BY JADEE O’STEEN
Special to the Telegraph-Times-Monitor
The Union County High School football team started off strong, scoring two touchdowns in four plays, but visiting Hawthorne scored 28 unanswered points in the second half to hand the Tigers a 28-21 loss in a battle of top-10 Class 1R teams on Oct. 14.
The Hornets, who were the state runners-up the last two years, scored the winning touchdown with 5 seconds remaining on a 35-yard pass from C.J. Ingram to Darian Smith-Williams. Hawthorne, which entered the game ranked seventh in the FHSAA power rankings, improved to 6-0, while the fourth-ranked Tigers fell to 4-2.
The Tigers look to bounce back when they host Class 2S Santa Fe on Friday, Oct. 21, at 7:30 p.m.
Going into the game, running back Rayvon Durant had rushed rushed for 790 yards and 10 touchdowns. He and quarterback A.J. Cortese both made big plays against the Hornets.
On the first offensive play for the Tigers, Cortese faked a handoff to Durant and scored on an 85-yard touchdown run.
The Tigers continued to run the ball on the Hornets and scored again on a 52-yard run by Durant.
Durant had 22 carries and a total of 180 yards. Cortese had roughly 120 rushing yards in the first half and ended the night with 159 yards and two touchdowns. He completed all three of his pass attempts, giving him 172 passing and rushing yards.
Daylyn Diston caught all three Cortese passes for 13 yards.
With a 21-0 lead, the Tigers were feeling extremely confident and strong as a team. They were eager to come out and score more after halftime.
The tables, however, took a turn for the worst. The Hornets knew that the only way to stop the Tigers was to fill in their gaps and tackle. They executed their game plan, and it ended up working in their favor. The Hornets had a total of 82 tackles for the night and three big sacks.
Hawthorne looked like a totally different team in the second half. The Hornets worked hard defensively and completely shut the Union offense down. The Tigers struggled to get major yardage, while the Hornets made serious gains on offense.
“Our defense basically stayed on the field for a majority of the second half, and we got tired,” Union linebacker/safety Thomas Williams said.
The Tigers didn’t score at all in the second half. Nothing seemed to work out in their favor, no matter what they tried.
“We were out of gas”, Durant said.
The Hornets tied the game at 21-21 with 11:42 to play before winning on the late touchdown pass by Ingram.
How does one blow a three-touchdown lead? Let’s just say the dynamic of the game can really change when call after call doesn’t go in your favor — especially an option pitch by Hawthorne on its own 13-yard line that was deflected and picked up by the Tigers, but ruled an incomplete pass. This could’ve easily put the Tigers up 28-0, almost sealing the game.
“We missed some opportunities that could have very well led us to some touchdowns in the second half,” Cortese said.
Jacob Jenkins and Auntrell Ross (who used to play for Hawthorne) led the Union defense with six tackles each. Dalton Lane had five tackles.
The Tigers now face a Santa Fe team that is struggling. The Raiders, whose last game was a 40-0 loss to Suwannee, are currently 1-6.
Santa Fe and Union have played two common opponents. The Raiders lost 15-0 to P.K. Yonge and 34-27 to Newberry. The Tigers defeated both teams by a combined score of 100-7.
The Tigers hope to bounce back from the heartbreaking loss to Hawthorne and remain persistent throughout the remainder of the season.
“If anything, this loss just made us more hungry,” Cortese said.
