Cyclones look to sew up #2 seed in Region 1-4A against Seymour

Published 12:57 pm Tuesday, October 25, 2022

STAR CORRESPONDENT

The Elizabethton Cyclones have two pieces of business to take care of on Thursday night when they host the Seymour Eagles.

The first piece of business and most important is to defeat their visitors from the Smoky Mountain area to seal the #2 seed for Region 1-4A and the second is to honor the senior members of the team and their contributions to the Cyclone program.

First things first, however.

After taking their final bye week off to get healthy heading into the playoffs, the Cyclones game plan is a simple one and that is to come out focused on picking right back off where they left off with their offensive and defensive rhythm which has looked like the Cyclones of old after starting the season 0-4.

That resurgence has come from the stellar play of senior running back Nate Stephens who has run the football with authority over the last four games running for multiple 100-yard-plus games in that time span.

Also, Dalton Mitchell has settled into the quarterback role and is beginning to find his receivers early and often in Luke Whaley and Teddy Orton plus the play of athletic playmaker Cade Russell who can run or catch the football.

The offensive line also has begun jelling and playing solid with Seth Campbell, Jacob Whitaker, Dylan McDuffie, Caiden Draine, Sam Bowers, and Josh Hayes opening up holes for Stephens to run and giving Mitchell time to throw.

Defensively, the Cyclones have been solid all season led by standouts Bradley Cannon, Eli Guess, Eli Williams, Wesley Shankles, Mitchell, and Orton. Also adding valuable minutes are Ben Adams who has come on strong from his defensive end position, Markel Chappel, Xavier Smalls, Zeth Mullins, and Landon Hughes.

More good news came this week as linebacker Mason Ball could be ready to offer some help in the playoffs after breaking his finger badly in the Boone game.

The Eagles come into the game winning only two region games as they beat Sullivan East (28-21) and Volunteer (41-20). Seymour was defeated by South Greene last week by a 19-7 score at home.

With a win, the Cyclones will play host to either Knox Gibbs or Knox Carter next week as both teams enter the final week of regular-season play with 2-2 records in Region 2 4-A.

Cyclone head coach Shawn Witten said that it’s all about getting back on the field and establishing the rhythm his team was performing with before the bye.

“It’s a big game for us, especially coming off another bye week,” said Witten on Monday. “Our guys should be hungry to get back on the field and get back to work. I think it’s more critical for us offensively to stay in a groove and stay in a rhythm. We have been in such a great flow in distributing the ball that we just need that momentum. Our guys worked extremely hard last week during open week and we feel refreshed and recovered that gives us a chance to make a strong finish.”

Witten said that Seymour has been a different style of football team this season as they have had several people coming and going off the field. It all boils down to keeping everything going status quo that has been the case for the last four weeks for the Cyclones.

“It’s been a different style of football team (Seymour),” said Witten. “It’s important to us to keep Nate in the groove and our offensive line in a groove. We have been getting more stops defensively and sustaining more of a rhythm. We are getting 10 to 12 possessions a game and we have been a different team offensively every week. Nate has been a spark and we just need to keep him going and get other people involved as we move into the playoffs.”

Thursday will be Senior Night for Fall Sports and the Cyclones will be recognizing the following 13 senior players: Cade Russell, Eli Williams, Dalton Mitchell, Teddy Orton, Nate Stephens, Mason Williams, Colin Nidiffer, Wesley Shankles, Jacob Whitaker, Dylan McDuffie, Caiden Draine, Sam Bowers, and Bradley Cannon.

Kickoff will be at 7:30 pm.