1985: COVINGTON DOMINATES SOUTH

  • Post category:1985 SEASON
Matt Pond follows the block of #55 Mike Hagan.

WEST ALEXANDRIA – The Covington Buccaneers trampled the Twin Valley South Panthers in a strange 35-8 one-sided affair Friday night.

Covington dominated the first half with 164 total yards compared to Twin Valley’s 12 yards.

Covington took the opening kickoff and marched from its own 45-yard line down to the Panther’s nine. Two incomplete passes and two Covington penalties snuffed out the drive. The Buccs held and on their next drive marched again, this time from their own 40 down to the Panther 34-yard line. However, the drive stalled again.

Covington had other drives in the half, but neither team could score.

It was at this point that the game took a strange turn.

Twin Valley took the second-half kickoff and was forced to punt. Rich Phillis took the punt and returned it 63 yards for the touchdown. Bill Besecker added the extra point to give Covington a 7-0 lead.

Covington kicked off and when the ball was touched by a Panther return man it sailed over his head into the end zone. This same man, Steve Hazelbaker, picked up the ball and streaked from one corner of the end zone to the other and the raced 102 yards for a touchdown. It took the Panthers two timeouts to get calmed down, but were able to regroup and score the two-point conversion. The Panthers held a surprising 8-7 lead with nine minutes to go in the third quarter.

The cat stopped toying with the mouse at this point and the Buccs scored on a five-yard run by Phillis. Besecker added the extra point, 14-8, Covington.

The very next time the Buccs touched the ball they scored again. This time it was Ty Owens on a five-yard run. Besecker added the extra point to make it 21-8.

Covington scored again on its next possession. Quarterback Matt Pond raced 10 yards for the score with 9:29 to go in the fourth quarter. Besecker added the 28th point.

Once again on their next possession Covington scored. Heath Finfrock scored on a one-yard run with 2:50 to go. Besecker finished with a perfect night to make the final 35-8.

“That’s a good football team,” said Panther Head Coach Mike Fahrenholz. “The field position killed us. They wore us down. We better start blocking people. We couldn’t throw or catch anything. Our pass protection was poor. We need some speed.”

“We played offensively the second half like we played the first half last week,” said Covington Head Coach Charlie Burgbacher. “We gotta be pleased with the functioning of the offense. Ty Owens had a good game. That takes some of the heat off the other backs. Punt returns really gave us a start.”

Burgbacher said he tried to be positive at halftime. “We had a bad week in practice. We had a bad first half. We made a couple of adjustments and talked about making a break,” he said.

Covington, 2-0, will host Arcanum next week.

SCORING SUMMARY:
COV: Rich Phillis 63-yd punt return (Bill Besecker Kick)
TVS: Steve Hazelbaker 98-yd kick return (David Bingam Run)
COV: Rich Phillis 5-yd run (Besecker Kick)
COV: Ty Owens 5-yd run (Besecker Kick)
COV: Matt Pond 10-yd run (Besecker Kick)
COV: Heath Finfrock 1-yd run (Besecker Kick)

SCORE BY QUARTERS:
Covington: 0 0 21 14 = 35
TV South: 0 0 8 0 = 8

The Buccaneers huddle against Twin Valley South.