With the way the Elizabethton Cyclones came out of the gate Friday night in the 2017 Class 4A TSSAA Football Championship first round contest, there weren’t enough war parties in the vicinity to help the Chiefs of Sequoyah High School escape with a win.
The Cyclones broke out to a 48-14 first-half lead and never were threatened the rest of the way as Elizabethton advances to next week’s second-round game to be played at Anderson County, a 65-40 winner over Grainger County.
Elizabethton (9-2) didn’t let a small turnout from their fan base hinder their focus as the Cyclones opened the game with two Austin Outland touchdown sprints of 33 and 37 yards sandwiched around a Josh Stakely 14-yard scoring jaunt for the Chiefs to make it a 14-7 game with only four minutes off the first-quarter clock.
Carter Everett’s 61-yard bomb to Evan Perkins built the lead to 21-7 as Jaxton Holly’s three point-after attempts helped ‘Betsy account for the 21-7 edge at the end of the first eight minutes of play.
The Cyclones built that lead to 28-7 just five plays into the second quarter when Everett found Ryan Wetzel on a 40-yard scoring dart and a Holly PAT.
Everett continued the hot hand with another scoring pass to Perkins covering 29 yards which gave the Cyclones a 35-7 edge with 7:10 before the half on another Holly PAT conversion.
Senior kicker Dylan Nordby executed a perfect onside kick on the ensuing kick and four plays later a 37-yard Everett to Wetzel connection put the Cyclones up 41-7 as Kade Hensley’s kick was blocked on the point-after.
Stakely added a 20-yard score on the ground for Sequoyah before Everett closed out the half with a 21-yard pass to Wetzel. Hensley’s boot split the uprights for the 48-14 halftime lead.
Everett picked right back up where he left off in the second half hitting Wetzel on a perfectly-placed 10-yard scoring toss. Nordby’s kick made it 55-14.
The Chiefs never quit fighting as John Douglas Wiggens found Trevor Stakely on a 3-yard scoring pass with the extra point making it 55-21.
Elizabethton’s final score of the game came from Cameron Trimm barreled into the end zone on a 6-yard run. Nordby was true on the PAT rolling the scoreboard to 62-21.
The Chiefs added two scores late on a Wiggins to Caston Moses seven-yard scoring pass and a 60-yard score as Wiggins found Troy Martin with only 29 seconds left to play.
Nathan Roberts converted both point-after attempts for Sequoyah giving the game its final score of 62-35.
For much more on the Cyclones first-round win, check out Tuesday’s Gridiron Weekly.