BY IVAN SANDERS

CORRESPONDENT

sports@elizabethton.com

The T.A. Dugger Jr. High Cyclones decided to board Air Holly Thursday night, and the flight couldn’t have been more perfect.

Behind quarterback Jaxton Holly’s three-touchdown passing performance, the Jr. Cyclones blew past the Happy Valley Jr. Warriors on Warrior Hill to remain unbeaten at 3-0 on the season.

Holly completed 7-of-13 for 125 yards on the evening as the Jr. Cyclones took advantage of key Jr. Warrior miscues and applied a stinging defensive effort to thwart the Jr. Warriors offensively.

The Jr. Cyclones dented the scoreboard first as Holly found Zach Hartley for a 26-yard touchdown with 5:22 remaining in the opening quarter.

Kade Hensley was down the middle on the point-after attempt for the 7-0 Jr. Cyclone lead.

The Jr. Warriors were on the move on the ensuing possession before Will Tittle coughed up the pigskin at the Jr. Cyclone 39-yard line, where an alert Jordan Sproles pounced on the loose ball giving the Jr. Cyclones possession.

Holly used his legs on the drive to cover 28 yards before connecting with Evan Carter on a 31-yard touchdown just 46 seconds into the second quarter. Hensley was true on the PAT for a 14-0 Jr. Cyclone advantage.

After taking the ball over on downs at the Happy Valley Middle 38-yard line, the Jr. Cyclones once again had their engines in full throttle as Holly found Carter for their second touchdown connection of the contest from 17 yards out with 2:27 remaining before the half.

Jordan Killion had a key 11-yard rush on the scoring march as the Jr. Cyclones led 21-0 after Hensley’s boot.

The Jr. Warriors looked like they were marching for a score just before the half, taking the ball on their own 27 and moving it to the Jr. Cyclone 21-yard line.

Tittle was the main cog in the drive, passing for 24 yards and rushing for 28.

Disaster hit, however, as Eli Ayers was hit by a Jr. Cyclone defender and fumbled, which was recovered by T.A. Dugger at its own 32-yard line.

Jordan Haynes carried the ball for 16 yards and a 20-yard completion from Holly to Tyler Warren had the Jr. Cyclones in business at the Jr. Warrior 43 with 11.7 seconds before halftime.

Coach Johnny Burleson dialed up a reverse as Carter took the ball and weaved his way through Jr. Warrior defenders for his third score of the half on a 43-yard gallop.

Hensley’s attempt was wide, and the Jr. Cyclones had a comfortable 27-0 lead at intermission.

After the Jr. Warriors stalled out on their opening drive of the second half, the Cyclones collected their final points of the contest as Hensley drilled a 29-yard field goal to extend the lead to 30-0.

Hensley missed two more attempts from 42 and 43 yards, which just barely missed going across the uprights, leaving the fans in disbelief of the leg of the seventh-grader for the Jr. Cyclones.

The Jr. Warriors never gave up as they weren’t about to be shut out on the home field.

Just two plays into the fourth quarter, Ayers found Gabriel Nickles on a pass down the Warrior sideline as Nickles looked like he would go all the way before being tripped up on the Jr. Cyclone four-yard line after an 80-yard reception.

Ayers connected with Noah Stevens for a four-yard touchdown toss to cut the final score to 30-8 after the two-point conversion was good.

Burleson was pleased with his team’s effort after what he described as two ugly wins intheir first two games.

“Wehad a really good practice yesterday getting ready for this game, and itcarried over tonight,” said Burleson. “We started off slow in the first two games, but tonightwe did a lot of good things.