Offense Dominates in Dobyns-Bennett Scrimmage at Elizabethton
by STEVE WILMOTH
TriCitiesSports.com
July 27, 2018
ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. – Dobyns-Bennett and Elizabethton produced an offensive highlight reel in the first scrimmage of the pre-season for both squads Friday evening at Citizens Bank Stadium.
Efficiency from the Cyclone offense was widely expected with the combination of quarterback Carter Everett and all-purposed back Corey Russell.
But the Indians were playing without injured starting quarterback Lendon Redwine and returning slot receiver Cade Maupin.
Maupin, who sprained a PCL in his knee during a travel baseball tournament last weekend, could miss several games before returning.
Meanwhile, Redwine stepped in a rivet in his yard and twisted an ankle the same weekend. Redwine could return for next Friday’s scrimmage against Tennessee High or a scrimmage against Ooltewah at Tusculum the following Tuesday.
Without the 6-5 senior, first-year Dobyns-Bennett head coach Joey Christian handed the controls to sophomore Zane Whitson and relied mostly on the Indians’ bruising ground attack.
“I thought offensively we controlled the line of scrimmage mostly,” noted Christian. “We’ve got five running backs that can play.”
Four of those running backs combined to find the end zone six times. Senior Ian Hicks scored from a couple of yards out and junior Nic Bristol hauled in two wheel routes from Whitson for touchdowns.
“Zane (Whitson) protected the ball well,” added Christian. “I thought he made the right reads. I thought he spun it pretty well where we was supposed to and took care of the ball which is what we asked him to do.”
Sophomore Eli Jennings had a nifty 60+ yard touchdown run after breaking a tackle at the line of scrimmage and sprinting around right end. Another sophomore, Phillip Armitage, also had a pair of touchdown runs.
Everett and Russell, who have combined for nearly 10,000 total yards and 120 total touchdowns as Cyclones, hooked up on two long touchdowns in the game. Everett also threw a third long touchdown pass.
“Everett and Russell, those are two pretty special players,” said first-year Tribe head coach Joey Christian. “We didn’t leverage the ball like I would like for us to do on the perimeter.
“I thought we did pretty well up the middle with the inside running game, but we have to do better of rallying out there, how to rally and how to stay on blocks and how not open running lanes out on the perimeter after they get the ball on the perimeter. We’ve got to squeeze that better out there.”
Christian said the Tribe’s defensive depth chart may look different when practice resumes on Monday.
“I felt like some guys defensively passed some guys up today,” acknowledged Christian. “We’ll see how it goes next week in practice.”
Elizabethton survived a significant injury scare when star offensive lineman Garrett Jennings injured a knee on the first play of the scrimmage. Cyclone personnel said later the injury didn’t appear to be serious.
Dobyns-Bennett will host a Meet The Indians Tailgate Kickoff Party next Friday night at J. Fred Johnson Stadium. The tailgate begins at 5:00 p.m. with the scrimmage against Tennessee High starting at 6:00 p.m. A War Hoop Competition is set for 7:15 p.m. and following the scrimmage the Dobyns-Bennett Marching Band will premier their halftime show.
Admission is free although tickets for food at the tailgate party are $10 each and can be pre-purchased online at www.dbband.org or www.dbqbclub.com.