Last season, the Union Yellowjackets trounced Lake in a non-division game 35-13 on their way to an 7-3 regular season and a berth in the Class 2A playoffs. The shoe was on the other foot on Friday night as the Hornets outgained the Yellowjackets nearly 3 to 1 while spoiling Union’s homecoming in a 34-0 win.
It was the third straight shutout loss for the Yellowjackets as they fell to 2-4 on the season, while the Hornets improved to 6-1 and opened 2A Region 4 play with a victory.
Although senior receiver Michael McDonald returned from an injury, the young Yellowjackets are still banged up.
“We’re in a bad spot right now,” said Union coach Brad Breland. “We should’ve done better tonight. We’ve got different people breaking down at the wrong times. But we’ve all got to execute, and we’re not doing that right now.”
From the opening kickoff, the Hornets used a steady ground game led by Ethan Gray and Marc Qualls to drive down the field. Qualls’ six-yard touchdown run put Lake on the board on their opening drive, and the Hornets never looked back.
Qualls scored on a 3-yard dive with 4:19 remaining in the first quarter. The Yellowjackets seemed to get a break late in the second quarters when they drove down to the Lake 30-yard line. However, Qualls scored his third touchdown of the night when he stepped in front of quarterback Lane Hanna’s pass and returned the interception 76 yards for a touchdown with 1:22 remaining in the half.
Less than two minutes into the third quarter, Gray broke a tackle and raced 58 yards to the end zone for the Hornet’s fourth score. Karkeese Smith finished off the scoring for the night with a 1-yard dive midway through the third.
First year Lake coach Tate Hanna said his team is fortunate to be healthy starting league play.
“Union is down right now. They’re really young and they lost some of their key players so that’s the way their hand has been dealt right now,” Hanna said. “We didn’t lose much from last year, and I believe that was the difference in the game tonight.”
Gary finished with 104 yards on 10 carries, Qualls rushed for 65 yards on 11 carries and Johnny Johnson had 55 yards on 3 carries as the Hornets outgained Union 284 yards to 104.
Union freshmen Jaheim Gill replaced Hanna in the fourth quarter and rushed for 37 yards on eight carries.
McDonald and Colby Ferguson both had four and a half tackles to lead the Jacket defense.
The Hornets will be open next week before returning to action on Oct 13 to face Scott Central. Hanna said that even after the shutout win, there is still room for improvement for this team.
“We’ve got to get better at throwing the ball, and up front defensively I don’t think we did a good job tonight. I think we did good in secondary-wise but our linebackers were weak tonight and we’ve got to get better. But besides that, I think we did a pretty good job,” Hanna said. “We’re about to get into the meat of the schedule where we’re playing Scott Central, Newton and Philly and you’re going to have to be loaded.
Union will go on the road to take on Scott Central on Friday.
