Tyner secondary coach Efrin Stewart pulled aside senior Jermel McKenzie immediately after the Rams won 21-7 at Brainerd on Friday.

"I told him this is the best game he's ever played," Stewart said. "He put us in positions that benefited us, and he came up with big plays at big times. As one of two seniors on defense, he stepped up to the challenge."

McKenzie also had a stellar night offensively. He caught two touchdown passes, forced two fumbles, recovered one and made an interception in the District 6-AA win.

"I just had a lot of confidence that if everybody played good that we would win," said McKenzie, who caught five passes for 76 yards and rushed five times for 21 yards. "I read the quarterback's eyes, and offensively I took what they gave me."

Both Tyner (6-4, 6-1) and Brainerd (7-3, 4-3) had secured playoff spots before the game started. They will learn of their first-round opponents today.

"We feel that we have a lot of momentum," McKenzie said. "We feel that we can't be beat."

Tyner limited Brainerd to 116 rushing yards and 168 total yards Friday, one week after the Panthers blistered Hixson for 342 rushing yards.

"They played good football and they were a little tougher than we were tonight," Brainerd coach Marvin Jones said. "They came and played four quarters and we played two quarters, probably one."

Brainerd seemed to pick up right where it left off a week earlier. Ricky Shepherd caught a 32-yard touchdown pass from Anthony Broom less than three minutes into the game.

But the Panthers never crossed Tyner's 40-yard line again. They lost two fumbles and Broom had two passes intercepted.

McKenzie answered Brainerd's touchdown with a 6-yard pass from Travis Jones with eight minutes to go in the second quarter. The duo connected again from 9 yards out with 1:54 to go in the half, when Jones hit McKenzie in the flat and he slipped a goal-line tackle. On Brainerd's next offensive play, McKenzie intercepted Broom.

Reginald Caffey boosted Tyner's lead to 21-7 on a 1-yard plunge with 6:23 to play. Then McKenzie ended Brainerd's chance for a miraculous comeback when he ripped the ball from a Brainerd receiver and rolled to the turf without the ball hitting the ground.

"He was real big for us," Jones said of McKenzie. "I think I'd give him the game ball."

Staff Photo by Allison Kwesell Marion County fans, from left, Pumpy Tudors, Johnny Sharp, and Jack Womack salute the American flag during the national anthem before their game against Lookout Valley at Marion County.