Bigslydog1983

Give credit where credit is due Elizabethton made big steps against Grainger the other night. Saw alot of improvement on the offensive side of the ball. However it's hard to gage that against a team who barely slipped by Sullivan East and just got throttled the week before by Chuckey Doak. Elizabethton's going to win out the rest of their conference games that's a given the rest of the conference games they play will look alot similar to the Grainger county game outside of possibly Semour. But let's see if there is any production on the offensive side of the ball against two tough teams like AC and Rhea County first before we get ahead of ourselves. Go Cyclone!!!

I was wondering the same thing ?

What's the injury report look like this week? Heard a key player might be out.

Hampton - 36 Happy Valley - 7

I'm gonna say offense does enough to get it done this week and the defense throws a shout-out. Cyclones - 28 Grainger - 0

I think this is a game that the Cyclones is definitely favored in. What's everyone's thoughts on this week's matchup?

I said it in my last post. Your better off at playing the Maupin kid at QB and grooming him for next year unless I'm missing something. Offensively they need to take some shots and quit being fun shy of throwing the ball 10 yards or less.

Boones special teams is as good as anyone's in the state. Not to mention they will be alot more disciplined on both sides of the ball than Greeneville was. This could be a scary game for the Cyclones. I see both teams bringing a great crowd for an exciting atmosphere.

Cloudland will be better towards the end of the year but I don't see this game being close. Dogs - 40 .Cloudland- 12

Just my opinion but when you have success like Elizabethton has had over the past few years. When you win 2 out of 3 state championships parents/fans expectations are going to be high.And there is a standard. Let's be honest from a football perspective offensively when you graduate kids like Hughes and Rollins that accounted for the majority of your offense and those two kids are a rare breed of athletes that you might not see for a long time. Same thing with Cory Russell that played there. And then you look at the hogs they had on both sides of the ball the 2 years they won it back to back. This is a different team with a totally different identity than your past 3 seasons. You don't have a certain QB that is seasoned much less gotten a lot of reps. You don't have a freak of an athlete like Hughes that could catch anything threw at him in a 10 mile radius and get it out and go in the backfield with allusive play making abilities. You also hear that the playbook is vanilla and Elizabethton doesn't throw the ball enough. Well there could be a reason for that. Their not the type of team that is going to have success throwing the ball 15 or 20 times a game. That's just not who they are. Now do I think they need to throw it down the field a little more yes but as far as them throwing the ball all over the field consistently and having success that's not gonna happen with the situation their in. Offensively- They're going to have to be more consistent and tougher up front so they can establish a running game. Also they have to block better in the flats. Coaches gotta find a way to get the ball into Orton and Griffins hands down the field to take some pressure off Russell and Stephens. They are to athletic and very capable of making big time plays. Defensively- I don't think they are playing that bad but their secondary has to do a better job of defending the pass. Tackling has got to be a little better but that will get fixed. Greeneville had 18 first downs to our 4 on Friday so more 3 and outs and ability to create turnovers needs to be a main focus as well. Bottom line is the seniors hasn't ever had to be in a situation like they are going through right now facing a potential 0-3 start. The only thing the cyclones can do going forward is to keep getting better at all the little detailed things and ignore any negativity and focus on being a better football team each day. "Just my 2 cents" .