Despite numerous penalties on the offense, the Tigers still managed to outscore the Tyler High School Lions 24-10 in their first home opener in four years. 

“Right now, we’re sitting at one and zero with a lot of things to fix,” head coach Gerry Stanford said. “The positive thing is we have a lot of things we can correct.”

The Tigers had a 21-10 lead on the Tyler Lions at halftime. After a slow start, which allowed the Lions to score first and go up 3-0, the Tigers built momentum with passes to wide receivers junior Cody Reese and senior Blake Rogers. That led to the Tigers’ first touchdown of the season on a zone read keeper by senior quarterback Brayson McHenry.

Tyler scored on a 40-yard touchdown pass to Montrell Wade to make it 14-10 to start the second quarter. McHenry connected with Rogers for a touchdown making the score 21-10. The half closed out with both teams playing solid defense.

The Tigers started the third quarter with a 56-yard pass from McHenry to Rogers, but the Tigers got stuffed on the goal line and had to settle for a field goal by senior Austin Miller. The Tigers moved the ball on the ground to get in scoring position despite a series of false start penalties but didn’t convert on fourth down and give the Lions the ball. 

The Tiger defense pressured the Lions into making a mistake and senior safety Tyriq Robinson intercepted the pass. The inception put the Tigers in scoring position, but they failed to convert on fourth down once again. The Tigers winded down the clock with rushes from senior running back Braylon Stewart to end the game.

The game scheduled Sept. 3 against Arkansas High was canceled earlier this week. On Sept. 9, they are set to play Forney High School at City Bank Stadium in Forney.