Tanner kept it close in the first half, but Mars Hill would ultimately pull away in the second.

Tanner kept it close in the first half, always within punching distance, before Mars Hill pulled away with 22 seconds left in the first half and then extended their lead in the second half.

The Rattlers, playing on the road at Mars Hill Bible School in Florence, came out of the gates to show the Panthers they were ready to play. Tanner jumped ahead 7-0 on their first drive of the game.

Mars Hill would answer on their next drive, and then the score would be locked going into the second quarter, 7-7. At the beginning of the second quarter, Tanner put together another good drive, but would end up not scoring.

The teams would then trade scores to lock it again at 14-14.

Then, Mars Hill would go on a 14-0 scoring run to take a 28-14 lead into the half. Tanner had the game within one touchdown with 22 seconds left in the half, but a long touchdown run for the Panthers extended their lead to double digits, despite the Rattlers matching Mars Hill’s intensity the entire half.

In the second half, Tanner kept their energy and motivation, but Mars Hill would methodically pull away due to a solid running attack from multiple players.

Mars Hill would eventually pull away 47-14, before Tanner scored in the fourth quarter to bring the score to 47-20 that would end up being the final.

While the final score shows a point differential of 27, the game was much closer than that. Tanner had multiple drives stall once getting into the redzone and would have been well in the game had they come away with points on a couple of those.

Mars Hill advances to face Spring Garden in the next round of the state playoffs.

Tanner finishes their season well above .500 at 8-4 and a second-place finish in their region. Additionally, the Rattlers went undefeated at home in 2021.