Union suffered a painful loss on Friday night at McKenzie Stadium.
And then the Camas Papermakers beat the Titans, 37-20.
The loss came at the end of first half when quarterback Nolan Henry was slammed to the turf and suffered concussion-like symptoms that led to a 20-minute delay as trainers and emergency crews attended to the Union senior.
Coach Gary McGarvie said the initial reports were good for Henry, who was taken off the field on a stretcher and transported to the hospital via ambulance.
“I guess he’s going to be OK,” McGarvie said. “CAT scans came back negative, so everything’s great. I guess his dad was more upset that they had to tear up his jersey. That’s typical of that family. They’re pretty neat people.”
As he was taken off the field, Henry waved to the crowd as fans on both sides of McKenzie Stadium — Camas and Union fans alike — chanted his name.
Henry was 1-for-5 passing for 42 yards when he left the game with Titans trailing 23-14.
With backup quarterback, junior Jordan Lawson, in the game, the Titans didn’t quit.
After Camas extended its lead 30-14 in the third quarter, Union closed within 30-20 on Caleb Browning’s 1-yard TD run early in the fourth. Browning finished with 90 yards on 21 carries.
A two-point conversion that would have turn the game into a one-possession game failed, and then the Camas offense kept coming up with big plays to seal the victory.
“Offensively we’ve got too conservative,” McGarvie said. “We needed to keep their offense off the field and be more productive offensively. That’s something I’ve got to do a better job of, got to call better plays.”
McGarvie was pleased with how Lawson responded after stepping in for Henry. Lawson, who was 3-for-8 passing for 18 yards and rushed for 18 yards, is expected to get the start next Friday against Battle Ground.
“I thought he was great,” McGarvie said. “He’s going to be great.”
After a tough loss, McGarvie was ready to turn the page and move on to securing a playoff berth.
“It’s Game 7,” he said. “And even though it means a lot everyone else, at the end of the day, it’s Game 7. And we’re going to play Game 8 next Friday. And that’s what we told our kids.
“Our goal has been and always will be to get to the playoffs and see what happens. I think we’ve got a pretty good football team. We’ve just got to clean up some stuff.”
