COVINGTON – The Parents’ Night crowd at Covington’s Smith Field did not get a sweet taste of the Buccaneers, but Springfield Shawnee is still picking Pirates out of their teeth after chewing up coach Larrie Tisdale’s crew, 42-8, in Mad River Valley League action Friday night.

Too many mistakes spelled doom for the Buccs, and as many an MRVL coach can attest, the Braves aren’t a team to make mistakes against. Two Covington fumbles and one pass interception directly resulted in two Springfield touchdowns.

Oddly enough, the game started out to be just the opposite the way it ended.

Covington took the opening kickoff and, after just six plays from scrimmage, had rattled the scoreboard with a 45-yard scoring strike from quarterback Rex Huffman to flanker Ed Hartley. That same combination accounted for the conversion points, and it was 8-0 Covington, with less than four minutes gone in the game.

Shawnee bounced back – or Covington actually gave them a little shove – when late in the first quarter the Buccs fumbled on their own eight-yard line. On the very next play, Keith Gilliland made the Buccs eat their mistake, muscling the eight yards to paydirt. The conversion was no good, and Covington still clung to an 8-6 lead.

The Buccs failed to do anything with the Shawnee kickoff, and a Covington loss on downs gave Springfield the ball on their own 35. Again it was Gilliland, and again it was six points on the board on the first play from scrimmage with 11:29 left in the half.

Again the Braves’ defense held tight and the Buccs were forced to punt, and the kick was returned all the way to the Covington 32. Greg Wells scored two plays later from the 22, and the futile conversion attempt made it 20-8, Shawnee, with 5:18 left in the half.

Another Covington fumble gave the ball back to Shawnee inside the Buccs’ 25, and two plays later, Shawnee was in the endzone again, this time on a pass play. Huston received the conversion pass that made the score 28-8 at halftime.

The Buccs played even-up ball with Shawnee in the third period, and even held the Braves away from a touchdown on the one-yard line as the opening 12 minutes of the second half was nothing but a defensive battle.

Then, the roof fell in on Covington. Gilliland scored a touchdown and a conversion and Ron Billet pushed across the final Braves tally on a 35-yard pass interception with 8:43 left in the game. The scoring closed with Covington on a short end of a 42-8 score, and with Shawnee still the unbeaten co-leader of the MRVL.

Scoring By Quarters:
Covington …..8……0…..0……0 – 8
Shawnee …….6….22….0….14 – 42

Scoring Summary:
Covington – Hartley, 45-yard pass from Huffman; PAT: Hartley pass from Huffman
Shawnee – Gilliland, 8-yard run; PAT: run failed
Shawnee – Gilliland, 5-yard run; PAT: Gilliland run
Shawnee – Wells, 22-yard run; PAT: run failed
Shawnee – Brown, 18-yard pass play; PAT: Huston run
Shawnee – Gilliland, 7-yard run; PAT: Gilliland pass
Shawnee – Billet, 35-yard pass interception; PAT: run failed