The McKenzie Tigers lost the battle at the line of scrimmage to the Sweet Water Bulldogs, and thus the war, as the Bulldogs eliminated the Tigers from playoff contention with a 47-6 win.

Though the Tigers’ offense was able to mount a few attacks early on, setback after setback kept McKenzie moving backwards as often as forwards.

McKenzie head football coach Tony Norris said that the shift in momentum proved tough to reverse in the quarters that followed.

“The biggest thing was that we had a tough time up front offensively in the beginning.

“We had a couple of drives going, and then we’d shoot ourselves in the foot with a penalty or something like that,” Norris said.

“It’s just one of those things that snowballed, and we were never really able to get started.”

The Tigers found themselves in a similar position last season on the road in the first round of the playoffs against a tough opponent.  That experience stayed with a number of returning Tigers this year, but this year’s opponent—a Bulldogs team that outscored opponents 439-159 this season—proved tougher than most.

Despite the outcome, Norris said he was thankful for his players’ dedication this season, including the hard work of his five seniors, Jackson Vickery, Chris Shufford, William Brown, Seth Keeney and Tyler Wright.

“It’s been a good bunch,” Norris said.

“It will be interesting to see underclassmen step up in the offseason.  We’re losing some key people—those have been key guys for the last few years.  But I’m excited to see what this group of underclassmen is going to do next year.  We’re going to go back to work and start over.  We’ll get stronger in the weight room and be more physical for next year.”