August 29, 2003 – ANNA
When is rains, it pours, literally. There was a lot of rain as the Covington Buccaneers and the Anna Rockets hooked up in an early season showdown between two of the favorites to challenge for the Cross County Conference title. What transpired was the Buccaneers pouring it on the Rockets for a convincing 38-6 victory. The win extends Covington’s regular season winning streak to 36 games and sends a message to the rest of the conference that the Buccs’ are still the team to beat.
“This is a big, big win for us,” said Covington coach Kevin Finfrock. “Anna’s a very fine football team and we are thrilled to come out of tonight with a win like this, especially under the weather conditions.”
The weather had an affect on both teams as the game was delayed for and hour and a half late in the first quarter. By then Covington had stormed out to a 21-0 lead and had everything going their way.
After holding Anna on their first possession of game, Covington took over the game early. After a key catch by Ross Mohler to set the Buccs up inside the Rocket’s 10, Matt McCord finished the drive with a 7-yard run up the middle for a 7-0 lead.
On Anna’s next possession, Covington’s Dusty Rhoades intercepted an overthrown pass and returned the ball to the Rocket’s 1-yard line. From there Brady Reck forced his way in for a 14-0 Buccaneer’ lead with 4:52 left in the first.
The Buccs again held Anna and took over at their own 30. After a 2-yard gain, Matt McCord took the hand-off and broke loose for a 68-yard run for Covington’s third score of the period. McCord broke two tackles at the line of scrimmage and weaved his way past the Rocket’s defense and outran the secondary for the score.
“Dusty Rhoades had a big block on the play,” said Matt. “He took out the defensive back and a couple of guys went after my legs. I managed to keep my balance so I broke back towards the middle of the field. Once I got in the open, I just tried to outrun everybody.”
After Matt Fulks kicked the extra point to make the score 21-0, the clouds opened up and the rain started to pour. Lightning then forced a halt in the action as the referees sent both teams to the locker rooms.
“That really hurt us,” said Finfrock of the delay. “We were playing so well and had everything going our way and then we have to wait. Anna was able to use that time to adjust defensively and we had to start over again.”
The Rockets took advantage of the delay and made it difficult to for Covington to re-establish their running game. The Buccs did benefit by a Dan Morrow interception, which resulted in a 26-yard field goal by Matt Fulks to put the Buccs up 24-0 with 7:28 to go in the half.
“They started to bring everybody to stop the run,” commented McCord. “I mean, there was like 8 or 9 guys at the line of scrimmage. It was like they had a lot more people on defense then we had on offense. It made it hard to find any holes.”
While Covington had a hard time running the ball, the Rocket offense came to life. Senior Todd Treen hauled in a short screen pass and evaded three Buccaneer defenders for a 30-yard score to put Anna on the board. The 2-point conversion failed and the score remained 24-6 at the half.
Covington put the game out of reach in the third period as Brady Reck connected with Jared Hague over the middle for a 37-yard scoring strike. Hague snuck behind a blitzing defense and Reck delivered the ball in stride to give the Buccs a commanding 31-6 lead.
“We took advantage of them selling out on the run,” described Finfrock. “They didn’t cover the tight end so we took advantage of it. That was a big play because it re-established some momentum we had lost during the delay.”
With the game well in hand, coach Finfrock turned things over to the second team late in the fourth quarter. After a Matt McCord fumble recovery on an Anna botched punt, freshman, Seth Mohler finished the scoring with a 2-yard run.
The Buccs improve to 2-0 and 1-0 on the season and host Twin Valley South in their home opener next week.
Scoring by Quarters:
Buccs: …..21……3……7…….7 – 38
Rockets: …0…….6……0……..0 – 6
Scoring Summary:
Cov: Matt McCord 7 yd run (Matt Fulks Kick)
Cov: Brady Reck 1 yd run (Fulks Kick)
Cov: Matt McCord 68 yd run (Fulks Kick)
Cov: Fulks 26 yd Field Goal
Anna: Todd Treen 30 yd pass from from Ashton Egbert (Pass Failed)
Cov: Reck 37 yd pass to Jared Hague (Fulks Kick)
COVINGTON STATS:
First Downs – 9
Rushing – 193
Passing – 111
Total Yrds – 304
Total Plays – 62
Fumbles – 3-3
Covington Rushing:
Matt McCord – 26-104-2td-68long
Nick Christian – 2-48-0td-43long
Ben Adams – 2-34-0td-33long
Gene Studebaker – 2-13-0td-13long
Seth Mohler – 3-2-1td-3long
Corey Patty – 2-1-0td-3long
Brady Reck – 6–-9-1td-11long
Covington Passing:
Brady Reck – 19-9-111-1td-0int-37long
Covington Receiving:
Jared Hague – 3-49-1td–37long
Ross Mohler – 3-49-0td–26long
Matt McCord – 3-13-0td_5long
ANNA STATS:
First Downs – 4
Rushing – 3
Passing – 84
Total Yrds – 87
Total Plays – 58
Fumbles – 2-1
Anna Rushing:
Kyle Hoying – 6-17-0td
Todd Treen – 4-7-0td
Andy Steinke – 3-3-0td
Sean Stewart – 2–2-0td
Brian Egbert – 2–3-0td
DJ Marks – 7–8-0td
Ashton Berner – 8–11-0td
Anna Passing:
Ashton Berner – 26-9-84-1td-4int
Anna Receiving:
Josh Carter – 3-28-0td
DJ Marks – 1-9-0td
Brett Ziegenbusch – 1-10-0td
Kyle Hoying – 1-7-0td
Todd Treen – 1-30-1td