Warriors take the sting out of Union on the gridiron

Union football coach Jordan Wren has had two consistent messages about the season opener with Choctaw Central.

One is the Yellowjackets would be a work in progress this season and the second is that Choctaw Central had all the parts to be a good team.

Both proved out to be true as Choctaw scored twice in the fourth quarter and held Union out of the end zone late to take a 41-34 win on Friday night.

Union falls to 0-1 on the season and will host Enterprise and their vaunted Wing-T rushing attack on Friday night.

Wren said the Yellowjackets’ inexperience showed in the season opener.

“Choctaw finally did what every coach on their schedule was afraid they were going to do and that was put Keshaun Ben at quarterback,” Wren said. “I was really impressed with how he has developed. He has added about 20 pounds and he touched it every snap. It seems like he converted every third and fourth down they had. The morale of the story is we have a lot of young kids and we have to learn how to get off the field on defense.”

Choctaw struck first when Keshaun Ben scored on a 45-yard run and kicked the PAT to go up 7-0.

Union’s first came on a 26-yard interception return from Ben Leach. The PAT failed and Union trailed 7-6.

The Yellowjackets then took the lead as Myilan Moore hit Zie Buckley on a 33-yard touchdown pass. Omarri Holliday ran in the two-point conversion and the Yellowjackets led 14-7.

After Choctaw tied the game at 14-14 on a 7-yard run, Moonie Harris scored on a 23-yard touchdown pass for Union. The PAT failed and Union led 20-14 at the end of the first quarter.

Union extended its lead in the second quarter when Buckley scored on a 36-yard touchdown pass from Moore. The PAT failed again and Union led 26-14.

But that’s when things started to go south for the Yellowjackets. Choctaw scored on a 19-yard touchdown pass to end the second quarter. The try for two failed and Union held a 26-20 lead at the half.

“They really spread us out and he was hard to deal with and they had playmakers all over the field,” Wren said. “And they were huge up front. They are a lot more better than they were last year. We had our chances and had some touchdowns called back because of penalties that hurt us. You can’t take 21 points off the board and expect to win.”

Choctaw got another touchdown in the third quarter on a 16-yard run and then kicked the PAT to go up 27-26.

But Union wasn’t done as Moore hit Buckley on a 61-yard touchdown pass. Aiden Aiden Davis ran in the two-point conversion and Union retook the lead at 34-27.

But Choctaw added two fourth-quarter touchdowns, the first was on a 28-yard touchdown by Ben to tie the game at 34-34. The second was a 1-yard run late in the fourth as the Warriors took a 41-34 lead and held on for the win.

“I thought we had a good night on offense,” Wren said. “I think the quarterback play wasn’t as bad as everyone was expecting. He still has work to do but did a good job of managing the game. Zie is going to be that dude for us this year. He touched the ball three times on offense and scored all three times and he had a kickoff for a touchdown called back. His speed is what we thought it was.”

On offense, the Yellowjackets rushed for 194 yards as Quinn Harris led the way, rushing for 64 yards on nine carries. Moore had 56 yards on 10 carries while Semaj Burnside had eight carries for 46 yards.

Moore was 7-of-16 for 182 yards for 376 yards of total offense. Buckley had a breakout night with three caches for 138 yards and three touchdowns.