For the past 686 days, the Tyner Ram football team has hopped on a bus and traveled to a destination other than a football field it calls home as it anxiously awaits a new school currently being erected. Friday night was the Rams 20th straight bus trip away from home since it won a state semifinal game on home turf in November 2022.
But the one thing these road warriors have embraced with the 2024 campaign is adversity such as theirs is something which only begets making them better. So when Tyner found itself outplayed early and down late in last night's key region 3-3A battle with McMinn Central, it was but another chapter in the obstacles needed to build success.
Tyner rallied late with quarterback Tyler Anderson providing the magic, taking its first and only lead with 1:20 left in the game, and when senior Chazz Craig intercepted a McMinn Central pass at midfield with 33 seconds left the Rams hopped on a bus back home with a 29-23 victory.
"We just kept fighting. It's what we've done a lot, and when you keep fighting good things happen. We know our way around adversity so when it happens, it really doesn't bother these kids anymore, and in life that sort of attitude and character will take you a long way," said Tyner coach Christian Manor.
The win marks four straight for the Rams now who seem to have found solid footing, as it marked the sixth game this season decided by a touchdown or less, four of which Tyner has now won.
"We knew this would be a dogfight, but we've been to a few of them already. Once we got the ball back late with a chance, I never had any doubt what we were going to do with that chance," said Anderson, who threw three TD passes and rushed for another in accounting for 260 of the Rams 336 total yards.
The Chargers, known for their aerial prowess, came out with the field spread and ran the ball hard at the Rams which is no small feat. On their opening drive, they ran it 11 times for 56 yards before missing a field goal, but were gifted a TD on their next possession. After having two punt breakdowns last week and having its first one blocked last night, Tyner opted to forgo punting, even on a fourth down inside its own 20 that was stuffed.
The Chargers went 12 plays in five straight run with Dylon Carroll bashing it home from the 3 for an early 7-0 lead. Tyner answered with its one effective drive of the first half, after freshman Dion Edwards gave them a short field with a 37-yard kick return. Anderson converted a fourth down with a 21-yard toss to Zion Dujon and kept for a 25-yard score on the next play to knot it at 7-all.
McMinn Central countered with a 65-yard drive, converting twice on fourth down plays before Ayden Plemons found Jake Goodin on an 18-yard score. The ensuing kickoff was squibbed all the way down to the Tyner 5 and a botched handoff on a reverse wound up in the end zone and Tyner was able to fall on it to limit the damage to a safety and 16-7 halftime lead.
"I told them at halftime we hadn't played well in the first half, but Coach (Kerry) Jackson made some nice adjustments. We gave a lot of points to them last year, but we worked hard in the weight room and the kids are very coachable. And they believe," Manor added.
The Rams gave up 40-plus points in four games last year and wound up allowing the most points ever allowed by a Tyner defense in a year, but this year's crew has been stellar against a difficult schedule.
Tyner allowed just 34 rushing yards in the second half and 58 passing yards, forcing two punts and getting a stop on downs late to set up the final drive. Anderson got the Rams within 16-14 with a beautiful toss to Azarion Collins covering 16 yards and Tyner was in business.
McMinn Central did not back down, though, driving it to the Tyner 5 before sending the field goal unit on. After calling time out, however, the Chargers rushed out with their offense in a no huddle hurry-up play, and were able to surprise the Rams with Plemons hitting a wide open Goodin for the score. Tyner coaches desperately tried to get a time out before the play, but the sideline official didn't hear it, and the play stood, giving the Chargers a 23-14 lead with 9:25 remaining.
"He said he didn't hear us, so it was just something else we couldn't control," Manor said of the timeout not granted.
With the Rams needing two scores now, they got right back to it with freshman De'Aeron McNealy churning up big plays. His 21-yard run was followed by a pass to Edwards for another nine before gun shots could be heard from the parking lot, and both sides took cover for safety. After about a 20-minute delay as local police gained control of the situation outside, Tyner seemed to be fully rejuvenated. Anderson hit Edwards on the first play out of the delay for a 40-yard TD to pull it within 23-21, but this time the Rams held McMinn Central when a fourth down pass fell incomplete at the Rams' 29 with 4:12 remaining.
