Jr. Cyclones crush Boone in season opener
Published 12:53 pm Friday, August 18, 2023
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Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
TAD running back Ryan Jones breaks through the defense of Boone on his way to a big gain.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Aldo Cordell works his way upfield after an interception.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Legend Pate bolts through the line and into the end zone for one of his two rushing scores on the day.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Jr. Cyclone quarterback Brycen Blevins throws the football over the outstretched hands of a Jr. Blazer defender.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Mycah Matheson shucks off a would-be Boone tackler.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Brycen Blevins takes down the Jr. Cyclone sideline for a touchdown run.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Boone's quarterback just gets off the football as Jr. Cyclone defensive end Calyx Dougherty closes in.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Gage Reid looks to pick up yardage after taking a handoff from quarterback Brycen Blevins.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Grayson Brookner fights for first down yardage.
STAR CORRESPONDENT
GRAY – The TA Dugger Jr. Cyclones traveled to Gray to take on the Boone Jr. Blazers on Thursday to open their 2023 campaign but the way the Jr. Cyclones came out of the gate, one would thought they were in mid-season form.
Rolling out to a 36-0 halftime lead, head coach Brock Pittman’s team cruised in the second half to a 50-0 victory.
The Jr. Cyclones wasted little time in hitting the scoreboard in the opening quarter as Legend Pate scored the first points of the season on a six-yard run with less than two minutes off the clock. The two-point conversion failed and TAD led 6-0.
Boone looked to respond but an interception by Peyton Vanover set the Jr. Cyclones back up in prime field position.
Once again Pate took care of business as he scampered 55 yards to pay dirt at the 4:24 mark of the first quarter. The two-point conversion was good from Brycen Blevins to Calyx Dougherty and TAD was out front 14-0.
Defense turned into offense on the ensuing Boone drive as Aldo Cordell stepped in front of a Jr. Blazer pass and took the interception to the house on a 48-yard pick six. Blevins found Lennox Loveday for the two-point conversion to make it 22-0 as the first quarter came to an end.
The Jr. Cyclones picked back up where they left off in the first quarter as Blevins went to the air and found Ryan Jones on a 27-yard scoring strike to push the advantage to 30-0 on Micah Matheson’s two-point conversion run.
Defense was playing at maximum effort on the evening for the Jr. Cyclones as Boone just couldn’t move the chains as TAD quickly got the football back into the hands of the offense.
Once again, the Jr. Cyclones struck quickly as Blevins continued to showcase his arm with a 37-yard strike to Dougherty. The two-point conversion failed and TAD’s lead ballooned to 36-0 with 2:24 left in the first half. The half ended with the Jr. Cyclones leading 36-0.
With the clock running due to the 36-point lead by TAD, Blevins added to the advantage when he scampered 48 yards into the end zone. Matheson tacked on the two-point conversion for a 44-0 Jr. Cyclone lead with 30 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
Boone had its best opportunity to score on the ensuing kickoff as they took the football down to the Jr. Cyclone 21-yard line but the defense of TAD bowed their necks and took the ball back after holding the Jr. Blazers on four consecutive plays.
The Jr. Cyclones scored their final touchdown on another pick six as Gage Reid stepped in front of a Boone pass and scored from 28 yards out to give the game its final margin of victory, 50-0, as the two-point conversion attempt failed.
“I thought that we executed well and we had some silly penalties resulting in some big scores called back due to penalties behind the play,” said Pittman. “All of that is fixable. We played solid on defense. I felt like we were able to get lined up correctly and it seemed like we tackled pretty well. It was a really good start but we do have a lot of things to fix. We will watch the film and try to get better for next week.”
