For the second straight year, Trousdale County emphatically ended Tyner's season in the second round of the Class 2A state playoffs.
The Yellow Jackets from Hartsville relied on their bruising run-first attack to control possession and pound 297 rushing yards into 47 carries and a 28-7 win Friday night at Tyner's Bob Evans Stadium.
Defensively, they copied their form from 2018's 35-0 rout and stifled the Rams' big-play capabilities. Tyner (8-4) managed only a mid-fourth-quarter score.
Trousdale County (10-1) heads to the quarterfinals to face Watertown, which gave the Jackets their loss.
"We didn't have the surprise element tonight, given what happened last year, so our mentality of not overlooking anybody helped us tonight," first-year Trousdale head coach Blake Sutterfield said. "Tyner has some of the better athletes not just in East Tennessee, but the whole state. Coach (Wayne) Turner does a great job with his program. So with that, this win feels great and we're ready for the next hurdle."
The Rams' offense was balanced and moved the ball efficiently to start the game as they reached the red zone before a third-down sack and fourth-down incompletion. From there, Trousdale imposed its physical game plan - using 11 straight run plays up the middle before Kobe Ford scored the game's first touchdown on an 11-yard run.
After a series of punts from both teams, Tyner quarterback and Mr. Football semifinalist Martavius Ryals broke a 9-yard scramble on third down to midfield to set up a fourth-and-short situation. An incompletion on the next play turned the ball over to the visitors, who used two plays before Cameron Rankins won a 43-yard race to give the Yellow Jackets a 14-0 halftime lead.
The lead grew to 21 points in the third quarter, when Rankins scored again on a 2-yard run.
Tyner scored with just more than six minutes remaining in the game. Ryals spun around in the pocket, was chased about 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage and still found receiver Jeremiah Batiste in the end zone for a 12-yard passing score. However, Trousdale answered on the ensuing drive with an 8-yard score from Ford.
"Trousdale has a tradition of being a strong, outstanding team year after year," Turner said. "I can't complain with the effort we got out of our kids. They're just a physical and aggressive type team, and they executed extremely well.
"I thought we made some mistakes and gave them a couple touchdowns I thought they shouldn't have scored, and I thought there were some opportunities we just didn't capitalize on. That's not a good combination this time of year."
Ford had 137 yards on 13 carries, and Rankins gained 133 on 23.
Tyner ran for only 50 yards, while Ryals went 15-for-29 passing for 135 yards with the touchdown and an interception.
Contact John Mitchell at sports@timesfreepress.com.