October 11, 2002 – BRADFORD
The Bradford Railroaders are a team on the rise. Bradford coach, Bob Riley has his team playing with heart and determination, but unfortunately, they just don’t have the overall numbers and talent to deal with a team with the talent that Covington has.
“We played tonight probably the best we’ve played all year,” commented coach Riley. “We still got beat 33-0, but I felt like our intensity was there and we made some big plays, plays we haven’t seen all year. I told the kids I was proud of the way they played. I felt we came in with a good defensive game plan, but we just couldn’t handle Jordan Shafer. We were in position to make plays, but they just threw the ball up to him and he was able to come down with the big plays.”
Shafer got the Buccs on the scorebaord first on a 28-yard touchdown strike from Brady Reck with 3:36 left in the first quarter. This came after Covington failed to move the ball on their first two possessions of the game.
Shafer would strike again with 10:05 left in the first to put the Buccs up 14-0. Jordan hauled in a 7-yard touchdown from back-up quarterback, Ross Mohler who relieved Brady Reck due to an injury.
Mohler and Shafer hooked up again with 8:25 left in the half from 68-yards out to increase Covington’s lead to 20-0. Bradford blocked Matt Fulk’s kick to keep the score 20-0 at the half. Shafer finished the game with 5 receptions for 111 yards and 3 touchdowns.
“I think we did a fine job defensively to keep them pinned down and give our offense good field position,” mentioned Covington coach Ted Peacock. “Offensively, we could have blocked better. We should have dominated on offense, but we didn’t. We did on defense, pretty much. I think through three quarters they had about 77 yards of offense which is pretty good defense. I just thought offensively we didn’t run the ball well and I think part of that was because our line just didn’t block very well.”
Despite the lackluster play, the Buccs put the game out of reach in the third as Jesse Hitt broke loose for a 61-yard touchdown run on Covington’s first play of the second half. Matt McCord finished off the scoring with an 8-yard run early in the fourth.
Bradford did have their share big plays, but none of them resulted in any points. The Railroaders recovered a blocked punt deep in their own territory and returned it for a first down to their own 33. They also intercepted a pass deep in their own territory as Covington was marching in for a potential score.
“I thought Bradford played really well,” continued coach Peacock. “I thought they were really prepared for us. Defensively, they played really good against us. It’s hard to stay with Jordan. He’s a pretty good athlete and I don’t think they had anybody who could match up with him and it showed. I thought they played a lot better than they did last year and they played very hard. That’s a credit to Bob and his staff.”
The Buccs improve to 8-0 on the season and 7-0 in the CCC. Bradford falls to 1-7 on the season and 1-6 in the conference.
Scoring by Quarters:
Buccs: …..7……13……6….7 – 33
Bradford: .0……..0……0….0 – 0
Scoring Summary:
Covington – Jordan Shafer 28-yard pass from Brady Reck (Matt Fulks Kick) – 7-0
Covington – Shafer 7-yard pass from Ross Mohler (Fulks Kick) – 14-0
Covington – Shafer 58-yard pass from Mohler (Fulks Kick Blocked) – 20-0
Covington – Jesse Hitt 61-yard run (Fulks Kick Failed) – 26-0
Covington – Matt McCord 8-yard run (Fulks Kick) 33-0
COVINGTON STATS:
First Downs – 8
Rushing – 187
Passing – 113
Total Yrds – 300
Total Plays – 43
Fumbles – 1-1
Penalties 0-0
Covington Rushing:
Jesse Hitt – 13-116-1td-61long
Brady Reck – 2-28-0td-14long
Mike Varno – 6-20-0td-7long
Matt McCord – 4-13-1td-8long
Kevin Wright – 1-6-0td-6long
Ross Mohler – 2-4-0td-4long
Covington Passing:
Ross Mohler – 9-3-77-2td-1int-58long
Brady Reck – 4-3-36-1td-0int-28long
Covington Receiving:
Jordan Shafer – 5-111-3td-58long
Ross Mohler – 1-2-0td-2long
BRADFORD STATS:
First Downs – 6
Rushing – 62
Passing – 46
Total Yrds – 108
Total Plays – 53
Fumbles – 1-0
Penalties – 0-0
Bradford Rushing:
Brent Harleman – 10-29-0td-7long
David Fike – 8-28-0td-10long
Brad Landis – 8-14-0td-9long
Manuel Hill – 1-2-0td-2long
Ben Rank – 3–3-0td-2long
Nick Mitchell – 10–4-0td-6long
Jordan Hackett – 1–4-0td-0long
Bradford Passing:
Nick Mitchell – 7-3-24-0td-1int-20long
Ben Rank – 5-3-22-0td-0int-18long
Bradford Receiving:
Phil Kosier – 2-16-0td-18long
Brent harleman – 1-2-0td-2long
Brad Landis – 1-20-0td-20long
David Fike – 1-6-0td-6long
Manuel Hill – 1-2-0td-2long