🏈 THE FRIDAY NIGHT HOLLER REPORT 🏈

With Special Guest Reporter Ric “The Nature Boy” Flair

EVEN THE NATURE BOY LOST A MATCH OR TWO

Graham 14, Union 12 — But Nobody at Bullitt Park Is Handing Over the Championship Belt Just Yet

BIG STONE GAP, VA — WOOOOOOOO!

All right, Bear Nation. The Nature Boy has something to say, and for once I ain't strutting out of Bullitt Park bragging about a Union victory.

Graham came to Big Stone Gap Friday night and beat the Bears 14-12 in the kind of football game that would've fit nicely inside a steel cage. It was physical, close, occasionally ugly and still undecided with less than three minutes remaining.

Graham earned it. Give the G-Men credit. But before anybody starts writing Union's obituary after one two-point loss, the Nature Boy would like to remind everybody of something.

Ric Flair lost matches, too.

Harley Race beat me. Dusty Rhodes beat me. Sting beat me. Ricky Steamboat beat me. Sometimes the Nature Boy even walked out of the building without the championship belt.

But you know what happened next?

There was always another night. Another Starrcade.

Another WrestleMania. Another chance to walk that aisle.

And Union's got a whole lot of football left to play.

🐻 THE BEARS DIDN'T GET BEAT UP. THEY BEAT THEMSELVES UP.

Let's start with the number that'll have Coach Jamie Harless waking up in the middle of the night for a while.

Six fumbles. Four lost. Three of those lost fumbles came inside the Graham 20-yard line.

WOOOO, and not the good kind.

Union still generated more than 360 yards of offense. The Bears moved the football, threw it, ran it and spent plenty of Friday night on Graham's end of the field.

They just couldn't hang onto the dadgum thing.

“Four lost fumbles? THREE inside the 20? That's like the Nature Boy climbing to the top rope, getting ready to drop the elbow, and then tripping over his own robe! WOOOO!”

Harless didn't blame his players afterward.

“Our kids played their hearts out,” he said, noting Union gained more yardage than Class 3 Heritage had against Graham the week before.

Then he put the final score on himself.

“The final score tonight is on me. I need to do a better job of preparation.”

That's the kind of answer you'd expect from a coach trying to build something bigger than one September football game.

🎤 ABE HALL WAS STYLING AND PROFILING

If there was any question whether senior quarterback Abe Hall could handle the Union offense, three games into the season we can probably quit asking.

Hall completed 14 of 20 passes for 240 yards, rushed for another 65 yards on 26 carries, threw a touchdown and ran for another.

That's 305 yards of offense from the Union quarterback against a Graham defense that wasn't giving away much of anything.

“Abe Hall, you're six-foot-three, you're throwing for 240, running for another 65, and you're standing in Bullitt Park going toe-to-toe with Graham! Son, that's what the Nature Boy calls STYLING AND PROFILING! WOOOO!”

Hall led Union 84 yards in 12 plays on the Bears' opening possession, finishing the drive himself with a three-yard touchdown run.

Union led 6-0. Bullitt Park was rocking.

The Nature Boy was already reaching for the championship robe.

Then came the first big mistake.

💰 GRAHAM CASHES IN

Graham recovered a Union fumble at the Bears' 13-yard line late in the first quarter. Two plays later, quarterback Garrett Palmer found Cambel Fix for an 11-yard touchdown.

The extra point gave Graham a 7-6 lead.

And that's pretty much where things stayed for a long while.

Union's defense fought. Graham's defense fought.

The offenses scratched for whatever they could find.

This wasn't one of those games where somebody scores 50 and everybody goes home talking about the fireworks. This was old-fashioned Southwest Virginia football where every yard felt like somebody ought to send you a bill for it afterward.

“This wasn't wrestling on Monday night, baby. This was a 60-minute cage match! Somebody better check under that field because I'm pretty sure they buried a steel chair around the 50-yard line! WOOOO!”

🐻 UNION WAS MISSING A PRETTY BIG CLAW

The Bears were also playing without junior speedster Elijah Lomax, Union's leading rusher, because of injury.

Harless wouldn't use it as an excuse, and neither will the Nature Boy. Because champions don't get to choose who's healthy when the bell rings.

Sophomore Jai’erre Hamler stepped in and contributed 42 rushing yards, while senior receiver Rayvon Jones caught seven passes for 84 yards.

Union kept finding ways to move the football.

Harless reminded everybody afterward that the Bears are only three weeks into learning a new offense and defense.

“We’re just three weeks into having a new offense and defense, and I can’t wait until the weather gets nice and cold.”

Now THAT caught the Nature Boy's attention.

Cold weather? Playoff weather?

