Tornadoes' defense takes the sting out of Yellowjackets

The first rainfall in more than a month slowed down an explosive Philadelphia offense on Thursday night.

But it also brought the Union offense to a halt as well.

The Tornadoes used two big offense plays and a stingy defense to take a 16-6 win over the Yellowjackets.

Union falls to 3-7 on the season and will be the No. 4 seed out of Division 4-2A. They will make the three-hour road trip north to take on Walnut, who won Division 1-2A on Friday with a 50-20 win over East Union.

Union coach Jordan Wren said he thought his defense played well enough to win but the offense struggled with three turnovers, three punts and three turnovers on downs.

“I felt like we played very well defensively,” Wren said. “We played well enough to win the football game. But we made too many mistakes on offense. We didn’t take advantage of the opportunities we had. We had field position all the first quarter and couldn’t capitalize. It’s just the thing that has been hurting us all year, we aren’t making the right plays at the right times to win big games.”

The game started off in a driving rain and both offense struggled with three punts, one lost fumble and two turnovers on downs.

Philly got the first big break of the game when Union turned the ball over on downs after punter Mason Tucker was forced to run after a bad snap. Philly got the ball on the Union 37 and then scored on the next play as Jacammeron Boler scored on a 37-yard run. The try for two was good after a bad snap on the PAT to give Philly an 8-0 lead.

After a Union punt, Philly again hit a big play as Boler scored on a 56-yard run and also converted the two-point conversion to lead 16-0 at the half.

“We misfit twice and they went and scored,” Wren said. “It’s one of those things where we have to play things perfect. But the bottom line is our offensive line didn’t play up to where they needed to. We have to play better up front. In games like that where the weather is such a big deal, your offensive line has to take over and say ‘here we come’ and just take over and they did not do that.”

Union got its only score midway through the third quarter. After Philly had a blocked punt, Union got the ball at the Tornado 10. Three plays later, Myilan Moore scored on a 1-yard run. The try for two failed and Philly led 16-6.

After Philly turned the ball over on downs, Union put together a 14-play drive but also turned the ball over on downs. Philly then went 11 plays while Union fumbled on its last possession as the Tornadoes held on for the win.

The Yellowjackets struggled on offense with 72 yards rushing and 24 passing for 96 yards of total offense.

Quinn Harris had 51 yards on 21 carries while Zie Buckley had three carries for 18 yards. Moore was 4-of-8 passing for just 24 yards. Tucker had three catches for 15 yards.

On defense, Aidan Davis had a big game with 10 tackles, including 10 tackles for loss and one forced fumble. Vaiden Bouder also had 10 tackles and forced a fumble while William Breedlove had nine tackles. Jordan Smith had seven tackles while Omarri Holliday had four tackles.

Union will hit the road for a lengthy road trip this week as they travel almost to the Tennessee state line to take on Walnut.

Walnut is 7-3 on the season and the No. 1 seed out of Division 1-2A. They eat East Union 50-20 last week to secure the division championship.

“They are big up front and do a really good job on offense of getting in a lot of formations to get the ball to one player,” Union coach Jordan Wren said. “He’s 6-1, 220 pounds and their best football player. They use every way you can imagine to get the football in his hands. Their quarterback  throws it well enough to make them effective. They run a three-stack on defense, which is hard to block. We have to be very sound in blocking a gap because you don’t know who will be there.”