BY RICK REED News-Gazette Sports Editor It's true for any team sport. Ultimate success depends on talent, experience, coaching and a little bit of luck. Union City's football team had two of the four this season. They lacked in experience and certainly were not smiled upon by Lady Luck. The Indians definitely have some rising talent, and as far as coaching, while we all are guilty of Monday morning quarterbacking, Keith Maloy and his staff have been around for a long time and they have consistently gotten the most of out the players as possible. To be able to maintain such good numbers at such as small school cannot be over-stated. The 2022 football season ended with a thud Friday night at Class A No. 6 Sheridan as the Indians were beaten soundly by the Bulldogs, 60-0. It wasn't entirely unexpected. "They are legit," Maloy noted of the Bulldogs, who improved to 9-1. "They are right up there with the Tri and Northeastern and North Decatur. "I think they could go far in the tournament. While the Indians ended with 36 players on the roster, the vast majority were underclassmen. Freshman and sophomores playing against juniors and seniors very seldom results in victory. But the good thing about having a lot of youth is they will continue to develop and get better. To add to the vast amount of youth, Union City's schedule this season was quite formidable. The Indians played three top 10 teams (Sheridan, Northeastern and Tri). They also faced Centerville, a 3A team, as well as a couple of good Randolph County foes in Monroe Central and Winchester. "Against Winchester, we started two freshmen both ways. I've never started one freshman, one way," Maloy said. A devastating injury to the team's good, young freshman quarterback Jayson Connor in the first game of the season meant the Indians had to essentially start over in game two. They summoned junior Chad Spence into the role, but found out that they missed Spence too much as an offensive weapon. They switched to Jude Connor, but when an injury forced him to the sideline, they had to go back to Spence. Maloy and his staff were forced to patch, modify and rethink the game plan most all season, and do it with 14 and 15-year-olds. "We've been here before," Maloy said. "I'm confident we will get it back where it needs to be."