Friday, Sept. 21, 2001 – ARCANUM
When you look at the Arcanum Trojan’s roster you will notice there are not too many seniors. They are talented but fairly wet behind the ears. The Buccs roster, however, is riddled with experienced seniors and juniors. Many of them have two or three years under their belts at the varsity level.

So, looking at the rosters one would think there was a blowout coming. No, 25-3 was not a blowout when you consider the game was much closer then the score indicated. It wasn’t pretty for the Buccs but a win is a win.

The Buccs came out flat to start the game. Arcanum shut the Buccs down on their first drive and kept the Buccs pinned on their own side of the 50 for most of the first half. The Trojans displayed a gang-tackling defense that seamed to have the Buccs in a funk.

On the offensive end Arcanum managed to move the ball early against the Buccs vaunted defense. The Trojans put the first points on the board with a 32-yard field goal. For the first time this season, the Buccs were behind on the scoreboard. But, it was still early.

As the first half wound down the Buccs began to impose their experience. Suddenly the Covington running game began to click in. The Buccs to put together an impressive scoring drive to go into the locker room with a 7-3 lead. Josh Burelison sliced in from the 3 for his first of three touchdowns.

The second half was all Covington. Whether it was coaching adjustments or just the “Want To” by the players, the results were more dominating in the second half. On their first drive of the third quarter, Josh Burelison broke loose from 19 yards out to go up 13-3. On the Buccs’ second drive of the third, Boomer Schmidt broke two tackles at the line of scrimmage and outran the Trojan defense 50 yards to put the Buccs up 19-3.

For good measure, Josh Burelison scored his third touchdown of the night in the fourth quarter to give the Buccs a 25-3 win.

2News Team Of The Week
Channel 2 News was in town Thursday to pay a visit to Covington High School. The reason, the Covington Buccaneers were their choice for “Team of the Week”, an award WDTN Channel 2 News gives to the week’s best performers. Channel 2 also has a show called “Operation Football” which covers the results of every game in the Greater Dayton Area. Viewers can catch the show after the 11:00 pm news every Friday night on Channel 2.

The Buccs and their fans accepted the award in grand fashion. The entire student body met in the gymnasium to pay tribute to the players and coaches in their time of recognition. The players and coaches received t-shirts and a plaque.

The Buccs received the award for their tough battle with Ansonia last week.

Quick as a hiccup…
There are certain players a coach can rely on at the goal line. One, who first and foremost, will not put the ball on the ground. A player who has a knack for finding the smallest creases and managing to feel his way into the end zone. For the past two years, that player for the Buccs has been Josh Burelison.

He’s not the biggest player the Buccs have. He’s probably not the fastest either. What he does have, is great vision. When you watch him run, you can see him think two moves ahead. It’s a rarity to see Burelison hit cleanly. It is almost always a group of defenders who bring him down. He is always one step away from talking it to the house.

So far this year, Burelison has 12 scores and is on pace to reach the end zone 24 times. He is also on pace to reach the 1,000 yard plateau for the second straight season. With the excellent backs who have come through Covington while Burelison has been playing, his accomplishments seem that much more impressive.