Flattening the war party… Jr. Cyclones blow past Sevier Warriors in a big way, 40-6
Published 9:38 pm Saturday, August 24, 2019
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Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
T.A. Dugger running back Luke Whaley churns for extra yardage in Thursday's contest against Sevier.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Jr. Cyclone Zeth Mullins sets sail for a big gain in T.A. Dugger's win over Sevier.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
A T.A. Dugger cheerleader soars high into the air during part of the halftime routine.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
The T.A. Dugger Jr. Cyclone cheerleaders put on an entertaining performance for the home fans during halftime of Thursday's game.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Jr. Cyclone receiver Cameron Baker battles with a Sevier defender. Baker pulled down the ball for a touchdown.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
The Jr. Cyclone defense forces a Sevier runner to cough up the football for a turnover.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
The TAD defense was stingy all night as a Sevier Warrior is taken down by two Jr. Cyclones led by Gabriel Parsons (40).
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Eli Blevins wraps up a Sevier Warrior runner by the ankles to make a great defensive stop for the TAD Jr. Cyclones.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
A great crowd was on hand to take in the first game of the year for the Jr. Cyclones of T.A. Dugger.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
TAD quarterback Gib Maupin looks downfield for an open receiver. Maupin had a big day for the Jr. Cyclones in their win over Sevier.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Jeriah Griffin heads to the end zone for one of his two scores on the day for TAD.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
T.A. Dugger running back Ethan Gibbons races toward the corner in Thursday's contest against Sevier.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Jr. Cyclone running back Mason Ball was a load to bring down for the Sevier defense.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Ethan Gibbons of T.A. Dugger chases down a Sevier Warrior runner.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
The T.A. Dugger Jr. High cheerleaders have pony tails flying as they perform a dance routine during halftime of the Sevier game Thursday.
BY IVAN SANDERS
STAR SPORTS EDITOR
The T.A. Dugger Jr. Cyclones wanted to send an early message to the rest of the Big 6 conference and the Sevier Warriors couldn’t send smoke signals fast enough to let everyone know that the Jr. Cyclones meant business.
Running out to a 14-0 advantage after the first eight minutes of action, the Jr. Cyclones never looked back in taking a huge 40-6 win over the visitors from Kingsport.
Looking much like a replica of their older counterparts, the Jr. Cyclones ran a no-huddle offense that had the Warriors on their heels the entire contest.
T.A. Dugger got on the board quickly as Jeriah Griffin bounced into the end zone on a three-yard run with 5:04 left in the first quarter. A nifty pass from Zeth Mullins to Luke Whaley on the two-point conversion was good and the Jr. Cyclones were up 8-0.
The Jr. Cyclones were about to let the open quarter get away before finding pay dirt once again as this time Gib Maupin put the ball into the hands of Griffin and the speedster did the rest on a 30-yard touchdown pass that made the score 14-0 after the conversion failed to end the quarter.
With a defense that allowed only a pair of first downs in the opening half, the Jr. Cyclones got the ball back after holding the Warriors to start the second quarter and wasted little time in adding another score.
It was Maupin to Griffin once again as the duo teamed up on a 73-yard scoring pass to extend the lead to 20-0 after the point-after attempt failed.
The Jr. Cyclones matched their first-quarter effort as Coach Brock Pittman’s team found the end zone one more time before the half as Maupin connected on his third scoring pass of the half hitting Cameron Baker on a 20-yard scoring pass with Baker fighting off the Warrior defender to make the play with 17.3 seconds left to play.
Caleb Campbell’s extra point attempt was good and the halftime scoreboard read 27-0 Jr. Cyclones.
TAD tacked on a score with 1:43 left in the third quarter as Dalton Sharp rumbled in from five yards out to extend the lead to 34-0 on Campbell’s PAT.
Sevier kept battling and finally broke the goose egg on their side of the scoreboard with 5:51 left in the game as Hayden Jobe toted the pigskin 49 yards for the score. The two-point conversion failed and the Jr. Cyclones were comfortably ahead 34-6.
For good measure, the Jr. Cyclones scored one final time with 55 seconds remaining when Zeth Mullins carried the ball over the goal line from three yards out to give the game it’s final score of 40-6 after the extra point was no good.
“The kids played really hard. We are going to get a lot better this week and we need to,” said Pittman. “We played extremely hard and that’s the most important thing. We made some mistakes but overall for the first game I was really impressed.
“Defensively, we were able to line up which is important and was pretty sound. Offensively, I was pleased with our offensive line. They did a great job of coming off the ball and attacking. Our pass detection was good and our wide receivers were blocking well.
“You couldn’t ask for anything much better in an opening game.”
