Fifty-two seconds separated the Covington Buccaneers from an unbeaten season and a spot along side of the 1951, 1952 and 1960 Covington teams to have never lost a game. Unfortunately, Miami East shocked the Buccs 12-6 to capture their first win ever against Covington. The defeat left a bad taste in the mouth’s of the Covington faithful, but didn’t diminish a spectacular season.

Defensively, this was the best unit in the 19-year history of Covington football. Coach Tom Steele’s Buccaneers only surrendered an amazing 26 points in ten games for a 2.6 per-game average. Covington also recorded seven shutouts against a schedule consisting of all but one Class AA opponents.

The defensive line was the most dominating since the opening of Covington football in 1947. Tom Weer, Ted Peacock, Mike Beireis, Doug Minnick, Mike Shaffer, Chuck Deal and others wreaked havoc on opposing quarterbacks and running backs. The rest of the defensive unit provided outstanding run support and shut down the opposing passing game. The defensive unit had speed to cover a lot of ground in a hurry with the likes of John Flory, Kent Thompson, Ted Hartley to name a few.

With the defensive unit holding the opposition, the Covington offense had the ball a lot. With backs John Flory and Kent Thompson leading the way, the Buccs racked up 359 points. Flory, the 140-pound speedster, also ran for a single-game school record of 322 yards against Graham. Flory and Thompson were joined in the backfield by powerful junior fullback, Bob Rudy. Others contributing were quarterback Tim Feeser, Tom Bitner, Paul Penny, Mike McMaken and Scott Thompson.

1965 Buccaneer Scoring Leaders:
Kent Thompson – 130
John Flory – 122
Bob Rudy – 68