Rider, Witten eras have given Cyclones a half-century of memorable moments

Shawn Witten just happens to enter his 20th season as Elizabethton's head football coach the same year the Cyclones mark the 50-year anniversary of his grandfather's coaching debut. Dave Rider took the reins of Elizabethton's football program in 1976. Since then, Elizabethton has played only eight seasons without either Rider or his grandson in the head coaching position. "There's a sense of pride being here, walking the sidelines and now we've got a new facility named after (Rider)," Witten proclaimed on media day, standing inside Elizabethton High School's newly opened Dave Rider Center for Athletic Performance. "Just carrying on those footsteps, the way we were taught and raised, pouring that back into our program, it's really cool." Oh, and Witten's son Rider is entering his eighth grade season at T.A. Dugger Junior High, where he plays on the same field his family built their legacy at Brown-Childress Stadium. Not to mention, Shawn's older brother Ryan Witten serves as T.A. Dugger's head coach, in addition to assisting the high school program and coaching the women's flag football team at Milligan. Far as Northeast Tennessee coaches go, only Daniel Boone's Jeremy Jenkins has been in his current position longer than Witten, having taken over the Trailblazers in 2004. Witten took over as head coach for Elizabethton in 2007. All told, let's take a look back on some of the top moments of the Rider/Witten era of the past half-century. Sept. 3, 1976 — Look no further than Dave Rider's inaugural victory with the Cyclones. Coming off an opening loss to Morristown West, Elizabethton hit the road to face defending Big 9 Conference champion Sullivan Central. The Cougars hadn't lost a regular season game since November 1974. Elizabethton flipped the script, thanks to three field goals (27, 34, 22 yards) from junior Dallas, Texas, transfer Mark French. His third field goal came with 6:17 left and lifted Betsy to a 9-7 triumph. Oct. 21, 1977 — At a time when only conference champions made the TSSAA playoffs, the winner between Elizabethton and Dobyns-Bennett would represent the Big 7 Conference in the postseason. Elizabethton won state in 1938 but had yet to reach the playoffs since the TSSAA made the postseason permanent in 1969. D-B had reached the Class AAA semifinals the previous year. Elizabethton, coming off a 5-5 season, took a 10-7 halftime lead on Mark French's 20-yard field goal. Quarterback Jimmy Frazier, who had thrown a 76-yard pass to Scott Rider for the tying touchdown, scored the winning TD on a 2-yard keeper with 7:10 left. Cyclones 17, D-B 14. 1980 and 1982 — Seven years into the Rider era, Elizabethton had won three conference titles, posting 9-2 overall records all three times. A 6-0 triumph over Tennessee High helped seal the 1980 conference title, two weeks after Betsy's 26-18 win over Science Hill. The 1982 Cyclones held their first nine opponents to a combined total of 27 points, pitching five shutouts. The closest calls were wins over Science Hill (7-0) and Volunteer (14-6), as Elizabethton held a two-game lead in the conference standings entering Game 10. Nov. 11, 1994 — The Cyclones had made the playoffs five times previously under Rider's tutelage. But on this night, Elizabethton collected its first playoff victory since winning the 1938 state title, a 21-18 triumph over Cocke County. Sean Pierce recovered a Cocke County fumble inside the Betsy 5 in the final minutes to help preserve the win. T.J. Garland scored on a 1-yard run and threw for two scores (16 yards to Andy O'Quinn, 9 yards to Gaylon McConnell). Mickey Hunsinger's three PATs made the difference. Nov. 20, 1998 — Elizabethton's first trip to Burley Stadium in 1998 didn't go so well, a 28-6 Greeneville victory. But in the playoff rematch, senior quarterback Shawn Witten and the Cyclones got revenge in dominant fashion, 43-14. "We were on the cusp of being the No. 1 ranked team in 4A when they beat us (in the regular season)," Witten recalled. "That was just a huge statement game, Fred Sorrells and Dave Rider, I think that really kickstarted the rivalry between us and Greeneville. Playing them twice the same season really kicked that off." Witten went 11-of-18 for 201 yards with TD passes to Travis Jeffers (27 yards) and Stephen Trivette (45 yards), while keeping himself for 1- and 2-yard TD runs. Andrew Rhinehart and Johnnie DuVall, who along with junior linebacker/tight end Jason Witten had missed the first game with injuries, each scored on 11-yard runs. It also marked the end of the Fred Sorrells era in Greeneville after 22 years, the Devils having gone 12-1. Semifinal runs from 1997-99 — The aforementioned win at Greeneville came in the midst of three straight trips to the Class 4A semifinals for Elizabethton. After beating Greeneville 46-16 to open the 1997 playoffs, Elizabethton won twice on the road to reach the final four. Demetrius Turner's 49-yard TD run in the final three minutes secured a 12-7 second-round win at Region 2 champion Morristown East, before the Cyclones once again took down Cocke County 29-6 in the quarterfinals. The 1999 Cyclones took down Cocke County, Sullivan Central and Daniel Boone by a combined 128-32 at Brown-Childress Stadium to reach the semis. The 