"It was an unfortunate incident and we're prayerful everyone was safe out there, but the break gave us a chance to collect ourselves for the stretch run. I could tell they were pretty confident coming back out on the field, and TA (Tyler Anderson) makes us look really good sometimes," Manor added.
Anderson completed all three of his passes in the 71-yard drive and McNealy rushed for 28 yards on four totes. After getting it to the 23 with the last of those rushes, Anderson faked a handoff to him, stepped to the outside and as he was falling down flipped a pass to Nashawn Keel, who outran everyone to get the corner pylon for the score and Tyner's first lead.
"He's a playmaker, man. When we got the ball in that last drive he looked at me and said get it to me," Anderson said.
Added Keel: "I did. I told him I got you. Just get it to me. He did a great job getting it there as he was falling and my teammates were awesome."
The Chargers got it back with 1:20 left but Craig's interception, the third of the night for the Rams secondary, started the celebration.
Anderson wound up 12 of 20 for 178 yards and rushed for another 82. McNealy added 87 yards on 12 carries. Defensively, Martez Mitchell, Edwards and Craig had picks and defensive tackle Monteast Moore was very disruptive.
The Chargers got 103 rushing yards from Dylan Carroll on 30 carries and Plemons had 117 passing yards on 14 completions. Goodin hauled in 10 of them for 96 yards. Will Benton had a blocked punt as well.
SCORING SUMMARY
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MCMINN CENTRAL
|
0
|
16
|
0
|
7
|
--23
|
|
TYNER
|
0
|
7
|
7
|
15
|
-- 29
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2nd Quarter
McM 10:31 2Q: Dylan Carroll 3 run; Nick Jay (PAT) 0-7
TYN 8:45 2Q: Tyler Anderson 25 run; Lucas Thomas (PAT) 7-7
McM 3:16 2Q: Jake Goodin 18 pass from Ayden Plemons; Nick Jay (PAT) 7-14
McM 1:19 2Q: Tyner fell on fumble in own end zone 7-16
3rd Quarter
TYN 3:15 3Q: Azarion Collins 16 pass from Tyler Anderson: Lucas Thomas (PAT) 14-16
4th Quarter
McM 9:25 4Q: Jake Goodin 5 pass Ayden Plemons; Nick Jay (PAT) 14-23
TYN 7:43 4Q: Dion Edwards 40 pass from Tyler Anderson; Lucas Thomas (PAT) 21-23
TYN 1:20 4Q: Nashawn Keel 23 pass from Tyler ANderson; Nashawn Keel conversion pass from Tyler Anderson 29-23
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STATS
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MC
|
T
|
|
First Downs
|
19
|
13
|
|
Rushes-Yards
|
37-123
|
29-158
|
|
Passing Yards
|
117
|
178
|
|
Total yards
|
240
|
336
|
|
Passing (Comp-Att-Int)
|
14-27-3
|
12-20-0
|
|
Fumbles-Lost
|
0-0
|
1-0
|
|
Penalties-Yards
|
4-30
|
9-59
|
|
3rd Down Conversions
|
4-8
|
4-9
|
|
Punts-Average
|
2-41.0
|
1-30.0
|
Individual Stats
RUSHING: Dylan Carroll 30-103, Bradley Mayfield 5-14, Ayden Plemons 3-9 (MC); De'Aeron McNealy 12-87, Tyler Anderson 14-82, Jaeden Isbell 1-6, Dion Edwards 1-(-9), Gerard Allen 1-(-8) (TY).
PASSING: Ayden Plemons 14-27-3 117 yards (MC); Tyler Anderson 12-20-0 178 yards (TY).
RECEIVING: Jake Goodin 10-96, Landin McInturff 1-11, Landyn Giles 1-9, Bryson Neely 1-2, Devon Paxton 1-0 (MC); Dion Edwards 3-59, Zion Dujon 2-26, Zion Pinkerton 2-29, Nashawn Keel 1-23, Azarion Collins 1-16, Gerard Allen 2-12, De'Areon McNealy 1-13 (TY)
RECORDS: McMinn Central 4-3 (2-2 3-3A), Tyner 5-3 (3-1 3-3A).
UP NEXT: McMinn Central at Kingston; Tyner at Rhea County.
(Contact James Beach at 1134james@gmail.com)