The Union Yellowjackets went to Jackson without two of their best players in uniform.
They left with their worst loss of the year.
Madison St. Joseph jumped out to a 13-0 lead and used a 22-point third quarter to take a 35-0 win over the short-handed Yellowjackets.
Union is now 2-3 on the season and will host Lake on Friday night for homecoming.
For the Yellowjackets, it was a rough start and a rougher finish.
“We saw some good things but just can’t get anything going,” Union coach Brad Breland said. “Our offense is putting us in such a bind. It hurts being without our two main playmakers in Jevon (Williams) and Micheal (McDonald). We are just having trouble getting something going on offense. We might have two good plays then someone makes a mistake and we are having trouble overcoming that right now. We have to play perfect and not many people are going to put together 10 perfect plays and drive down the field on people.”
Union had 181 yards of total offense with 122 yards on the ground and 59 through the air in 60 plays. St. Joseph had 339 yards of total offense with 194 yards rushing and 145 passing in 52 plays.
St. Joseph struck twice in the first quarter as Charlie Lott hit Trey Frierson for a 43-yard touchdown pass with 11:17 left in the first. Artur Marshall’s PAT gave St. Joe a 7-0 lead.
After forcing a Union punt, St. Joseph hit the air again as Lott hit Kiland Harrison on a 9-yard touchdown pass with 6:38 left in the first. The try for two failed and St. Joe led 13-0.
“We gave up a long touchdown and a long drive to start the game and then sort of settled down,” Breland said. “I thought we settled down and played as well as we have on defense all season in the second quarter. We started to see some younger kids make some plays.”
The Jackets got the ball to start the second half but fumbled on their first play. St. Joseph then used the short field as Lott hit Hayden Brice on a 15-yard touchdown pass with 11:44 left in the third. Frierson ran in the two-point conversion and led 21-0.
The Bruins added two more scores in the third quarter as Nick Bouldin scored on runs of 5 and 15 yards.
Despite the final, Breland did see some positives.
“I talked to them on the bus when we got back to Union,” Breland said. “I saw a lot of positive things. A lot of those ninth graders started to make some plays and you could see the lights come on. I told them you have to bring it every day, not just on Friday night. And that the thing with young players, you have to prepare every day. Everybody wants to win on Friday night, but not everybody wants to work on Monday afternoon.”
Hanna was just 4-of-13 passing for 59 yards while also rushing for 25 yards on 16 carries. Jamarian Harmon had two catches for 40 yards.
On the ground, Tristan Ray led the way with 45 yards rushing on two carries while Trodarian Campbell had 44 yards rushing on 18 carries.
Defensively, Harmon led the defense with four tackles while Kalem Rogers, Michael Rush and Peyton Posey each had three and a half tackles.
