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Union City pummels Delone Catholic, but players bond over cross-state clash

Zach Miller  |  GameTimePA

They came, they saw, they conquered.

Union City, the two-time defending Tennessee Class A champion, traveled 14 hours to McSherrystown on Tuesday. The Golden Tornadoes spent Wednesday touring the museums and battlefields of Gettysburg and spent Thursday visiting the landmarks of Washington, D.C.

And on Friday evening, they dominated Delone Catholic, 56-0, to extend their winning streak to 32 games.

Union City showed the packed crowd at J.T. Flaherty Field — which included several dozen purple-clad Tornadoes fans — why it's the class of Tennessee football, racking up 439 rushing yards and shutting out the Squires. Delone Catholic entered the fourth quarter with just nine total yards before three long runs by Tavian Dorsey helped push the team's total to 111.

"We said all week, we knew we were gonna have our hands full," Delone Catholic coach Corey Zortman said. "Thirty-one other teams fell to the same fate that we did, so we have nothing to be ashamed of. But we wanted to make them work for everything they got."

The Squires did pull off two feats that none of the Golden Tornadoes' four other opponents this season were able to accomplish. Union City came into the game 16-for-16 on trips into the red zone, but Delone Catholic put together a goal-line stand to force a turnover on downs early in the second quarter when the deficit was just 7-0.

The Squires (1-2) also forced the Golden Tornadoes to throw the ball, something they did just twice all season coming into the game. Union City (5-0) threw not one, but two passes. Both went for touchdowns.

"They came in there prepared well and forced us to throw it a little bit to open it back up," Union City coach Darren Bowling said of Delone Catholic. "I thought at the beginning of the game they were getting after us pretty good there, and our defense really kept us in the game early."

The Golden Tornadoes defense held the Squires to just one first down in the first three quarters, using consistently good starting field position to gain a 28-0 halftime advantage that kept growing.

The win capped an exciting week for Union City that included a combined team barbecue dinner with Delone Catholic at the stadium on Thursday night. Bowling said the night started off quietly, but by the end all the players from both teams were mingling and sharing jokes and stories. Delone Catholic lineman Wade Neiderer said some of the players added each other on Snapchat.

"Our kids together, they were unbelievable," Zortman said. "They had a bond right from the start, they were sitting up (on the bleachers) taking pictures and selfies and everything else with each other like they'd known each other forever. There was a lot of mutual respect, and I thought it carried over into the night. It was really neat.

"It's something that may not happen ever again in our lifetime; in 75 years, we've never done anything like this. It's a really neat experience and I wanted them to be able to enjoy it."

The Golden Tornadoes planned to head home at 6 a.m. Saturday. The Squires now prepare for more familiar competition as divisional play begins next week.