October 1, 2004 – Covington
The Covington Buccaneers dropped their second game of the season with a 14-7 loss to the Arcanum Trojans at Covington’s Smith Field.
Arcanum controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball the entire evening as evident by an advantage of 335 yards of total offense to Covington’s 124 yards. All 335 of Arcanum’s yards came on the ground, which helped the Trojans control the clock.
Covington, playing without their leading rusher, sophomore Gene Studebaker, could only manage 85 yards on the ground. The Buccs averaged 2.7 yards per carry on 31 attempts.
Despite their offensive struggles, Covington was still in the game throughout.
Arcanum opened up the scoring with 5:06 left in the first quarter on a 4-yard run by Ty Cates. The point-after failed leaving the score 6-0 in Arcanum’s favor.
After holding Covington on its next possession, the Trojans put together another scoring drive. Again, Ty Cates found the end zone for the Trojans and the two-point conversion was good on a quarterback keeper by Mike Eilerman. With .9 seconds left in the first quarter, the Trojans held a 14-0 lead and the momentum.
The momentum would change quickly midway through the second quarter, however.
As Arcanum was driving into Covington territory, the Buccaneer defense stepped up with a big play. Sophomore defensive back, Corry Patty stepped in front of a Mike Eilerman pass and returned the ball into Trojan territory.
“Corry read the play perfectly and made a nice jump on the ball,” complemented Covington coach, Kevin Finfrock. “That play got us some momentum and we needed it to get us going.”
A few plays later, a little trickery by the Covington coaching staff put the Buccs inside the one-yard line. Senior running back, Kevin Wright, handed the ball off to freshman, Jordy Burelison on an apparent end-around. Burelison fooled the Trojan defense by stopping in the backfield, only to throw a perfect pass to sophomore tight end, Drew Craft. Craft outjumped a Trojan defender for the ball, pulling in the catch at the one.
“That was a well executed play and a nice throw by Jordy,” said Covington coach, Kevin Finfrock. “It got us down there in position to score, which put us right back into the game.”
Sophomore quarterback, Seth Mohler finished the drive moments later with keeper. The extra point by senior kicker, Matt Fulks, was good through the uprights and Covington closed the gap to 14-7 with 3:29 left in the half.
The first half scoring would be all of the scoring either team would do for the remainder of the contest.
Covington had a chance to tie the score as Arcanum turned the ball over with 1:59 left in the game. Covington’s junior lineman, C.J. Potter pounced on a Trojan fumble, giving the Buccs the ball at their own 45.
The threat was ended, however, as Arcanum’s Mike Eilerman picked off a Mohler pass with 1:06 left in the game. Arcanum then ran out the clock to preserve their first win over the Buccs since 1997.
“This is a learning experience for our kids,” said Finfrock. “We got down early, but we continued to play hard. I’m proud of the way our kids hung together tonight. We need to continue to stay focused and hang together as a team.”
The loss puts Covington’s five -year streak as conference champions in jeopardy, but the Buccs are not conceding anything just yet.
“We have a lot of football left to play and there are some things out there for us,” said Finfrock. “The playoffs are not of of the question. We just need to keep playing hard and stick together.”
Covington drops to 4-2 on the season and 3-2 in the Cross County Conference. Arcanum improves to 5-1 overall and 4-0 in league play.
Covington travels to Mississinawa Valley next Friday.
Scoring by Quarters:
Buccs: …….0……0…..0…..0 – 7
Trojans: ….14…..0……0…..0 – 14
