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High School Football

Rebels Fall to Union City

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When McKenzie’s Rebels and Union City play there’s usually a bunch of points scored and this game was no exception as the Rebels fell to Union City 36-26 in a region contest.
Union City won the toss and elected to receive and chewed the first seven minutes of the first quarter on a drive that resulted in a 16-yard touchdown run by Justin Wiggins with 4:47 left in the first quarter. The extra point was good for a 7-0 Tornado lead.
The Rebels used up the rest of the first quarter clock on their first possession but turned the ball over on downs early in the second quarter. Aided by a pair of unsportsmanlike conduct calls against McKenzie that saw Micah Austin ejected from the game, Union City marched downfield and scored again on an 11 yard keeper by Sam Theobald. The extra point again was good for a 14-0 Union City lead.
The Tornadoes intercepted a McKenzie pass on the ensuing possession and quickly scored on a 30-yard run by Theobald with a good extra point to go up 21-0 over McKenzie with 4:21 left in the first half.
The Rebels settled down and put together a scoring drive of their own that went 9 plays, mostly passing plays capped by an 8-yard touchdown pass from Evan Jarrett to Kaden Allen. Zach Aird’s extra point was good to reduce Union City’s lead to 21-7 just before halftime.

The Rebels got the ball in good field position to start the third quarter and wasted no time making a game of it. Marquez Taylor rolled 41 yards on first down to the Union City 14 and scored two plays later on a six-yard run. Aird’s extra point came up short but reduced the Tornado lead to 21-13 with 10:49 left on the clock.
Union City used up the next six minutes of the clock on an 11-play drive that led to a seven-yard touchdown by Justin Wiggins with 4:24 left in the third quarter. The extra point was good for a 28-13 Union City lead.
The Rebels answered with a short drive that resulted in a two-yard touchdown pass from Jarrett to Logan Lyles with 1:07 left in the third quarter. Aird nailed the extra point to make the score 28-20.
McKenzie’s defense came up big on the next Union City possession forcing a fourth and long but roughed the punter which gave Union City a first down. Two plays later, the Tornadoes scored on a 25-yard run by Wes Tilghman with 9:01 left in the fourth quarter. They went for a 2-point conversion and was good to open the lead to 36-20
McKenzie answered with a quick drive that went inside the Union City five-yard line but fumbled the ball with Union City recovering. Union City went three and out and had to punt. McKenzie went for it on fourth down on the next possession and failed to convert. Union City went three and out again having to punt. McKenzie put together a scoring drive capped by a three-yard Marquez Taylor touchdown with 1:10 left to play. The Rebels went for two and did not convert leaving the score 36-26. Following an onside kick attempt recovered by Union City, the Tornadoes took a knee and ran out the clock handing the Rebels the loss.
McKenzie is 4-4 on the year with a 2-2 region record. They will host Obion Central this week in a non-region contest.

Rebels, McKenzie, Union City, Football