October 21, 2005 – BRANDT
The end results from Friday night couldn’t have been better for the Covington Buccaneers in their quest to earn at least a share of the Cross County Conference championship.

First, the Buccaneers put together a game-saving defensive stand to hold off the Bees for a 12-7 win and then Arcanum handed Anna a 13-7 defeat to force a three way tie in league play with one week to go in the regular season.

“We can’t worry about anyone else,” said Covington coach Kevin Finfrock. “We have to focus on us, play within ourselves, and take care of our own business.”

After Covington took its first lead of the contest on a 10-yard pass from Gene Studebaker to Seth Mohler with under 6:00 left in the game, Bethel put together a drive deep into Buccaneer territory.

The Bees marched 72 yards to the Covington three in 5:10. With .34 seconds left to play and their backs to the goal line, Nick Christian shot through the Bethel line to stop Derek Goins in the backfield for a three-yard loss.

The Bees, who had no timeouts left, were forced to pass with .28 seconds left on the clock and Covington’s Logan Brown pulled down the interception to preserve the win.

“That play by Nick was very big because it forced them to pass,” described Finfrock. “Our secondary had very nice coverage and Logan made a great play to get the interception.”

The first half was anything but kind to the Buccaneers as it was a carbon copy of the first half of the game earlier in the season at Anna.

The Buccs failed to capitalize on three trips inside the Bethel 20 and came away without points.

Bethel, on the other hand, managed to take advantage as Derek Goins broke loose on a 42-yard scoring jaunt. The Mitchell Elam kick gave the Bees a 7-0 lead, which stood until the half.

“We weren’t playing with any intensity in the first half,” said Finfrock. “The kids challenged each other in the locker room and showed tremendous character in the second half.”

Playing with more purpose, the Buccaneer offense began to click in the third period behind the running of Studebaker and receiving of Mohler.

Studebaker finally broke loose from 37 yards out to cut the margin to 7-6 as the two-point conversion attempt failed.

After holding the Bees on their next possession, Covington marched down the field again early in the fourth quarter. In a time-consuming drive, the Buccs reached the 10-yard line on a 46-yard run by Studebaker.

On the very next play Studebaker connected with Mohler over the middle for the touchdown and a 12-7 lead. The two-point conversion failed as Studebaker was sacked while looking for an open receiver.

The Bees took the kickoff at their own 35 and began a march down the field for the winning score. Key runs by Goins and a fourth down run by Tony Phillips put Bethel at the Covington 35.

A pass interference penalty move the ball to the 18 and two more runs by Goins gave the Bees the ball with first-and-goal at the three with .34 seconds left.

That left the Christian and Brown heroics on back-to-back plays to seal the deal for the Buccaneers.

“That (stopping Bethel inside the five) was another sign of us staying disciplined and playing within the system,” said Finfrock.

With the win Covington improves to 8-1 overall and is in a three-way tie for the conference lead with a 7-1 record. The win also puts the Buccs in a better position for a higher seed in the state playoffs, but the Buccaneers are not looking ahead.

“We are not thinking about all that (the playoff scenarios),” said Finfrock. “We are focused on Bradford next week. We’ll think about all the other stuff later.”

Scoring by Quarters:
Buccs: …….0……0…..6…..6 – 12
Bees: ……..0……7…..0…..0 – 7

Scoring Summary:
Bethel: Derek Goins 42 yd run (Mitchell Elan kick)
Covington: Gene Studebaker 37 yd run (Pass Failed)
Covington: Studebaker 10 yd pass to Seth Mohler (Pass Failed)