Union Yellow Jackets move on to host Leflore County

Despite winning nine games in the regular season, Union coach Jordan Wren was waiting for his team to put together a complete game.

The Yellowjackets did that on Friday night as they easily handled M.S. Palmer 42-6 in the first round of the Class 2A playoffs.

Union improved to 10-1 on the season and will host Leflore County on Friday night in second-round action.

Wren said he thought his team played well in all three phases of the game.

“On film, I didn’t think they were a bad team,” Wren said. “There were some things on defense that we thought we could expose with what we did on offense. W really just talked about trying to play our best football. We just wanted to play well in all three phases and I thought we did that. I thought that was the best football we have played all year. We played very clean on offense and played really solid on defense. I thought our linebackers fit really well and our defensive line squeezed well. We stayed on top of the routes in the secondary. I thought team effort wise, we played our best game and that’s good this time of year.”

Union got the ball to start the game and went 57 yards in just four plays as Ky’Yon Harris scored on a 12-yard run. The two-point conversion on the swinging gate was good and Union led 8-0 early.

After a punt by M.S. Palmer, Union was pinned at its own 11. The Yellowjackets then went 89 yards in seven plays. Xavier Boler had a big 32-yard run on the drive and Harris scored on a 3-yard run to finish off the drive. The PAT failed and Union led 14-0.

After another M.S. Palmer punt, Union went 53 yards in four plays as Boler scored on a 20-yard run. Samuel Alawine’s PAT was good and Union led 21-0.

Union got a short field on its next possession when Palmer fumbled after a bad snap on a punt. Union’s Donovan Boler recovered at the Palmer 20 to give the Yellowjackets a short field. U’Darrian Hickman then hit Nat Boone on a 20-yard touchdown pass. Alawine hit the PAT and Union led 28-0 at the end of the first quarter. 

Palmer turned the ball over on downs on its next possession and gave Union the ball at their 27. Harris then scored on the next play on a 27-yard run while Alawine hit the PAT and Union led 35-0 to get the clock running.

Union added its last score in the first half as they went 61 yards in seven plays as Hickman hit Boler on a 9-yard touchdown pass. Alawine’s PAT gave Union a 42-0 lead.

“We started running the clock with 10 minutes to go in the first quarter and I really didn’t expect that,” Wren said. “I thought it might be 21-14 and we would pull away in the second half. They were a scary team on film and played Calhoun City really tough. I thought the offense performed well and dominated the game early.”

Union had 162 yards passing and 178 yards passing for 340 yards of total offense.

Hickman was 11-of-16 passing for 162 yards and two TDs. Boone had three catches for 52 yards and a TD while Mason Tucker had four catches for 46 yards. Boler had two catches for 39 yards and a TD while Zi Buckley had two catches for 25 yards.

Boler had eight carries for 102 yards while Harris had four carries for 59 yards and three TDs. Hickman had four carries for 17 yards.