Football in Big Stone Gap when you can see your breath and everybody in Bullitt Park has three layers of clothes on?

“Coach Harless, you start talking about cold weather and the Nature Boy starts thinking CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON! WOOOO!”

💥 KAIDEN KEITH BLOWS THE ROOF OFF BULLITT PARK

Early in the fourth quarter, Union finally landed the big shot.

Hall dropped back and connected with junior Kaiden Keith for a long touchdown strike, putting the Bears ahead 12-7.

Bullitt Park came alive.

The Bears had taken the lead. Graham was on the ropes.

And somewhere along the Union sideline, the Nature Boy was strutting.

“FORTY-PLUS YARDS! Hall to Keith! TOUCHDOWN UNION! Now we're walking that aisle! WOOOO! Graham, you're looking at the Rolex-wearing, diamond-ring-wearing, kiss-stealing, wheelin'-dealin' UNION BEARS!”

But Graham wasn't finished. And here's where you've got to tip your hat to the G-Men.

🏆 GARRETT PALMER DELIVERS A CHAMPIONSHIP DRIVE

Graham quarterback Garrett Palmer wasn't healthy.

The 6-foot-2 sophomore had sprained the MCL in his knee on the first play of the previous week's game against Heritage-Lynchburg. He'd also been dealing with a pulled muscle in his back and hadn't practiced all week.

Palmer estimated himself at about 80 percent.

With Graham trailing 12-7 and 9:06 remaining, that 80 percent had to be enough.

Palmer began taking direct snaps and attacking the middle of Union's defense. Graham put together a nine-play, 57-yard drive, eating away at the clock while Palmer kept asking his coaches for the football.

With 2:37 remaining, he found Jeremiah Quick for a four-yard touchdown pass.

Graham led 14-12.

That's a football player making a play when his team needed one.

The Nature Boy may be wearing Union colors in this report, but game recognizes game.

“Garrett Palmer, the Nature Boy sees you! Bad knee, bad back, fourth quarter, Bullitt Park rocking, and you still took your team down the field. That's guts, young man. WOOOO!”

🛡️ THIS ONE WAS A FIGHT FROM START TO FINISH

Graham's defense deserves its share of the credit, particularly senior linebacker Jysir Williamson, who helped anchor a unit that kept surviving Union trips into scoring territory.

Graham coach Tony Palmer knew exactly what kind of game his team had walked into.

“We knew this was going to be a fight.”

Of course it was. These two programs know each other.

Union beat Graham twice last season, including a 12-0 victory in the Region 2D semifinals. Graham didn't forget that, and Friday night the G-Men came into Bullitt Park and earned one back.

That's football. That's rivalry.

And that's why you play the games instead of deciding them on paper.

🥇 THE NATURE BOY ISN'T THROWING AWAY THE BELT

Union is 2-1.

The Bears outscored their first two opponents 84-0, then lost their third game by two points to Graham despite turning the football over four times and playing without their leading rusher.

Read that again.

Four lost fumbles.

Three inside the Graham 20. Leading rusher out. And Union still had the lead in the fourth quarter.

If you're a Union fan, you're sick about losing this one. You ought to be. Nobody celebrates a loss at Bullitt Park.

But there's a difference between getting whipped and losing a football game.

Union lost a football game.

And the Nature Boy knows a little something about that.

I didn't win every match. I didn't hold the belt every night.

Sometimes somebody knocked me down, pinned my shoulders and walked out of the building smiling.

But championships aren't decided by whether you ever get knocked down.

They're decided by what you do when you stand back up.

Harless said it himself.

“I’m never going to make excuses. We’re going to get better.”

Now you're talking Nature Boy language.

Clean up the fumbles. Get healthy. Keep developing the offense. Keep playing defense. Keep working until those warm September nights turn into those cold November nights Harless is already thinking about.

Because if these two teams find themselves staring across the field at each other again when the playoffs roll around, Friday night's score won't mean much.

It'll be a new night. A new main event. Maybe even a little Southwest Virginia Starrcade.

And if you're going to knock the Nature Boy down, you'd better understand something.

YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED HIM.

You just made him mad.

“UNION BEARS! Pick yourselves up, dust off that championship robe and get back to work! Because whether you like it or you don't like it, learn to love it! The Nature Boy says the Bears are still walking that aisle, still styling and profiling, and still looking for that championship gold!”

“TO BE THE MAN, YOU GOTTA BEAT THE MAN!”

Graham did it Friday night.

Maybe we'll see 'em again.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

FINAL: GRAHAM 14, UNION 12

🏈 Friday Night Holler Football Reports
Big hits. Big plays. Small-town football. And when you get knocked down, you straighten the robe and get ready for the next main event.