the fourth quarter when Clay scored on a 5-yard run with 7:19 left in the game. Rigdon’s PAT gave Union a 21-14 lead.
The Yellowjackets then forced a West Marion punt and put the game away with a five-play, 86-yard drive. Clay ripped off a 48-yard gainer and then scored on a 29-yard run with 2:02 left in the game. Rigdon’s PAT gave Union a 28-14 lead.
“We are getting better up front,” Wren said. “Earlier in the game, we tried to run a play the the center and guard didn’t do a good enough job of combo blocking. I tell them to keep on giving me their best effort. They are sophomores and you don’t yell and gripe at younger kids, you just have to coach them. We have to continue to correct and coach those young guys. I felt like they gave us effort on Friday and it showed. Then late in the game, we came back to that play and did a better job on it and scored.”
On defense, Tristan Wallace led the Yellowjackets with five tackles and had one forced fumble. Cameron Hickmon and Nate Killen each had four tackles and one tackle for loss. Eli Rigdon and William Hughlett each had three tackles while Ky’Yon Harris had 2.5 tackles and an interception.
