The Union Yellowjackets had all of the momentum and were lining up to take a 27-7 lead over East Webster in a battle of unbeaten teams on Friday night.
But disaster struck and Union fumbled the snap to turn the ball over right before the half.
East Webster capitalized on that mistake and scored 20 unanswered points in the second half to take a 27-20 win over the visiting Yellowjackets on Friday night.
Union falls to 4-1 on the season and will travel to rival Newton on Friday to open Division 5-2A play.
Union coach Brad Breland was obviously disappointed with his team after the loss and hope they use it as a learning point going forward.
“I told them after the game, we played about like we have practiced the last two weeks,” Breland said. “We played with a lot of emotion last week so we overcame the bad week of practice. It’s one of those lessons you have to learn. If they want to be average, they can keep on like they are going. We have to work hard and focus and play with more intensity. I thought we looked pretty bad on offense, execution wise. We just didn’t execute.”
Union got the ball to start the game but fumbled on the first play of the game as East’s Carter Flora recovered the fumble. But the Wolverines failed to find the end zone as Parker Burleson’s field goal attempt failed.
After the two teams traded punts, Union struck first as Kenyon Clay hit Marcus Jones on a 59-yard touchdown pass with 4:43 left in the first quarter to cap off a five-play, 93-yard drive. Henry Thornton’s PAT was good and Union led 7-0.
After an East Webster punt, Union struck quickly. This time, Kenyon Clay ripped off a 42-yard run and Jaylon Buckley scored on an 8-yard run. The PAT failed and Union led 13-0.
But East Webster responded with a 13-play drive as Steven Betts scored on a 16-yard scramble with 8:37 left in the first half. Burleson’s PAT cut the Union lead to 13-7.
The Yellowjackets hit another big pass play on the ensuing drive as Clay hit Jamarian Harmon on a 50-yard pass play to finish off a six-play, 95-yard drive with 4:14 left in the half. Thornton’s PAT was good and Union led 20-7.
East Webster then fumbled to give Union a short field before the half. Union drove down to the East Union 2-yard line but fumbled a snap that Camron Jennings recovered to end the threat.
“If they sore right there, it would have been difficult to come back in the second half,” East Webster coach Ron Price said. “But we were able to go in 20-7 and told our kids that they had done it to themselves. We had two possessions where receivers were open and we didn’t get them the ball. We had two defensive breakdowns and they score on two long touchdown passes. But getting that stop before the half was huge. Then we were able to come out and score quick and it was a different game from there.”
East Webster got the ball to start the second half and immediately got a 43-yard run from Tyrik Pittman. Betts then scored on a 42-yard run with 11:38 left in the third. Burleson’s PAT cut the Union lead to 20-14.
The defenses settled in for the remainder of the third quarter but East Webster was able to put together another long scoring drive as they went 70 yards in 13 plays as Betts hit Pittman on a 16-yard pass play with 7:55 left in the third. Burleson’s PAT was good and East Webster led 21-20.
East Webster stopped Union late in the fourth and turned them over on downs at their own 29. Betts then ripped of a 27-yard run and eventually scored on a 2-yard run with 1:15 left to play. Burleson’s PAT failed for the final margin of 27-20.
Union was able to run nine plays but East held them out of the end zone to take the win.
Union won the battle on the stats page with 378 yards of total offense to 323 for East Webster. Union had 21 first downs to 17 for East Webster.
Union had 204 yards rushing and 174 passing. Kenyon Clay was 9-of-23 passing for 174 yards, filling in for an injured Colby Ferguson. Clay also rushed for 133 yards on 19 carries while Jaylon Buckley had 80 yards on 12 carries. Jones had 119 yards on four catches while Harmon had 56 yards on two catches.
Peyton Posey led the defense with 9.5 tackles while Robert Craft had 4.5 stops.t
