Chiefs have war bonnets blown off by Cyclones
Published 1:45 pm Tuesday, September 12, 2023
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Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Elizabethton wide receiver Jeriah Griffin makes a move around a Cherokee defender on a kickoff return.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Eli Blevins works the football up the field after a Cyclone reception.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Zeth Mullins follows the blocking of Eli Blevins (11) and Wyatt Pittsenbarger (54) for a big gain.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Senior running back Kaleb Holzer takes a handoff from quarterback Justin Whitehead.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Cam Baker leaves a Cherokee defender in his dust as he follows the blocking of teammate Eli Blevins.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Kaleb Holzer has his sights set on the goal line as he takes the football into the end zone on the play for a Cyclone touchdown.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Jeriah Griffin approaches the end zone on an 85-yard punt return for a touchdown.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders' Luke (Dewey) Whaley puts a hit on Cherokee wide receiver Samuel Augusta for no gain.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Tucker Taylor (21) and Kyron Smalls (51) pinch in Chief ball carrier Lofton Hayes on a short gain.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders See you! Cam Baker races past the Cherokee defense on his way to a 70-yard touchdown run late in the game.
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STAR CORRESPONDENT
ROGERSVILLE – On a unique day for high school football, the Elizabethton Cyclones made the trip back to Rogersville after a Friday evening storm system encamped on Mike Sivert Stadium and would release its grips forcing a decision to move the conference contest to a 3 pm Sunday kickoff.
It probably didn’t matter anyway as the outcome was probably going to be the same as the Class 4-A #3 ranked Cyclones scored early and often in taking a 63-6 victory to run the record to 4-0. 2-0 on the season.
The game…
The Cyclones took the opening kickoff and didn’t waste much time in finding the end zone as quarterback Rhett Slagle hit Jeriah Griffin for a nine-yard scoring strike to make it a 7-0 game on Will Bowers’s point-after attempt.
After forcing a Cherokee turnover on downs, Elizabethton scored again thanks to the arm of Slagle and the sure hands of Griffin, who hauled in a 10-yard scoring pass for a 14-0 lead after Bowers was perfect once again with 7:53 left on the first quarter clock.
Elizabethton wasn’t finished yet in the quarter as Slagle collected his third scoring toss of the quarter this time to Luke Whaley from 14 yards out. Bowers remained perfect with his third extra point of the contest.
The first quarter ended in a 21-0 start for the Cyclones.
Second quarter…
Elizabethton picked right back up in the second the way the first quarter ended as Griffin collected his third scoring pass – this time from Justin Whitehead from 10 yards out. Bowers nailed his fourth PAT and the lead was 28-0 with 8:16 left before half time.
Less than three minutes later, senior running back Kaleb Holzer muscled his way over the goal line for another Cyclone score, making it 35-0 on Bowers’s boot.
Cherokee couldn’t manage to get any momentum and thought they had capped the Cyclones scoring for the first half, but what they didn’t count on was Griffin taking a punt at the Cyclone 15-yard line and racing 85 yards back the other way for a score for his fourth touchdown of the first half. Caleb Campbell took care of the extra point and Elizabethton led 42-0 at the intermission.
Third quarter…
With fresh new faces and some players swapping over to new positions, the scoring slowed in the third quarter as the Cyclones were the only team to score in the quarter as senior Cam Baker plunged over the goal line from five yards away to extend the advantage to 49-0 on Logan Dillow’s PAT.
Fourth quarter…
Cherokee broke up the shut out bid early in the fourth quarter when Kalija Sexton bulled his way to pay dirt on a one-yard touchdown run. The kick was no good and the scoreboard read 49-6 Elizabethton with 11:18 remaining on a running clock.
On the ensuing kickoff, senior speedster Luke “Dewey” Whaley took the football at the Cyclone 25 and 75 yards later, stood in the red-painted Chief end zone on another special team score for Elizabethton to push the lead to 56-6 on Campbell’s kick.
The game’s final score was one of beauty as Baker bolted through the interior of the Cherokee defense and was on his way for a 70-yard scoring jaunt. Bowers finished off the scoring with his sixth PAT of the game.
Upcoming…
Unless the Cyclone athletic department and administration can find another team to play Friday night, there will be no football played at Citizens Bank Stadium for the fifth consecutive week.
The reason being that Daniel Boone canceled their game with the Cyclones after the contest with conference foe Morristown West was also rained out and both teams decided to cancel their upcoming non-conference games and play only their conference game on Thursday of this week.
There are a lot of unhappy Cyclone fans as well as players as the Cyclones 19 seniors will now have only three home games in 2023 unless a fill-in team is found to replace Boone on the Cyclone schedule.
Elizabethton, 63-6
ELIZABETHTON 21 21 7 14 — 63
CHEROKEE 0 0 0 6 — 6
SCORING SUMMARY
First Quarter
E — Jeriah Griffin 9 pass from Rhett Slagle (Bowers kick), 10:33
E — Griffin 10 pass from Slagle (Bowers kick), 7:53
E — Luke Whaley 14 pass from Slagle (Bowers kick), 2:31
Second Quarter
E — Griffin 10 pass from Justin Whitehead (Bowers kick), 8:16
E — Kaleb Holzer 4 run (Bowers kick), 5:28
E — Griffin 85 punt return (Campbell kick), :22.3
Third Quarter
E — Cam Baker 5 run (Dillow kick), 6:30
Fourth Quarter
C — Kalija Sexton 1 run (kick failed), 11:18
E — Whaley 75 kick return (Campbell kick), 9:36
E — Baker 70 run (Bowers kick), 3:23
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Game Statistics
E C
FIRST DOWNS 9 12
PASSING (C-A-I) 14-15-0 14-18-0
PASSING YARDS 187 162
RUSHES-YARDS 10-161 36-25
TOTAL YARDS 348 187
FUMBLES-LOST 0-0 2-1
PUNTS-AVG. 0-0 5-29.2
PENALTIES-YARDS 7-55 4-38
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Individual Statistics
PASSING—EHS: Slagle 6-7-0, 86 yds, 3 TD, Whitehead 7-7-0 101 yds TD; CHS: Landon Jeffers 14-18-0 162 yds.
RUSHING— EHS: Holzer 4-20, TD, Baker 3-83 2 TD, Mullins 2-55, Slagle 1-3; CHS: Sexton 19-33 TD, Jeffers 14-(-)8, Lawson 2-3, Team 1-(-)3.
RECEIVING— EHS: Griffin 5-61, 3 TD, Blevins 3-55, Whaley 2-35 TD, Ball 2-2, Baker 1-28, Z. Mullins 1-6; CHS: Fletcher 4-44, Hayes 2-40, Gonzalez 2-35, Catron 2-18, Brooks 2-14, Moncier 1-9, August 1-2.SACKS — EHS: Ball, Blevins, Guess, McGovern, Wallen.
FUMBLE RECOVERIES — EHS: Adams; CHS: Jeffers.
