Union football coach Jordan Wren said earlier this week that he hoped his team could score enough points to beat Wesson on Friday night.
Kenyon Clay, Jaylon Buckley and Markus Jones made sure of that for the Yellowjackets.
The Yellowjackets rolled up 550 yards of total offense and took a 64-44 win over homestanding Wesson on Friday night in the second round of the Class 2A playoffs.
The Yellowjackets improve to 9-2 on the season and will travel to Taylorsville to take on the top-ranked Tartars on Friday night.
“It was a really good game for our offense,” Wren said. “We threw an interception on the first possession and then we scored on every other one. Kenyon and Jaylon ran the ball really well. We were getting four to five yards a pop on zone and getting a good vertical push. Then they started to cut us, and we came back with buck sweep. We knew they were going to be good on offense and had to score as many points as we could.”
After an interception on their first possession, the Yellowjackets got going late in the first quarter. The first score was a 67-yard pass from Clay to Jones with 3:42 left in the first quarter. Henry Thornton’s PAT failed, and Union led 6-0.
After a quick stop, Union scored at the end of the first quarter as Clay scored on a 2-yard run and converted the two-point conversion to give Union a 14-0 lead.
The Cobras returned the ensuing kick 80 yards for a touchdown but missed the PAT and Union led 14-6.
Union answered with another long touchdown pass as Clay hit Jones on a 52-yard touchdown pass with 10:51 left in the second quarter. Thornton’s PAT was good, and Union led 21-6.
The Yellowjackets got the ball right back on a turnover and Clay scored on a 40-yard run with 10:31 left in the second. Thornton’s PAT gave Union a 28-6 lead.
After a 9-yard touchdown run by Wesson, Union scored with 1:39 left in the half’s Buckley scored on a 1-yard run to make the score 34-12.
The Cobras added another score on a 19-yard touchdown pass to cut the score to 34-18 at the half.
“We really tried to limit their possessions in the second half,” Wren said. “We found some things that we liked how they lined up and were able to take advantage of it. We just tried to keep the clock moving in the second half because they were getting rolling on offense.”
Wesson pulled within eight points as they got the ball to start the second half, scoring on a 59-yard touchdown pass with 11:37 left in the third. The two-point conversion was good to cut the lead to 34-26.
But that was as close as the Cobras got as Union scored the next 23 points.
The first score of the third for Union was a 3-yard run by Buckley with 8:11 left to make the score 40-26.
After getting a safety to make it 42-26, Clay scored on a 25-yard run with 2:03 left in the third. Clay hit Jones on the two-point attempt and Union led 50-26 with 2:03 left in the third.
Clay continued to roll to open the fourth as he scored on a 40-yard run. Thornton booted the PAT and Union led 57-26.
Wesson got a 1-yard run with 6:47 left in the game to cut the score to 57-32. But Union put the game away as Buckley scored on a 56-yard run with 6:37 left in the game to make the score 64-32.
Wesson added two scores in the last two minutes of the game for the final margin.
Union had 550 yards of total offense with 389 yards rushing. Clay had 261 yards rushing on 21 carries while Buckley had 128 on 21 carries. Clay was 7-of-10 passing for 161 yards with all seven going to Jones.
Wesson had 361 yards of offense with 275 passing and 86 rushing. Peyton Posey led the defense with 11 tackles and one interception. Cameron Jackson had five stops while John Neal added four stops. Ky’Yon Harris, Clay and Carlos Hickman each had three tackles.
This week’s game:
The Yellowjackets will get a shot at the state’s top-ranked Class 2A team in Taylorsville on Friday night in third-round action.
The Tartars are 9-1 on the season with their only loss coming to 5A power West Jones (35-21). They have wins over Seminary (56-42), Mendenhall (41-13), Jackson Prep (47-37), Enterprise-Clarke (33-28), Puckett (48-6) and Enterprise (55-8). Last week, the Yellowjackets beat Philadelphia 47-6.
Senior quarterback Ty Keyes has thrown for 1,752 yards on 92-of-143 passing for 19 TDs this season. Keyes, who is committed to play at Tulane has 13,771 yards in his career.
“I’m glad we got to play Wesson before Taylorsville because they will be very similar,” Wren said. “We have a good idea of what we need to work on this week defensively. It’s down to four teams in the South and I think any of the four can win it. We have to win the turnover battle and be sharp on special teams and not give up any big plays.”
Last year, Taylorsville eliminated Union 50-12 as they rolled to the 2A state championship.
