COVINGTON – It was a long Friday night for the Covington Buccaneers in their opening encounter with Tipp City and Bucc coach Larrie Tisdale is probably still awake, wondering what hit his Buccs.
Tipp City handed Covington a 48-22 drubbing, a beating Covington teams have not taken in quite a spell.
Tisdale didn’t have much to say, at least anything printable, after his dejected Buccs took to the locker room, but Tipp’s second-year coach, Ernest Simpson, had nothing but praise for a fine team effort for his Devils.
“We played an all-around fine game,” commented Simpson. “We hit first, and that’s what counts.”
Simpson felt that Covington has a fine ball club, but not what they had in 1969, and that, coupled with the fact that the Devils are a larger, more experienced unit, spelled doom for the Buccs.
Tipp opened the scoring with a 73-yard touchdown jaunt by Jim Pentaudi on the first play of the game. The run for conversion failed, but Tipp had a 6-0 lead.
Then, with 2:49 remaining in the first period, Tipp again drew blood with Randy Thompson cracking to paydirt from seven yards out. The kick for the extra point failed.
Covington bounced back with Denny Cain taking in a seven-yard score with 48 seconds remaining in the period, and Mike Manson muscled in for the conversion to make the score 12-8.
Then came the turning point of the game as Tipp’s Floyd Purvis took the Covington kickoff on his own 12 yard line and rumbled 88 yards for the score, putting the Devils on top 18-8, and putting the Buccs mentally down.
Tipp was quick to strike again with Greg Looker scoring the Red Devils’ fourth touchdown from six yards out with 9:59 left in the half. The conversion pass again failed.
Bob Gumbert and Pentaudi added another touchdown apiece in the second period, and at halftime, Tipp City was in the driver’s seat, 36-8.
The Buccs scored first in the third quarter with Cain again reaching the endzone, this time from the two. The conversion run failed, and with 7:03 left in the period, it was 36-14.
It wasn’t until 39 seconds remained in the third period that the Devils again scored with Gumbert tallying a three-yard score and a 42-14 lead. The pass for the extra points failed.
Tipp closed out its scoring with a five-yard run by Looker with 6:46 remaining in the game. The conversion attempt failed yet again.
Finally, with 1:19 left to play, Covington recorded its final touchdown when senior tight end Ed Hartley took a Rex Huffman pass on the Tipp 35 and raced to the endzone. Gary Ellis took Huffman’s pass for conversion points, making the final score 48-22, Tipp.
Scoring By Quarters:
Covington ……..8……0…..6…..8 – 22
Tipp City ……..18….18….6…..6 – 42
Scoring Summary:
Tipp City – Pentaudi, 73-yard run; PAT: run failed
Tipp City – Thompson, 7-yard run; PAT: kick failed
Covington – Cain, 7-yard run; PAT: Manson run
Tipp City – Purvis, 88-yard kickoff return; PAT: pass failed
Tipp City – Looker, 6-yard run: PAT: pass failed
Tipp City – Gumbert, 10-yard run; PAT: pass failed
Covington – Cain, 2-yard run; PAT: run failed
Tipp City – Gumbert, 3-yard run; PAT run failed
Tipp City – Looker, 5-yard run; PAT: run failed
Covington – Huffman, 35-yard pass to Hartley; PAT: Manson run