BY IVAN SANDERS

CORRESPONDENT

GRAY— In their first two games of the season, the Elizabethton Cyclone junior varsity team fought with true grit and determination, only to fall to Science Hill and Dobyns-Bennett.

On Monday, a perfect evening for football, the Cyclone JV finally put it all together to defeat the Daniel Boone Blazers in grand fashion with a 35-0 spanking on the Blazers’ home field.

“Our defensive line and linebackers played really well tonight,” said Cyclone JV head coach Josh Boatman. “They were trying to run a lot of smash-mouth football at us but technique-wise we were where we needed to be.”

Elizabethton (1-2) came out on fire, scoring on their first two drives of the contest in the first quarter getting touchdowns from quarterback Corey Russell and running back Austin Outland.

Dylan Nordby went right down the middle with the point-after attempt to give the Cyclones a 14-0 advantage.

The wheels came off the bus from that point, as neither team made much headway offensively to end the half with the same 14-0 score.

It looked like the third quarter would be a scoreless affair until the Cyclones got a superb defensive play from Evan Perkins who stripped Boone’s Chase Austin of the football and raced 40 yards for the score.

Nordby booted the PAT and the Cyclones were up 21-0 heading to the fourth quarter.

The defense forced a four and out on Boone’s first possession of the fourth quarter, and the Cyclones went back to work offensively on a seven-play drive from the Boone 48-yard line.

Jackson Killion carried the bulk of the load for the Cyclones carrying the ball four times for 24 yards while Sam Siepert carried for six yards to the Boone 19.

Russell found Jordan Bridwell for a 10-yard gain to the nine. Kilroy Hill took care of the final nine yards for a Cyclone score to push the lead to 28-0 after Nordby’s PAT at 4:36of the quarter.

The Blazers looked like they were going to spoil the shutout as they put together a nice little drive before the Cyclone defense forced another turnover.

Elizabethton’s Alijah Egolf sacked Boone quarterback Easton Harrell around the EHS 10 and in the process, knocked the ball out of Harrell’s hands.

An alert Hill picked up the loose ball and headed the other way being run down by the Blazers at the Boone five-yard line.

“When I realized what happened, I picked up the football and took off,” said Hill. “I looked back and saw they were behind me. I tried to curve out but my knee starting giving out about the 20-yard line.

We came prepared tonight on offense and defense and did our best.”

Chris Taylor capped off the scoring for the Cyclones, covering the final five yards to pay dirt with 54 seconds remaining in the contest.

Nordby was true once again and the Cyclones recorded the 35-0 victory.

Boatman was pleased with the way his team responded following the lackluster effort after the first two scores.

“I think we jumped out early and got a little flat, Boatman said. “We challenged them at halftime to come out and play the way we started the game. I felt like we played good, solid football and didn’t blow any of our assignments.

“We need to play with fire. We had the fire even in the loss at Dobyns-Bennett. We just have to learn how to finish with that same fire.”

The Cyclone JV team will be back in action on Sept. 21 when they travel to Unicoi County to take on the Blue Devil junior varsity at 6 p.m.