Special to the Telegraph-Times-Monitor
Daylyn Diston and Rayvon Durant both rushed for more than 100 yards and combined to score four touchdowns as the Union County High School football team made its first road trip a successful one, defeating Williston 45-12 on Sept. 24.
It was the second straight double-digit victory — and the third overall — for the Tigers, who host Akelynn’s Angels Christian Academy for homecoming on Friday, Oct. 1, at 7:30 p.m. However, Head Coach Andrew Thomas told his players after the game they need to play with the same effort from start to finish in order to go from being a good team to a great team.
“If we are going to play in December, we need to fix things,” Thomas said. “We played well, but we lacked an edge of finishing our opponent off. We let them hang around and score a few points.”
Union (4-0) wasted little time in taking a lead. Williston opened with an onside kick, which went out of bounds at the Red Devils’ 45-yard line. The Tigers’ first offensive play was a 38-yard run by Durant, which helped set up Thomas Williams’ 4-yard touchdown run at the 10:42 mark of the first quarter. Jonathan Edwards kicked the extra point, which was the start of a 6-for-6 night for him on PATs.
The Red Devils (0-4) had good field position to start their first drive after Devon Harvey’s kickoff return to the Williston 40. Union’s defense forced the Devils to go three-and-out, but the Tigers muffed the punt, with Williston recovering the loose ball.
Still, the tough Tigers defense rose to the occasion, shutting the Williston offense down again and forcing another punt. The snap went over the punter’s head, with Newsom scooping the ball up for the Tigers and returning it for a touchdown. Union, after Edwards’ PAT, led 14-0 with 6:16 to play in the first quarter.
Williston gained a couple of first downs on its next possession, with quarterback Edariyon Wesley completing passes of 18 and 10 yards to Jharez Williams. The Tigers then shut the drive down and forced Williston to line up for another punt. The snap was bad again, with the punter falling on the ball at his own 47-yard line to prevent Union’s special teams from scoring another touchdown.
The Devils couldn’t prevent the Union offense from scoring, as quarterback Martin Odum connected with Diston on a 45-yard pass that gave the Tigers a commanding 21-0 lead with 4:01 left in the first quarter.
Williston began finding some holes in the defense in the second quarter and put together a scoring drive that was capped by Wesley’s 20-yard touchdown pass to Williams on a third-and-10 play. Connor Bresee blocked the extra point, and the score stood at 21-6 at the 9:44 mark of the second quarter.
Union needed just two plays following the ensuing kickoff to increase its lead. The Tigers covered 65 yards on runs by Durant and Diston, with Diston finding the end zone for a 28-6 lead.
The Devils later recovered another muffed punt that put their offense at the Union 40-yard line. Williams once again came up with a huge catch for a 26-yard gain, putting Williston inside the 20. Thanks to a penalty and a 10-yard reception by Javon Brown, the Devils had first-and-goal from the 1-yard line. Union’s defense stood strong and held the Devils out of the end zone on four plays.
Williston, trying to rally from a 22-point deficit, unsuccessfully went for it on a fourth-and-short play on the first drive of the second half. The Union offense drove down the field following the turnover on downs on runs by Diston and Durant. The Tigers drove to the 10 before settling for Edwards’ 27-yard field-goal attempt, which was good with 6:09 remaining in the third quarter. Union now led 31-6.
After their defense forced a three-and-out, the Tigers began a drive at their own 25-yard line. Durant, who rushed for 190 yards on 11 carries, took a handoff on first down, headed straight through the defense and emerged on the other side of the line, thanks to excellent blocking by the offensive line. The result was a 75-yard touchdown run, increasing the Tigers’ lead to 38-6 with 2:55 left in the third quarter.
Williston didn’t give up. On a short-yardage play with five minutes left in the game, Wesley scored a touchdown to make the score 38-12. The PAT was no good.
Union answered with its final points of the night, courtesy of Diston, who finished with 111 yards on six carries. He scored his third touchdown of the night on a 1-yard run.
The Tigers rushed for 338 yards and finished with 383 yards in all. Diston and Durant combined for 346 all-purpose yards.
Trevor Holtzendorf recorded a team-high 13 tackles and had half a sack. Curran Webb made nine tackles, with 1.5 sacks and three quarterback hurries. Dayviontae Thompson had eight tackles and half a sack, while Malcolm Odum had seven tackles and a sack. Jacob Jenkins had one sack, while Dylan Lane had half a sack.
Gavin Jenkins and Martin Odum each had an interception.
The Tigers now get a homecoming opponent that just experienced its first win. Akelynn’s Angels Christian Academy, after an 0-3 start, defeated Ambassadors Christian Academy out of Winter Haven 20-6 last week. The Wildcats, who are also located in Winter Haven, opened the season with a 7-6 loss to St. Cloud, followed by losses of 23-20 to IMG Academy-Blue and 23-14 to Frostproof.
Akelynn’s Angels Academy is coming off a 2-6 2020 season.
The game will mark the unveiling of the new UCHS jumbotron.
Fans are invited to attend Tiger Talk, which takes place every Monday at 7 p.m. at Beef O’Brady’s in Starke. Thomas and show host Steve Berrey discuss the previous week’s game and are joined by special guests. The show is also featured on the Union County Tigers Facebook page.
