The most historic football season in Union Co. High history came to an end Friday night as the Panthers fell in the second round of the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) Class AA state playoffs.

The Panthers (10-2) lost 14-7 on the road at Metter, the No. 1 seed out of Region 2-AA.

Senior wideout Sawyer Drake goes up for a catch against Metter. Drake had a team high in catches in the loss.

And while the end result was disappointing, the 2019 season has been nothing short of historic for the program.

For the first time since the school began playing football in 1957, the Panthers won a GHSA state playoff game when they took down visiting South Atlanta 19-15 on Nov. 15 in Blairsville.

The win was one Union Co. had waited a long time for, especially head coach Brian Allison.

Allison played four years for the Panthers, and has been their head coach for 17 seasons so far.

Not once in those first 20 seasons did Allison experience a playoff win with the Panthers.

Junior Jonah Daniel carries the ball against Metter. Daniel scored the lone Union Co. touchdown Friday night.

The historic game against South Atlanta changed all that.

As to the game Friday night at Metter, which lies nearly an hour West of Savannah, the Panthers played hard-nosed, stubborn, defensive football all night, giving the Tiger’s triple-option running attack all that it could handle.

The defense was led, as it has been all season, by a pair of seniors. Defensive back John Mancuso and middle linebacker Sloan Sutton set the tone for the Panthers defense all night. Juniors Kaston Hemphill and Clayton Lester also played well, making tackles everywhere and helping slow down the Tigers’ attack.

Senior linebacker Sloan Sutton brings down Metter’s Aaron Collins on Friday night.

As a unit, the defense forced two punts and a turnover-on-downs, while giving up two scores to account for all five meaningful Metter drives on the night.

But on offense, Union Co. just couldn’t get the passing game going against a fast, athletic Metter defense that had three takeaways, one of them to seal the game as the Panthers were driving to tie things up.

Trailing 14-0 midway through the fourth quarter, the Panthers put together their best drive of the night after the defense stopped the Tigers on fourth down.

With first-and-10 from their own 17 and 5:41 left to go in the game, the offense finally started clicking.

Completions to seniors Kyle Morlock and Sawyer Drake, a huge third-down catch from junior Mason McCombs, and a big run by junior Jonah Daniel all led to a first-and-10 from the Metter 12-yard line.

Daniel did what he did all season, taking the handoff and finding his way into the end zone to give Union Co. their first score of the night and close the game to 14-7.

After a failed onside-kick attempt, the defense forced the second Metter punt of the night. The kick was perfect and pinned the Panthers’ offense on its own 5-yard line with less than 3 minutes remaining.

After three unsuccessful passes, Union Co. faced fourth-and-10 from their own 5-yard line with less than two minutes to go and no timeouts.

Senior quarterback Pierson Allison attempted to hit fellow senior Kyle Morlock with a pass, but the ball fell incomplete.

But a defensive pass interference call gave the Panthers new life and a first down on their own 21-yard line.

Three plays later, Union Co. had fourth-and-two from the 29 with 1:20 to go. A catch by senior Cayden Rich kept the drive, and the Panthers’ season, alive for at least a few more seconds. The play resulted in a first down at the Union Co. 33 with less than a minute to go.

But it wasn’t to be for the Panthers. Two plays later Allison threw the last of his three interceptions to effectively end the game.

With the loss, Union Co.’s historic season is at an end.