Telegraph Staff Writer
Union County High School has been on fire this football postseason and looks to continue rolling when it travels to take on Chiefland for the Region 3-1A championship on Friday, Nov. 26, at 7:30 p.m.
As of deadline, no ticket information was available. Fans are encouraged to call Union County High School at 386-448-5204 for more information.
If tickets are available digitally, they’ll be found at GoFan.co. Enter “Union County High School” in the search bar and click on the appropriate links.
The Tigers (12-0) won their two playoff games by an average margin of 37 points and have now won six straight by at least 32 points. Union is coming off a 52-14 win over Hilliard in the semifinals (see related story).
Chiefland (10-1) was on a similar path as Union, having won five straight by at least 35 points, before losing 24-13 to Blountstown in its regular-season finale. The Indians, as the top seed in Region 3, had a first-round playoff by before squeaking past Lafayette 28-27 in overtime in last week’s semifinals.
The Indians are scoring an average of 39.9 points per game, while opponents are scoring an average of 12. 4 points.
Five of Chiefland’s regular-season opponents finished the regular season with winning records and qualified for the playoffs: Class 3A Crescent City (56-13 win), Class 1A Trenton (42-0 win), Class 1A Holmes County (41-6 win), Class 1A Blountstown and the Lafayette team it just beat last week. The Indians beat Lafayette 42-7 in the regular season.
Trenton is one of four teams Chiefland and Union both played, with the Tigers defeating Trenton 48-13 in the Region 3 quarterfinals. The teams’ other common opponents were Williston (59-7 Chiefland win, 46-12 Union win), Dixie County (14-7 Chiefland win, 28-12 Union win) and Hamilton County (57-19 Chiefland win, 42-0 Union win).
During the regular season, with the exception of the loss to Blountstown (which Chiefland didn’t enter stats for on MaxPreps), the Indians 309.9 rushing yards per game, led by sophomore Dakota Fisher, who had 886 yards and 13 touchdowns on 64 carries. Clint Thomas, a junior, had 495 yards and five touchdowns on 38 carries, while Junior Brown, a junior, had 454 yards and six touchdowns on 81 carries.
Chiefland attempted only 11 passes in its first nine regular-season games, with six completions going for 83 yards and one touchdown.
Defensively, junior defensive back Paul Davis recorded 68 tackles in the first nine regular-season games, while sophomore linebacker Lawrence Rivers and eighth-grade defensive end Jon Adams had 69 and 65 tackles, respectively. Adams and Davis had 24 and 21 tackles for loss, respectively, with Adams recording a team-high 13 sacks, while Rivers had nine tackles for loss.
Senior lineman James Latson recorded 55 tackles (11 for loss), while senior defensive end Jamie Strong had 44 tackles (17 for loss), including eight sacks. Thomas (the second-leading rusher on offense) had 41 tackles as a defensive back.
The Indians created 24 turnovers (14 fumbles, 10 interceptions) in their first nine regular-season games. Davis had three fumble recoveries, while Thomas and sophomore Anthony Blackman each had three interceptions.
Chiefland is in the playoffs for the fourth straight year and the 14th year overall. The Indians have a 14-12 postseason record, with most of those wins occurring in 1997 and 1998. Chiefland won the Class 2A state title in 1997 and were five points away from playing for the championship in 1998.
This will be the second time Union and Chiefland have met each other in the postseason. The Tigers opened the 1994 playoffs with a 50-6 win over the Indians and went on to win the first of three straight state championships.
The last time Union played Chiefland, the Tigers won 42-7 during a regular-season matchup last year.
