When Tyner coach Wayne Turner thinks about a perfect game from his football team, it looks a lot like his Rams' 54-7 win over Region 3-2A foe Marion County on Friday night.
The connection between quarterback Martavious Ryals and receiver Jeremiah Batiste, mixed with nine Rams ball carriers, produced 420 yards of offense and six touchdowns, and Jerome Stoudemire added two long punt-return scores. Meanwhile, the Tyner defense held the Warriors to 155 total yards.
"Perfect is a good word to use," Turner said. "I thought we played extremely well all night long. The only bad things we had were giving up the touchdown real late and not scoring when we had the ball after halftime. Other than that it was a tremendous effort from everybody."
The Rams grabbed the reins of the game early when senior Stoudemire ran back a punt 63 yards after Marion County went three-and-out on the first possession of the game. After another stop from the Tyner defense on the ensuing possession, Ryals found Batiste on a screen pass, and the junior receiver sprinted 69 yards down the sideline to give Tyner the two-score lead.
The Rams scored touchdowns on their next three drives for a 34-0 halftime lead. In the second half it was more of the same as they added three touchdowns, including an 89-yard pass play from Ryals to Batiste and a 60-yard return by Stoudemire.
"We're ready to get our payback," Ryals said about the Rams' motivation this season. "Finishing in second place last year hit us hard, so we work hard every day in practice to get us back to that point. Tonight just showed what we're able to do."
The Rams will dip back out of Region 3-2A play next week when they travel to play East Hamilton. Marion County (1-3) will look to get back on track next week at home against Coalfield.
Contact John Mitchell at sports@timesfreepress.com.