Fighting Scots fall to Union Pines

CAMERON —The Fighting Scots football team suffered a tough 37-23 road loss at the hands of conference rival Union Pines on Friday night. It was Scotland’s first conference loss of the season as they fell to 3-4 overall (2-1 in conference games) while the Vikings improved to 5-1 (2-0 vs conference opponents) with the victory. Head Coach Richard Bailey wasn’t happy with numerous officiating controversies throughout the game but knows his team didn’t play good enough to beat a good Union Pines team.

“It’s just devastating, we didn’t play well and we weren’t prepared,” Bailey said. “The calls had nothing to do with us jumping offsides or missing tackles or missing blocks or not running where we were supposed to run or not seeing receivers open, pass protecting, all of those things we own and I own. Congratulations to Coach Till and their team, it was a well-deserved win, they’ve done some good things and those guys are believing.”

The start of the game was high scoring as Tyjurian White returned the opening kickoff to the Vikings 33-yard line before they continually pounded the rock with Corheim Hasty and White from there until White punched it in to give Scotland a 7-0 lead just over three minutes into the game. That lead would be short lived, however, as Union Pines immediately marched down the field on their opening drive, eventually finding the endzone on a 33-yard touchdown pass from Anthony Goswick to Hayne Tobias (a successful two-point conversion on a run by Ian Hicks gave them an 8-7 lead).

The Scots’ next possession at the start of the second quarter was notable for a huge completion from Ji’San McPhatter to Quatavius Everette, which immediately set them up deep in Union Pines territory at the 25-yard line. White then continued his strong running by getting the Scots all the way down to the 1-yard line before they punched it in to retake the lead (a failed two-point conversion resulted in a 13-8 score). The Vikings were far from done, driving the length of the field again on the strength of a big completion to Tobias and multiple offsides penalties on Scotland. A 24-yard touchdown run by Caleb Milton and successful two-point try put Union Pines in front 16-13. After a Scotland punt, Union Pines would add to their lead before halftime thanks to a fourth down conversion by penalty and a 13-yard receiving touchdown by Tobias (23-13 was the score at the break).

The Scots would immediately turn the game around coming out of halftime. They managed to recover two onside kicks in a row, which turned into 10 unanswered points that knotted the game at 23 just over five minutes into the half. McPhatter scored the touchdown on a five-yard run and Cameron Cole connected on a 37-yard field goal. Both teams had to punt on their next offensive possession, which turned out to be really bad news for the Scots when their punt got blocked deep in their own territory and resulted in a touchdown recovery for Harley Moyer. This gave the Vikings a 30-23 advantage after three quarters of action.

That would be the real turning point in the game as the fourth quarter ended up being more of a formality than anything else. Scotland did get the ball back with a chance to tie it thanks to the defense sacking Goswick twice on the same series but they ended up fumbling on their next drive and Union Pines then added to their lead on a 13-yard touchdown pass to Tobias, his third of the night with just under six minutes left in the game. The Scots eventually turned the ball over on downs and the Vikings ran the clock out when they got the ball back.

Scotland will have a bye week next week before getting back at it with a road matchup against Pinecrest on Oct. 18. The Patriots are currently 5-1 (1-1 in conference games) with a game at Lee County next Friday before they battle the Scots. With a little bit more time before their next game, Bailey will take a hard look at everything to see what went wrong in such an important game so that they are better prepared going forward.

“We’re going to evaluate and look at film to see what we could’ve done better,” Bailey said. “It’s going to start with me and what I can do to make us a better football team. Our fans are rightfully disappointed right now, it’s not acceptable.”