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Scores and Photos: Friday Night High School Football - Aug. 28
Extending his left arm as far as he could reach, Chaysen Patrick was able to get his fingertips on the fourth-down pass and deflect it.
After seeing the ball skid across the grass for an incompletion, Tyner's senior defensive back jumped to his feet and stretched his right arm upward as far as he could reach, extending only his index finger to celebrate what he and his teammates had just accomplished.
Looking more like the Tyner of old rather than the group that suffered through the worst season in more than two decades with last year's 2-8 finish, Class 2A's fifth-ranked knocked off 3A's fourth-ranked Notre Dame 27-21 in overtime Friday night at Wayne Turner Field.
"I saw the receiver running an out and I recognized that play from watching film all week," said Patrick, who also ran for a first-half touchdown in the Rams' season opener. "I must have seen that play from them like 20 times, so as soon as I saw him start his route and their quarterback rolling our way, I knew where it was going and just tried to get to the spot as fast as I could.
"You've got to understand, this is my senior year and I wanted this one really bad. Everybody, even other people in the hallways today at school, said we would lose this game. People that think we're the same team we were last year are wrong. We proved that tonight. Tyner is back."
The Rams certainly appear to be back to playing the way they have for so many winning years, using nine ball carriers to amass 207 rushing yards, while holding the potent Fighting Irish to 47 yards on the ground - an average of just 2.4 yards per carry.
And much of Notre Dame's offensive total came on a game-opening 78-yard drive and a 51-yard scoring pass to tie the game late and send it into overtime. Between those two scores Notre Dame was stymied, getting its only other touchdown on a 60-yard fumble return for a score by Calvin Sims.
After the Irish (1-1) took the early lead, Tyner tied it when Jadarius Paris returned an interception 31 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the second quarter. Just before halftime the Rams drove for the go-ahead score, covering 52 yards in 10 plays with Patrick scoring on a 4-yard run on third down.
The Rams appeared to take control late in the third period with a 13-play, 94-yard drive, capped by Shannon Spralls' 14-yard scoring run. But the Irish, who had gained just 61 total yards on the seven possessions after their first-quarter TD, pulled even on the fumble return by Sims early in the fourth quarter and a 51-yard scoring pass from Alex Darras to Andrew Banks with just 1:46 remaining.
Tyner got the ball to begin overtime and on third-and-goal from the 10, one play after starting quarterback Emmanuel Moss had limped to the sideline, his replacement, sophomore Keiontae Halfacre, scored on a keeper. The extra point, however, sailed wide right, adding to the drama.
After Notre Dame began its possession with a 6-yard pass to the 4, it followed with two incompletions, both caused by Tyner pressure that forced Darras to hurry his throws. On fourth down, Darras rolled to his right, but his pass was tipped away by Patrick, setting off a wild celebration by the Rams.
"We've got talent and the opportunity is in front of you," Rams coach Wayne Turner told his team after the game. "But we have to learn to take it. You guys made it a lot harder on yourselves than it should have been.
"We beat a quality team. We won't see anybody any tougher, but you have to finish strong. We didn't do that like we should have. But it was a tremendous effort."
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293.