They honored the seniors at Red Bank's Community Stadium on Thursday night prior to the kickoff with visiting Tyner, but most of the celebration was over for the Lions by the time the game started.

The Rams were methodical on offense and they got down-right aggressive on defense as they improved to 7-3 overall with the 30-14 victory.

Tyner had great success running the football from the opening whistle as they finished with 299 yards on 49 attempts, an average of right at six yards per carry.

  The Rams also had 116 yards through the air as they scored  at least one touchdown in each quarter, but it was the Tyner defense in the second half that may have been the biggest difference in the game.

Red Bank got on the board on the final play of the first half when Hagen Wilkey hooked up with Chris Tucker on a 29-yard TD strike as the halftime horn sounded as Tyner enjoyed a 14-7 lead at the break.

Wilkey found Tucker for another scoring strike covering 30 yards late in the third quarter, but that was about all the Lions had to offer as the Tyner defense limited the Lions to just 51 yards through the air and a minus 19 on the ground.

"We showed a lot of character in the second half as we didn't make nearly as many mistakes," Tyner coach Wayne Turner told his team following the final regular-season game for both teams.

"We finished with a bang and I think we have a little momentum going into the playoffs," the veteran coach continued.

"When we don't beat ourselves, we're a pretty hard team to beat and tonight we didn't turn it over like we have been.  We sort of let them hang around in the first half, but overall, I was really proud of our effort.

"My hat's off to our offensive line as they all did a great job," Turner said, praising the effort of big guys David Powell, Donte Kirk and Arthur Coefield who continuously opened huge holes for the Rams to run through.

Red Bank coach E.K. Slaughter certainly didn't offer any excuses for what was probably the Lions final game of the year, ending with a 4-6 record.

"We just got beat," he said while hugging his young daughter.

"Coach Turner does a great job with his kids and is probably the most underrated coach around here.  He's won a ton of games because he's a great coach, but they're fast and physical and we had a hard time running against them.

"We were fortunate to get that touchdown at the end of the half, but we made a lot of mistakes.  Hagen (Wilkey) had a hard time getting his rhythm, but give a lot of credit to Tyner because they played really well," Slaughter concluded.

Tyner got on the board on its first possession when Joseph Sturkey zipped 35 yards off left tackle with 5:40 showing in the first quarter.  The drive covered 73 yards in eight plays and took about four minutes.  Kevin Cortes booted the first of four straight extra points and Tyner was off and running literally.

Willie Stewart hooked up with Haasan Miller on a 49-yard scoring play for Tyner's second TD with 33 seconds left in the half, but Red Bank came right back to score on the last play of the half.

Frunsez Kendricks returned the kickoff from the 27 to the 39 where Red Bank took over with just over 28 seconds remaining before the break.

Wilkey had two incompletions before connecting with Quan Springs for a 32-yard gain down to the Tyner 29 with 4.5 seconds remaining.  Then on the final play, Wilkey found Chris Tucker for the other 29 as he scored while the horn was sounding.

Jarrett Watson and Stewart added second-half touchdowns for Tyner while the other two points came on a safety when Wilkey was sacked in the end zone by William Montgomery.

It was Wilkey's final game in a Red Bank football uniform and it wasn't a very memorable experience.

He finished with 179 passing yards, but that total probably could have been doubled had at least nine other well-thrown balls been caught instead of dropped.  The slender senior took a beating in the second half when he was scrambling for his life as he was sacked six times for 39 total yard lost.

Tyner finished with 415 total yards, which included those 299 yards on the ground.

Sturkey finished with 139 yards on 14 carries after gaining 99 yards in the first half.  Kalan Hardley added 60 yards on nine trips while Lamonte Solomon finished with 45 yards on seven attempts.

Rodney Watson had two catches for 25 yards while Jarrett Watson had one for 40 and Miller another for the 49-yard TD.

Red Bank finished with 181 total yards with all but two coming through the air.

Tucker was the leading receiver for the Lions with four catches for 80 yards, including the two scores covering 29 and 30 yards.

Micheal Robinson had three grabs for 42 yards.

Tyner also won the battle of first downs, 14-10, as the Lions were limited to just three in the second half.

TYNER   7   7  7  9 -- 30

RED BANK  0  7  7  0 -- 14

TY -- Joseph Sturkey 35 run (Kevin Cortes kick), 5:40 left in first;

TY -- Haasan Miller 49 pass from Willie Stewart (Cortes kick), 0:33.9 left in second;

RB -- Chris Tucker 29 pass from Hagen Wilkey (Christian Velazquez kick), 0:00 left in second;

TY -- Jarrett Watson 40 pass from Tony Walton (Cortes kick), 9:22 left in third;

RB -- Tucker 30 pass from Wilkey (Velazquez kick), 3:06 left in third;

TY -- Safety when Wilkey sacked in end zone by William Montgomery, 9:26 left in fourth;

TY -- Stewart 2 run (Cortes kick), 4:16 left in fourth.

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@comcast.net)