With prep football’s 2025 season having shifted into the second half and the playoffs just six weeks away, few teams in the Chattanooga area have been better tested than Tyner. If the results to date are any indication, the Rams are built for a deep postseason run in the TSSAA Class 3A bracket come November.
Off to a 6-0 start, Tyner has beaten four public schools from classifications for larger schools, plus two more from Division II-AA — and all still without having a home field to play on due to ongoing construction on the new athletic facilities for the Rams.
“It’s the norm for us now,” said third-year head coach Christian Mainor, whose program has not played an on-campus home game since a Class 2A semifinal win on Nov. 25, 2022, when Mainor was still the offensive coordinator for what would become Tyner’s second state championship team.
“It’s been almost 1,100 days since our senior class of kids got to play at home,” Mainor added. “Being on the road for three straight years definitely puts another chip on your shoulder, but we embrace the challenge. The awesome thing has been the way the kids rally around each other and love playing the game together. The way we look at it, just go play.”
It has been a steady climb to return to the level Tyner is playing at now. Two years ago, the Rams lost three of four meetings with teams from higher classifications and were outscored by an averaged of 40-19 in those games. Last year was more respectable; Tyner again lost three of four matchups, but only by an average margin of 21-15.