47-14 quarterfinal victory over Boone gave Rider his final victory, and he finished 173-79 as the Cyclones' head coach. Aug. 28, 2009 — Shawn Witten had laid the groundwork in his first two years as head coach. But the Cyclones took a giant leap in Year 3, jumpstarted by their 23-14 victory at Science Hill in Game 2. It was Betsy's first win over the Toppers in seven years. Ryan Thomas ran for 50 yards and two scores while throwing for 119, with a 12-yard TD pass to Chantz DeMoss to accompany Taylor Hodge's 43-yard field goal. "I think this shows our program's headed in the right direction," Witten said at the time. "Our kids have worked hard and paid the price." Witten was right. Far as his most memorable wins go, he considers this one to be 1A. We'll get to 1B soon. 2009, 2010 and 2012 semifinal runs — Those 2009 Cyclones began a string of three state semifinal runs in four years — beating Cumberland Gap, Sullivan North and Austin-East by a combined 131-20 to get there. The 2010 squad went 6-4 in the regular season but won two playoffs games on the road, starting at Chuckey-Doak. After a 14-13 win over Austin-East, the Cyclones took down Gatlinburg-Pittman 32-28 in the quarterfinals. Terrence Turner had 209 all-purpose yards that game, with Alec Whitehead ran for 122 yards, and McKenly Berry threw for 145. Luke Nidiffer went 1 yard for the winning TD. In 2012, Elizabethton topped Johnson County and Gatlinburg-Pittman in the first two rounds to set up a memorable quarterfinal with coach Robbie Norris' Sullivan North Raiders. Nov. 16, 2012 — Elizabethton had beaten North on a Logan Birchfield field goal in the regular season, and the two met again at Brown-Childress Stadium two months later. Ethan Thomas (255 yards) and Terrence Turner (118 yards) both ran for two touchdowns. So did quarterback Caleb Bailey, who went 1 yard for the winning score in overtime to set off a celebration as the Cyclones won 41-38. Those were North's only two losses of 2012 (11-2). Nov. 11, 2016 — Between 2009-16, Elizabethton won six conference titles. But Class 3A was still under the Alcoa-CAK stranglehold at the time. That is, until this night, when the Cyclones ended years of frustration with a 45-13 triumph. Corey Russell accounted for 403 total yards — 148 rushing, 96 passing and 159 return. He rushed for three touchdowns, setting up one with his 95-yard interception return, and threw a 20-yard TD to Conner Johnson. Jacob Turner ran for 122 yards and two scores. It marked the first time that Alcoa and CAK wouldn't get their playoff rematch, and Elizabethton played Alcoa to a 17-14 game in the quarterfinal round. 2019 and 2020 state champions — Oct. 18, 2019, marked a turning point in Elizabethton's rivalry with Greeneville, which was defending back-to-back 4A state titles. Jaxton Holly's 34-yard field goal gave the Cyclones a 24-21 victory in the regular season. And after defeating Sullivan South in Round 2 of the playoffs, Elizabethton and the Greene Devils met again at Citizens Bank Stadium. Greeneville led 13-0 early, but the Cyclones responded with 24 unanswered points. Bryson Rollins threw for 91 yards and 2 touchdowns (Parker Hughes, Zach Hartley) while rushing for 99 yards and another score. After beating Nolensville 34-12 for its first semifinal win since 1938, Elizabethton took down Springfield 30-6 for the 4A state title. Cade Maupin ran for two TDs, and MVP Rollins rushed for 136 yards with one score while hitting Hartley for another. The 2020 quarterfinal round marked a rematch of Elizabethton's 44-10 victory at Greeneville in Game 8. The rematch was much closer, Rollins and Cade Russell both running for touchdowns. Rollins went 7 yards for the winning score midway through the fourth quarter, and Hughes' interception sealed it. After another semifinal win over Nolensville, the Cyclones defended their state championship with a 41-14 victory over Haywood. Jake Roberts scored on a touchdown catch, a pick-six and a fumble return to earn MVP honors. Rollins threw for 172 yards with touchdowns to Hughes and Roberts. Rollins and Hughes each ran for a score too. Nov. 19, 2021 — Here's 1B under Witten's most memorable wins. Why separate this quarterfinal win over Greeneville from the other two? Because the Greene Devils were pretty heavy favorites in this one, having already beaten the Cyclones 42-12 at Citizens Bank Stadium in Week 3. But quarterback Bryson Rollins flipped the script, keeping 38 times for 200 yards as Elizabethton controlled the tempo. Brady Quillen hit Adjatay Dabbs on a 31-yard pass for the first touchdown, before Nate Stephens' 5-yard TD run tied the halftime score 7-7. Rollins hit Jake Roberts for a 21-yard touchdown with 9:40 left, and the Cyclones pulled a quarterfinal stunner 13-7. "Bryson really stole the show," Witten recalled. Elizabethton beat Upperman the following week to secure another BlueCross Bowl berth, finishing runner-up to Tullahoma. Witten and the Cyclones have enjoyed some memorable wins since then, including but not limited to a 14-7 win at Dobyns-Bennett in 2023 and a 14-13 comeback win over Fulton in the 2024 Class 4A playoffs. Witten surpassed his granddad as Elizabethton's winningest coach this past season, now sitting at 178-57 for his career. And the family legacy doesn't appear to be slowing down anytime soon.