Cyclones wrap up Mountain Eight title undefeated, 50-19 Win marred by loss of Everett to shoulder injury

Published 12:36 am Saturday, October 29, 2016

ehsweb

KODAK— The Elizabethton Cyclones secured what they started out the season to do, and that was to win the Mountain Eight, but the win came with a high price as sophomore signal caller Carter Everett left the game with an apparent shoulder injury—possibly a broken collarbone.
The Cyclones rolled the Northview Cougars on the school’s first ever Senior Night by putting up 36 points in the first half to take a 36-7 lead to the locker room and then cruised in the second half.
Northview (6-4, 5-2) is only in their fourth year of existence adding a class each year.
“We asked them to raise the level of play because this is the time of year where you have to elevate your level of play,” said Cyclone head coach Shawn Witten. “We scored 36 points in the half and came out and hit people. We played fast and executed without our two studs (Johnny Ray Woodby and Cameron Coleman) on defense, and we responded.
“You have to give the guys credit for the way they played. It was just a tremendous ballgame for a championship night.”
The Cyclones (9-1, 7-0) came out and punched the Cougars in the mouth early and had Northview on their heels early.
Sophomore Corey Russell continued his stellar play by recording the first score of the night on a three-yard run and Dylan Nordby booted the point-after for a 7-0 Cyclone lead.
The Cyclones defense had their ears pinned back the entire night forcing Northview signal caller Justin Howard into several errant passes and stuffing any attempt to run the football.
Everett put the second score of the night on the scoreboard with a two-yard blast with 5:03 left in the first quarter to make it 14-0 after Nordby’s kick.
Elizabethton extended the lead just 56 seconds into the second quarter when Russell toted the pigskin five yards into the end zone.
Nordby was true on the kick and the Cyclones were up 21-0.
The Cougars appeared to be threatening working the football down to the Cyclone 16-yard line, but three straight incompletions, including the last one of fourth down, gave Elizabethton the football back.
It wouldn’t take the Cyclones long to get into the end zone as Everett threw to Russell on a short screen and Russell turned on the afterburners for a 50-yard score.
Jaxton Holly took his turn on the PAT and hit a knuckleball over the uprights for a 28-0 Cyclone edge.
Elizabethton safety Evan Carter set the Cyclones back up in business by intercepting a Howard pass at the EHS 32 with 4:27 before the half.
Witten put the ball in the belly of Logan Norman and Jacob Turner on the drive as Norman reeled off a 37-yard run and Turner carried three straight times—the final one going for a six-yard touchdown run.
Russell connected with Alex Norwood on a fake PAT for the two-point conversion to make it 36-0 Cyclones.
The Cougars added a late score just before the half aided by three penalties that were questionable as Howard scored from three yards out with 15 seconds left in the half.
Josh Gomez booted the point-after and the half ended with EHS out front 36-7.
Elizabethton quickly got the score back taking the second-half kickoff and put together a short five-play drive aided by a Russell 37-yard scamper to the Cougar eight-yard line.
Everett plowed in from eight yards for his second rushing score of the night taking only 1:02 off the third quarter clock.
Holly blasted the PAT and the Cyclones were up 43-7.
The Cougars answered the bell and responded with a score of their own as Howard registered his second score of the night from seven yards to make the score 43-13 after the two-point conversion failed.
Elizabethton closed out the scoring when Evan Sewell drove the Cougar defense back into the end zone as the big fullback carried the mail over from four yards away.
Holly put the exclamation point on with the point-after.
Both teams unloaded the bench over the remaining time in the game with a running clock.
Still, the biggest thing going through Witten’s mind after the game was the adversity his team will have to start addressing on Monday with the loss of Everett.
“It makes you want to throw up,” said Witten. “It’s really disappointing and leaves a sour taste on the championship. The guy has worked tremendously hard, and he’s the leader of our offense.
“We’ll just have to pick it up and these guys will rally around it. It’s just real disappointing. You start peeking at the right time, and he has a lot of credit for getting us to where we are right now.”
The Cyclones will host McMinn Central next Friday night. The Chargers lost to Scott 49-13. Scott will head to Kodak to take on Northview.

Subscribe to our free email newsletter

Get the latest news sent to your inbox