Tennessee HS Playoffs: Tyner Outlasts Watertown In Round 1 Win

By: Jay Pace

National Writer

Ondamarcsports.com

No Place Like Home

Chattanooga, TN-Home is where you make it.

For the last three years, home, for the Tyner Rams, has been the road. 

With construction delays, among other issues, postponing the opening of its new home stadium, Tyner, hadn't played a true home game in nearly 1100 days 

On The Road Again…

Homecoming games, senior nights, even, “home games” were played on the road.

Road Warriors no more, Tyner finally has a home of its own and its name is Bob Evans Stadium. The field was named after legendary head coach Wayne Turner who retired in 2020 after 30 years at the helm.

Welcome Home

“You got to learn how to win at home,” said third year Tyner head coach Christian Mainor following his team's closer than expected win over Watertown. “That's not something we've had to do for the last three years.”

They did on Friday night, finally.

And it didn't take long for The Ram Train to get rolling down the tracks.

Sophomore defensive back Dion Edwards picked off the first pass of the game to set up his own score on the Rams first possession, scoring on an end-around with 7:03 left in the first to put Tyner up 7-0.

That early lead would be threatened but never relinquished. Once Tyner got out in front they would remain there until the final horn sounded.

Playing With Their Food 

Undaunted by the early turnover, the Purple Tigers went right back to work on their next possession, driving deep into Ram territory before Karontae Cunningham intercepted a Garrett Davis pass near the Tyner 20. After a short return to the 34, Tyner would score on its first play on a bubble screen from Marcus Turner  to Jamarion Dowdell who raced down the visiting sideline untouched to put Tyner up 14-0.

Watertown pulled to within a score at 14-7 only to watch Turner find USC commit Peyton Dyar for a 22 yard TD on a crucial third down play with 5:54 remaining in the first half. 

And that was the story of the night. Tyner never could  put the Purple Tigers away yet the outcome never seemed in doubt either. 

It was almost as if Tyner had grown bored and elected to play with their food rather than finish the meal.

Close But No Cigar

Tyner would increase its lead to 27-7 after Dowdell ripped off a 38 yard TD run to push the advantage to 27-7.

Once again, Watertown would climb back into it pulling to within 27-20 when Davis hooked up with Landon Harper on a  26 yard scoring strike. 

And right on script, Tyner would answer, marching 43 yards on 10 plays with De’Arion McNealy capping a nice drive with a 2-yard run to put Tyner back up by double digits at 33-20 with 6:20 left.

McNealy finished with 72 yards on 13 carries and the exclamation touchdown.

Round 2 At The Ram Shack

“We opened the stadium with good energy” said a beaming McNealy postgame. “We had good preparation.”

True to form Watertown drove down the field in a desperate attempt to pull within a score before Jumocka Willis sealed the win when he intercepted Davis’ pass near the goal line with 1:02 remaining.

Tyner welcomes Unicoi County (9-2) to The Ram Shack on Friday night in round two of the Class 3A playoffs.