Tulsa Union makes resounding statement with 53-21 win at Mustang
By Michael Kinney
MUSTANG - It was supposed to be an epic battle of East vs West.
Mustang and Tulsa Union came into Thursday night as the top two teams in not only District 6AI-2, but also two of the best in the state.
But when the night was over, Union showed there was still a wide gap between the two programs after the Redhawks rolled to a 53-21 victory at Bronco Stadium.
“I want to give props to my coaches,” Union’s Devon Jordan said. “Monday and Tuesdays, those are the hardest practices and they have just been pushing us. If practice is hard, it’s going to make the game easy.”
As they were leaving the field and heading to the buses after the game, the Redhawks wanted to leave the Broncos with a simple one-word message as they left the field. One word that summed up exactly how Union feels about its district rival.
“We say Eastbay because you know we have got the real Jordan jerseys and they got theirs from Eastbay,” Jordan said. “We are the real deal.”
The Broncos' vaunted offense was shut down for most of the first half. While they were able to get their running game going at times, penalties negated several big plays and put them in a position where they had to throw.
The Redhawks did a solid job of making sure Jacobe Johnson was unable to get his hands on the ball down the field. Each of the passes the Oklahoma commit caught in the first half were simple outs.
Conversely, the Redhawks relied on their running game to move the ball downfield.
Deon McKinney picked up where he left off from the week before when he ran all over the Norman Tigers. This time, he didn’t wait until the second half to get going.
McKinney scored twice in the first half to help stake Union to a 21-7 halftime advantage.
“Shout out to (assistant) coach (Dub) Maddox,” McKinney said. “He has a good offensive scheme. It’s nice.”
The onslaught continued in the second half when quarterback Shaker Reisig threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Jino Boyd to start the third quarter. Union then got the ball back and McKinney scored on a 1-yard plunge to give the Redhawks a 36-7 advantage with 5:37 left in the quarter.
Mustang finally got its offense going late in the third when they jumped on the back of Pruce Burgess. The senior carried the rock six straight times and got the ball down to the Redhawks' 1-yard line.
Jay Bedbord finished it off with his second touchdown run and closed the gap to 36-14.
However, Union quickly extinguished Mustang’s spark on the ensuing kickoff when Jordan returned it 70 yards for the score.
“I feel like we played excellent,” Jordan said. “We played so good.”
The Broncos added one more score when Tristen Russell hit Chad Beard for a late touchdown. But the game was well in hand by then.
The Redhawks racked up 516 total yards. That includes 228 yards on 28 rushing attempts.
McKinney led the charge with 177 yards and four scores. That makes eight touchdowns in two weeks for the senior.
“We came out on another Thursday and did better than the last Thursday,” McKinney said. “But it’s Friday night lights for me.”
Reisig completed 17-of-24 passes for 288 yards and two touchdowns and zero turnovers.
Union held Mustang to 106 passing yards. Johnson was held to four catches for 46 yards, his second-lowest output of the season.
The Redhawks (7-0) will host Edmond Santa Fe next week while Mustang (5-2) travels to Norman.
