After a less-than-stellar outing last week in their scrimmage against Southeast Lauderdale, the Union Yellowjackets started the regular season strong with a 32-10 win over visiting Choctaw Central on Friday night.
Senior Jevon Williams had two touchdowns of more than 80 yards and quarterback Lane Hanna rushed for 116 yards to lead the Yellowjackets’ offense.
Head coach Brad Breland said he was proud of the way his team responded after a humbling 28-8 loss against Southeast in the ECCC Jamboree.
“As young as we are, to the get the first win, especially after the way we played last Friday night, I’m tickled to death, I really am,” Breland said. “(The Southeast game) made us better, and it showed us what we needed to fix.”
The Warriors threatened early in the first quarter after Braydon Bell-Ben hauled in a 52-yard strike from quarterback Alex Ben to take Choctaw Central all the way down to the Union 8-yard line. But Williams tipped an interception to himself in the end zone to end the drive.
Three plays later, Williams made his first big offensive play on an 83-yard touchdown run up the middle. Hanna added the two-point conversion run to put the Jackets up 8-0 with 8:53 remaining in the quarter.
The Warriors again drove deep into Union territory, but Jamarian Harmon broke up a pass to force Choctaw Central to settle for a 19-yard field goal by Graviel Velasco that cut into the Jackets’ lead.
Late in the second quarter, the Jackets were forced to punt, but Harmon recorded his second turnover after he recovered a fumble on the punt when the ball touched a Warrior player to set Union up at the Choctaw Central 20-yard line.
Four plays later, Hanna found Michael McDonald in the back of the end zone for a 5-yard touchdown pass. Hanna hooked up with Williams for the two-point conversion pass to put Union up 16-3, but the Warriors responded quickly with their own score when Canaan Nickey scored on a 60-yard pass from receiver Gerald Isom Jr. to cut the lead to six heading into the half.
It didn’t take long for Union to extend their lead again when Williams took the second half opening kickoff 83 yards down the left sideline for his second score of the night.
Hanna scored the two-point conversion on a quarterback keeper to put the Jackets up 24-10, and the Jackets never looked back.
After Colby Ferguson’s pass breakup helped end the Warriors’ first drive of the second half, runs by Hanna and Trodarian Campbell and two Choctaw Central penalties helped set up Hanna’s six-yard touchdown run. McDonald added the two-point conversion to put the game out of each and seal the scoring for the night.
The Jackets rolled up 319 yards of offense, and the defense held the Warriors to only 164 yards and held them scoreless in the second half.
“The key was we got a little more pressure in the second half than we did the first half,” Breland said. “We rotated at lot of people in. Coach (Trent) Hanna and Coach (Zack) Robinson and Coach (Daryl) Jones rotated a lot of people in and did a really good job with them.”
The Yellowjackets will go on the road to face Nanih Waiya on Friday.
