Jr. Cyclones maintain undefeated season with win over Indian Trail
Published 1:43 pm Friday, September 15, 2023
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File Photo/Ivan Sanders Jr. Cyclone running back Legend Pate continued his great season on Thursday by recording a pair of rushing touchdowns against Indian Trail.
File Photo/Ivan Sanders Ryan Jones has been a key part of the Jr. Cyclone offense and on Thursday recorded a pair of scores - one through the air and one on the ground for TA Dugger.
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STAR CORRESPONDENT
When you are as hot as the T.A. Dugger Jr. Cyclones on the gridiron, sometimes the best thing for the opposition is to just get out of the way or be steamrolled.
The Jr. Cyclones continued their undefeated season on Thursday evening at Steve Spurrier Field when they manhandled the home standing Indian Trail Hawks by a score of 34-6.
As they have done all season, the Jr. Cyclones hit the scoreboard early as Legend Pate continued a stellar eighth-grade season with another touchdown on a 10-yard run with seven minutes left in the first quarter.
Three minutes later, quarterback Brycen Blevins found his favorite receiver in Ryan Jones, who took a reception from Blevins and turned it into a 60-yard pass for a touchdown to extend the advantage.
A Lennox Loveday two-yard run with seven minutes on the second quarter clock pushed the Jr. Cyclone edge to 20-0, which they held onto going into the intermission.
The Hawks would get their only score of the contest in the third quarter when a scoop and score on a fumble recovery covered 65 yards. The two-point conversion failed and the scoreboard read 20-6.
TAD answered the fumble recovery score with one of their own as Pate added his second score of the contest with a five-yard run with 1:56 left in the third quarter. The two-point conversion was good to push the lead to 28-6.
Jones tacked on his second score of the evening with 3:20 remaining in the game on a 10-yard touchdown run to give the game its final score of 34-6 after the two-point try was no good.
“I’m proud of the way that we competed, especially when they were able to sort of drive the ball on us there at the end of the first half before we kept them out of the end zone,” said head coach Brock Pittman. “We have got to work on some special team things and we turned the ball over a couple of times today, so we are just going to continue to get better.”
The Cyclones have two home games left on the season as they will host Liberty Bell on Thursday at 5:30 pm and Tennessee Middle. With the scheduling of the high school team being such that the Jr. Cyclone season will be over before their big brothers get to play at home, Pittman asked for all of Cyclone Nation to pack the stadium for the final home games played by the Jr. Cyclones.
“You haven’t seen middle school football until you have seen Cyclone middle school football,” Pittman said.
Pittman is requesting that all of Cyclone Nation create a memorable night on Thursday for his Jr. Cyclones as the team will be wearing all new black uniforms and asks that all fans black out Citizens Bank Stadium for the contest. Kickoff once again is at 5:30 pm.
Also on Thursday night, the Jr. Cyclone junior varsity blanked the Hawks 28-0 to also remain undefeated for the 2023 season.
