While the Sullivan East Patriots were firing off nothing but duds from their arsenal on Friday at Citizens Bank Stadium, the Elizabethton Cyclones were shooting like a Howitzer tank as the Cyclones rolled to a 49-0 halftime advantage and never looked back in taking a 63-0 conference win over their visitors from Bluff City.

The victory moves the Cyclones, the fourth-ranked team in the state in this week’s polls, to a perfect 3-0 on the young season.

Blitzing the Patriots bunker

Coach Shawn Witten couldn’t have been happier with the way his team came out of the gates scoring seven times in the first 24 minutes of play.

Elizabethton scored four times in the opening quarter as Austin Outland got his team rolling with a 41-yard run just five minutes into the game.

Corey Russell followed suit with two scores of his own with one coming on a four-yard run and the other an electrifying 80-yard pass from Carter Everett.

Freshman sensation Bryson Rollins showed his confidence continues to grow as he burst in from two-yards out to close out the first quarter scoring.

The second quarter started much the same way as the first finished as senior wide receiver Evan Perkins got in on the action by taking an Everett toss and scooting in from 36 yards out.

Russell and Rollins cashed in on two rushing scores apiece with Russell’s covering 15 yards and Rollins bowling over the goal line from 1 yard away.

Elizabethton, with the game in hand, tacked on two more scores in the second half as sophomore Parker Hughes reeled in a scoring toss from Carter on an 18-yard pass and Rollins closed out the night with a 13-yard scamper.

Great footwork

Junior Jaxton Holly could very well change his name to ‘Old Reliable’ as the Cyclone kicker had another outstanding night with his foot.

Holly converted all nine of his extra-point attempts and added another beautiful onside kick that he recovered himself following the ball down the field and falling on it after it was touched by a member of the Sullivan East receiving team.

Speaking of defense

The Cyclones defense was very, very stingy all night long as for most of the contest the Patriots had little to show offensively as defensive coordinator Coach Stan Ogg had his defense schemed almost if the Cyclones were in the East huddle.

Led by the charge of senior Gabe DePrimo, who led all tacklers with four on the night, the defense was superb.

“It all starts with the coaches,” DePrimo said. “They have prepared us all week for this offensive line that East had put together against us. I trusted my teammates and the plays that the coaches called, and we executed and made it happen.”

DePrimo also jumped on a fumble recovery.

“We did a much better job of getting off the field on third down in this game,” said Cyclone skipper Shawn Witten. “Much better time of possession and didn’t let them sustain drives.”

Overall performance evaluation

“We were disappointed last week with the overall effort and the execution, and tonight just a much better Cyclone football team in all phases,” said Witten. “We just got off to a fast start.

“It’s amazing what we look like when we are rolling on all cylinders. We just can’t be stopped.  We have enough play makers to be pretty dominate.”

Who is up next

The Cyclones will be in the firing line again next week as they hit the road for their first road test of the season in Gray against an undefeated Daniel Boone team who won a big game of their own against Tennessee High.

It’s going to be a busy week on the Cyclone campus getting ready for the contest which kicks off at 7:30 pm.