Heavy footed… Cyclones stomp the gas with a 63-9 win over Sullivan East

Published 12:51 am Saturday, September 7, 2019

By Ivan Sanders

BY IVAN SANDERS
STAR SPORTS EDITOR
BLUFF CITY – The Elizabethton Cyclones came out of the gates like a bunch of starved dogs when a bowl of chicken bones is thrown in the middle of the pack and Sullivan East was, unfortunately, the flavor of the night as Elizabethton rolled through Bluff City with a 63-9 victory.
 
With the Cyclone defense setting the tone early, there was little doubt by the half what the end result was going to be but more of a matter of how bad it was going to be as ‘Betsy returned to the field after a one-week break after their big win over Science Hill.
 
On just the third play of the game, defensive back Jake Roberts broke in front of a Dylan White pass and was off to the races on a 30-yard pick-six to give the Cyclones a 7-0 lead after Jaxton Holly blasted the point-after through the uprights.
 
East appeared to recover from the interception on their next drive marching from their own 26-yard line to the Elizabethton 10-yard line where Martin Hamelryck gave the Patriot favorite a glimmer of hope.
 
But that glimmer quickly evaporated as on the sixth play from scrimmage after the kickoff, Cyclone quarterback Bryson Rollins stepped back and let a perfect spiral settle into the waiting arms of Parker Hughes for a 42-yard scoring bomb.
 
Holly was true with the PAT and the scoreboard read 14-3 Elizabethton.
 
On the ensuing kickoff from Holly, the Patriots forgot that they had to pick up the football and as a result, the Cyclones took possession on the East 36-yard line.
 
Two plays later, Rollins found Zach C. Hartley streaking across the middle and connected on a 21-yard touchdown pass to extend the Cyclone lead to 21-3 after Holly’s boot.
 
Things went from bad to worse for East as White was once again picked off – this time by Hughes who raced 40 yards on the pick-six. Holly’s kick flipped the scoreboard to 28-3 in favor of ‘Betsy.
 
All of this scoring came in the first period of play.
 
Just seconds into the second quarter, White attempted a lateral pass that was picked up by Hughes who scored but the ball was moved back to the East 21 after a penalty cost the Cyclones the score.
 
It wouldn’t matter, however, as senior Cameron Trimm bolted over the goal line from five yards to push Elizabethton ahead 35-3 on Holly’s PAT.
 
After taking over on a turnover on downs, Elizabethton’s offense once again made short work of East as Hughes who had a breakout game after a frustrating first game at Science Hill reeled in a 40-yard laser from Rollins with 4:18 before the half to make the score 42-3 with Holly remaining perfect on PAT’s.
 
Elizabethton still had one last score in them before the half as who else but Hughes tucked in a six-yard scoring toss from Rollins as time expired in the half to make it a 49-3 game at the half after the PAT.
 
The Cyclones took the opening kick of the second half with a running clock and wasted little time in putting the ball in the end zone marching from their own 45-yard line to pay dirt in five plays behind the hard running of Cade Maupin who covered the final 18 yards for the score.
 
Holly’s kick was true and the Cyclones led big, 56-3.
 
Elizabethton’s final score came with 5:28 to play when Trimm added his second rushing touchdown of the night, this time from 35 yards out to make it a 63-3 game when Conner Blevins took over for Holly and converted the point-after.
 
East added a token score as time expired on an eight-yard strike from White to Blake Scher. White was stopped short on the two-point conversion to give the game its final score of 63-9.
 
“One of our winning edges this week was we wanted to score on defense and wanted to score on special teams and we did that right off the bat,” said Cyclone head coach Shawn Witten. “To be a great football team we have to score in other ways.
“We have got the guys to do it you know, we have just got to be more relentless defensively. We have got to get more three and outs, we have got to create more turnovers, and it was great to see our defense fly around early and make some quick scoring strikes for us.”
 
After his big night, a lot of the frustrations from the Science Hill game filtered away into the cool night for Hughes who seems to turn everything to gold when his hands touch the football.
 
“It was all about execution,” said Hughes about his big standout night. “That first game I just got jammed up. It feels good to get the ball in my hands and score a couple of touchdowns. 
 
“Defensively, we have all worked hard and on that interception, I want to give the D-line credit because if they hadn’t got a great rush on him he wouldn’t have just thrown the ball up and I wouldn’t get that pick.”
 
Hughes also was complimentary of Rollins who threw almost flawlessly all night.
 
“He has improved so much from the summer where we worked,” stated Hughes. “He has come a long way and it is definitely showing.”
 
The Cyclones host their first home game next Friday night at Citizens Bank Stadium when Daniel Boone comes calling for a 7:30 pm kickoff.
 

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