The hardest part of Friday night’s football game at Sullivan Central for Elizabethton Cyclone head coach Shawn Witten was to try and keep his team’s focus on the opponent at hand and not look ahead to next week’s playoff game at home.

The Cyclones took care of the business at hand by soundly whipping the winless Sullivan Central Cougars by a 50-14 score with a running clock the entire second half.

Elizabethton (8-2, 5-1) took only one play to dent the scoreboard after Zach C. Hartley set the Cyclones up in good field position on the Cyclone 32-yard line.

Junior tailback took the opening handoff and zipped around the right end on his way to a 68-yard touchdown scamper with Jaxton Holly’s point-after sailing left for a 6-0 Cyclone lead.

The ‘Betsy defense rose to the occasion to get the ball back into the hands of their offense which found the end zone again on a nine-play drive.

Russell was the man again as this time he found paydirt from 11 yards out. Witten elected to go for two and Russell burst over the goal line to give the Cyclones a 14-0 edge.

After a Cougar three and out, Elizabethton’s signal caller Carter Everett found Ryan Wetzel on a perfectly placed 35-yard touchdown pass. Dylan Nordby booted the PAT and the Cyclones were cruising at 21-0.

Elizabethton kept up the defensive intensity as they forced the Cougars into a punt that was blocked and resulted in a safety for the Cyclones when Jackson Harrison kicked the ball out of the back of the end zone making it 23-0.

Russell added his third score of the first quarter after the Cougar free kick when the scat back turned on the afterburners for a 26-yard scoring romp.

The PAT by Kade Hensley was wide and the scoreboard read 29-0 Elizabethton as the quarter ended with the same score.

Central cracked the goose egg on their side of the board when Harrison connected with Hayden Fleenor on 58-yard scoring toss. The two-point conversion from Harrison to Austin Fleenor was good making it a 29-8 score.

The Cyclones responded with a 9-yard scoring pass from Everett to tight-end Cameron Smith with Nordby blasting the PAT making it 36-8.

After a fumble recovery, the Cyclones keep adding to the board when lineman Chandlor Mullins lined up in the backfield and scored on a one-yard bull rush. Holly’s PAT made it 43-8.

The Cyclone scoring was completed when Austin Outland cashed in from five yards out just before the half with Holly’s kick making it 50-8.

Central adding one last score just into the fourth quarter on a Nathen Moody to Marshall Carter 44-yard scoring pass. The conversion failed and gave the game its final 50-14 score.

Check out Tuesday’s Gridiron Weekly for more from the Cyclone-Cougar contest.