Notre Dame Beats Tyner In Weather-Delayed Game, 25-7

Back-Up QBs Brock, Brown Show Promise After Allen Breaks Leg

  • Saturday, August 27, 2016
  • John Hunt

The Tyner-Notre Dame football game finally ended early Saturday morning.

After enduring a so-called weather delay that sent the two teams to their dressing rooms for almost two and a half hours, the home-standing Irish improved to 2-0 with the 25-7 non-district win at Notre Dame.

Sophomore kicker Andy McMeen squibbed a line-drive kick 35 yards for a field goal with 2:10 left in the third quarter as the Notre Dame lead stretched to 17-7, but apparently one of the referees spotted lightning in the distance and the game was delayed.

Despite being able to see lightning in the distance but never actually hearing thunder, the game finally resumed shortly before midnight.

By the time Notre Dame added one more touchdown and a safety, the game finally ended at 12:37 a.m.

While wins in football games are always nice, this victory for the Fighting Irish came with a hefty price as starting quarterback Landon Allen suffered a broken leg on the first play of Notre Dame’s second possession.

The sophomore Allen, who entered last week’s game at Central to replace starter T.J. McGhee who suffered a concussion with his team trailing by 13, appeared to be the man for the job until his season-ending injury.  He was scheduled to have surgery to repair the break Saturday.

Parker Brock and Dallas Brown, next in line as the Irish signal callers, shared playing  time after Allen’s injury and both played pretty well.

Brown, a spunky freshman, was actually Notre Dame’s leading rusher as he picked up 104 yards on nine carries as his team finished with 229 yards on the ground.

Brock never ran the ball, but southpaw sophomore completed three passes for 81 yards and showed he can make things happen on offense as well.

Notre Dame finished the game with 361 total yards, but the Irish were also flagged 16 times for 130 yards in penalties. 

While Notre Dame’s offense was doing pretty well under makeshift conditions, the Irish defense was more impressive as they limited the Rams to just 113 total yards, including 78 on the ground and 35 through the air.

Notre Dame coach Charles Fant, who was livid in the fourth quarter following another personal foul penalty, was just glad to finally get it completed.

“Any time you play a game with a delay like we had, it’s tough for everyone.  We had a great drive to start the game, but Tyner always plays hard and they battle for 48 minutes.  We knew we’d be in a dogfight with them,” Fant said after a closed-door talk with his team.

“Our defense was lights out all night, but we weren’t as smooth on offense.  But I’m really proud of the way our kids stepped up.  Parker Brock has no fear and he doesn’t let a bad play change his approach on the next one. 

“And I thought Dallas Brown did a great job too, but both of those guys were doing things tonight that we hadn’t practiced,” Fant added.

Tyner coach Wayne Turner was somewhat optimistic after his team’s first game, but he knows there’s still a lot of work to be done.

“We’ve got to get headed in the right direction, but we still have time to do that,” he told his team once the game ended as a steady rain pelted Jim Eberle Field.

“We made an awful lot of mistakes, but I just hope we learn from them.  I thought we played pretty good defense in the first half, although mistakes cost us early.

“Notre Dame has a good team and they did a good job running the ball as they took charge in the second half.  But I thought we played pretty well up until the delay,” he added.

Notre Dame scored on its first possession after the Irish defense stopped Tyner on fourth-and-1 from the Irish 31.

Akil Sledge picked up 15 yards on two carries before Allen hooked up with Calvin Sims on a beautiful route down the left side that covered 51 yards.  Sledge gained nothing on the next play before scoring from the 3 for the first TD of the game.

McMeen’s kick gave the hosts a 7-0 lead with 8:52 left in the first quarter.

Andrew Banks scored Notre Dame’s second touchdown less than two minutes later when a Tyner lateral was mishandled and he alertly scooped it up and raced about 15 yards for the TD.

Devon Waight put Tyner on the board when he scored from the 2 with 5:42 left in the first half.  Luke Qualey booted the extra point to cut the lead in half and 14-7 was the score at intermission.

McMeen’s field goal made it 17-7 before the long delay while the Irish added a safety and one more touchdown after the break.

D’arius Albert was the leading rusher for Tyner with 45 yards on eight carries as the Rams finished with 78 yards on the ground.  Ke’un Webb was the leading receiver with 25 yards on two catches.

While Brown had 104 yards to lead the Notre Dame ground attack, Sledge finished with 78 yards on 15 carries. 

Sims was the leading receiver with the one catch covering 51 yards while Justyn Baker had two catches for 49 yards, including a long of 36 in the final minute of the first half.

Cameron Wynn had the other reception for the Irish that accounted for 32 yards.

Notre Dame will play at Chattanooga Christian next week while Tyner travels to Benton to face Polk County.

TYNER  0  7  0  0  --  7

NOTRE DAME  14  0  3  8  --  25

ND – Akil Sledge 3 run (Andy McMeen kick), 8:52 left in first;

ND – Andrew Banks 15 fumble return (McMeen kick), 7:08 left in first;

TY – Devon Waight 2 run (Luke Qualey kick), 5:42 left in second;

ND – McMeen 35 field goal, 2:10 left in third;

ND – safely when D’arius Albert tackled in end zone, 10:32 left in fourth;

ND – Dallas Brown 10 run (run failed), 7:45 left in fourth.

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)

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