Marion County took advantage of Tyner mistakes Thursday night, scoring 25 first-half points and coasting in for a 25-6 victory over Tyner at Finley Stadium.
"We played well in spots. We got in sync offensively and they adjusted and we had to readjust, and we didn't always make the best adjustments," said Warriors coach Joey Mathis, whose team moved to 4-0 in Region 3-2A.
Marion was definitely ready to play, scoring 19 first-quarter points. The Warriors took advantage of Tyner miscues - starting at the Rams' 41 on the first drive after a poor punt, at Tyner's 14 after an interception by Nick Capps and inside the 20 again with a fumble recovery.
Getting those first-period scores were Hunter McClain on a 3-yard run, Hunter Zeman on a 9-yard run and Jacob Saylors on a 2-yard run.
Their final score, coming at the 7:11 mark of the second quarter, was a 73-yard pass from Isaah Sampson to Zeman, who shrugged off a tackle barely in Tyner territory and skated into the end zone.
The defense, which had contributed to three of the four scores, then took over, twice turning the Rams away inside the Marion 10.
"The defense played lights-out again, but we hung our hats on defense tonight and they came through again," Mathis said.
Tyner scored with 10:40 left in the game on a 6-yard pass from Shaylan Bailey to Martavius Ryals.
Marion's offense capitalized on the defensive effort in the first half, and then the defense, which returns nine starters from a strong 2015 squad, kept the clamps on the Rams in the second half.
It was basically a game of halves for the two clubs.
"We didn't come out and play with the same intensity in the second half," Mathis said. "Up 25 we didn't get off our blocks as well as we'd like, but we didn't match their intensity in the second half. We can't afford to let good teams like that hang around."
Tyner coach Wayne Turner was willing to credit Marion for its first-half effort and its ability to capitalize on his club's miscues, but he left Finley Stadium wishing his club had played in the first half like it did in the second.
"We made a lot of mistakes in the first half and you have to give Marion credit for making us make those mistakes, and they capitalized. They execute extremely well on offense and they're aggressive on defense," Turner said. "In the second half we came out more aggressive and we executed some things better. We have a lot of young people, and we have our ups and downs. When they decide to play, we play pretty good."
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.