The banged-up, struggling St. James High School football Tigers were hosting the hottest team in the Four Rivers Conference Friday, Oct. 9.

That was not a good combination.

The Union Wildcats proved to have much too much firepower offensively as they whipped the Tigers 49-6 in FRC action at Tiger Field. It was St. James Senior Night.

It was the fifth consecutive loss for St. James, now 2-5 overall and 0-4 in the conference. By contrast, it was the fifth straight victory for Union, now 6-1 and 4-0.

The conference championship will be decided in the final two weeks of the regular season, as Union hosts Sullivan (4-1 in league play) this week and plays at St. Clair (5-0 in league play) Oct. 23.

Without several key players, including senior quarterback Owen Spurgeon, St. James hopes to get healthier on the field and in the win column this week as it attempts to end its losing skid by playing at winless Owensville (0-7, 0-4). Kickoff Friday is set for 7 p.m.

Despite the loss St. James stayed fourth in this week’s Class 3 District 5 standings. Mountain Grove tops the district standings with a 5-2 record and 41.33 points while Strafford is No. 2 at 4-3 with 31.95 points, Buffalo No. 3 at 3-4 with 27.82, St. James No. 4 at 2-5 with 27.38, Cuba No. 5 at 3-4 with 26.52, Salem No. 6 at 1-6 with 17.43 and Pleasant Hope No. 7 at 0-7 with 13:43.

Union came to St. James Friday averaging 38.5 points per game. That number only grew.

“They came in and had their plan,” St. James head coach Dusty Craft said of Union. “We knew they were big up front and physical. They tried to open it up a little early, and on defense we stood tall against the pass. We were in a spot playing some seniors on Senior Night who hadn’t played much, and they kind of took advantage of that early.

“I’d say right now they are probably the best team in the conference. They’ve got Sullivan this week and St. Clair next week. That will tell the tale.”

The depleted St. James attack was limited to just 75 yards of total offense. Meanwhile, Union rolled up 443 yards of total offense - 285 on the ground.

The Wildcats took the suspense out of things early on, scoring two touchdowns in the first period, and four more in the second to take a 42-0 halftime advantage. The turbo clock ran the rest of the way, and just two more scores resulted in the second half - one by each school in the fourth quarter.

Big plays powered Union, which scored touchdowns on a 30-yard pass, an 89-yard pass, a 44-yard run and a 32-yard run.

St. James’ score came on a seven-yard run by junior running back Patrick Lonning.

The box score:

Oct. 9 at St. James

Union 49, St. James 6

Team Statistics

First Downs: STJ 7, UHS 17

Yards Rushing: STJ 69, UHS 285

Yards Passing: STJ 6, UHS 158

Total Yards: STJ 75, UHS 443

Passing: STJ 1-4, UHS 5-8

Int. Thrown: STJ 0, UHS 0

Fumbles Lost: STJ 0, UHS 0

Penalties: STJ None, UHS 12-125

Punting: STJ 6-38.3, UHS 1-31.0

The score by periods:

Union        14   28   0   7-49

St. James     0     0   0   6- 6

The scoring plays:

Union: Flotte one-yard run, kick fails (11:11).

Union: McCormick four-yard run, Blankenship runs in conversion (2:41).

Union: Bragg 30-yard pass from Baldwin, Hurst kick (11:53).

Union: Flotte 89-yard pass from Baldwin, Hurst kick (9:47).

Union: Dawson five-yard run, Hurst kick (4:21).

Union: Blankenship 44-yard run, Hurst kick (1:45).

St. James: Lonning seven-yard run, kick fails (11:35).

Union: Adams 32-yard run, Hurst kick (1:21).

Individual Statistics

Rushing - St. James: Lonning 5 for 16, Engelbrecht 5 for 20, King 12 for 28, Nicholson 7 for 3, TEAM 1 for 2. Union: Dawson 10 for 69, Flotte 1 for 1, Baldwin 3 for 0, Blankenship 9 for 95, Webb 2 for 25, McCormick 2 for 8, Johnson 5 for 47, Adams 2 for 33, Hebert 1 for 7.

Passing - St. James: Engelbrecht 1-4-6-0. Union: Baldwin 5-8-158-0.

Receiving - St. James: Nicholson 1 for 6. Union: Flotte 2 for 112, Purschke 2 for 16, Bragg 1 for 30.

Tackles - St. James: Holt 1 (solo)-3 (assists), Gunter 1-4, Miller 0-1, Hudson 0-1, Carrell 0-2, Mathenia 0-2, Arnold 0-1, Ferguson 0-2, Gibson 0-2, Dildine 0-7, L. Jackson 0-1. Union: Ladymon 3-10, Adams 0-1, Ahner 1-1, B. Blankenship 2-1, D. Blankenship 1-0, Bragg 2-1, Cordia 0-4, Flotte 0-1, Freeze 1-2, Jaquin 1-0, Kissinger 1-0, McCormick 2-3, Miller 0-1, Webb 0-3.