It was a cold night on the football field, and a cold game for the East Jackson Eagles as they closed out their season with a 35-6 loss to Union County.
Both teams took to the field at Eagle Stadium hoping to end their season on a high note. The Panthers had seen a two-game streak ended by Fannin County the week before, while the Eagles were trying to end a four-game skid.
East Jackson would have to do that with coach Frank Caputo and seven players in absentia. They were reportedly suspended from Friday night’s game because of an incident of vandalism the week before at Jefferson.
Neither team could find traction for most of the first quarter, but the Panthers finally took a 7-0 lead with 36 seconds left.
Just ten seconds into the second quarter, East Jackson lost the ball on a fumble, giving Union possession deep in Eagle territory.
The Panthers capitalized on the opportunity just 20 seconds later, scoring their second touchdown of the night with 11:28 left in the half, making it a 14-0 lead, which was where the score remained at the half.
The Eagles gave up another score early in the third quarter when Union County recovered an Eagle fumble and ran it back for the TD, making it a 21-0 game.
East Jackson finally got on the board with just under eight minutes left in the quarter, as C.J. Allen pushed his way through the Union defense to score. The extra point attempt was blocked, however, making it 21-6.
The Eagle surge was short-lived, however, as the Panthers scored their fourth touchdown of the night with five minutes left in the quarter to make it 28-6.
Union County scored against with just over ten and a half minutes left to play on a 40-yard touchdown pass to make it 35-6.
Individual statistics were unavailable at press time.
For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Commerce News or The Jackson Herald.
