SEPTEMBER 3, 2010 – COVINGTON
It wasn’t a pretty offensive exhibition between Cross County Conference rivals Covington and Bethel on Friday, but the host Buccaneers managed to put together enough offensive success for a 28-7 victory.
“This was a great defensive win,” said Covington coach Dave Miller. “Our defense played lights out.”
Covington held Bethel to just 165 total yards in the contest, but 60 of those came on the Bees’ lone scoring drive late in the fourth quarter – a drive that was concluded with a 24-yard touchdown pass from Jonathan Ellerbrook to Jeff Landis on a fourth-and-twenty play.
By then Covington had called off the dogs and sent in mostly junior varsity players.
“Our kids just flew to the ball (defensively),” Miller explained. “Bethel has a lot of very nice athletes, but we had all eleven guys flying to the ball. We also did a good job of wrapping up.”
Covington opened the scoring in the first quarter with a 16-yard run by freshman A.J. Ouellette, his first varsity touchdown of his career.
But the Buccs couldn’t take advantage of two more golden opportunities to put points on the board, one coming deep inside Bethel territory after a one-handed interception by sophomore linebacker Dylan Owens.
“Offensively, we just didn’t execute the way we wanted too,” Miller said. “They (Bethel) gave us some things that we didn’t take advantage of.”
Still, Covington controlled the line of scrimmage throughout the contest.
“We did a good job up front,” Miller continued. “Things were there for us, but we didn’t execute the way we needed too.”
And Covington found itself in a dog fight heading into the second half until Ouellette gave the Buccs some breathing room with his second touchdown of the night – this time on a 19-yard run where he broke several tackles to get into the end zone.
The freshman led the Buccs in rushing with 59 yards on just eight carries.
Covington scored again later in the third quarter on a well executed drive resulted in a 9-yard touchdown strike from Isaiah Winston to Tyler Noffsinger.
Noffsinger then ended all doubt early in the fourth quarter with a 5-yard touchdown run.
“I’m pleased with the win and the way the kids competed,” said Miller. “But we have more work to do. We have to shore up some penalties and execute better at the offensive end.”
The Buccs improve to 2-0 on the season and 1-0 in the CCC.
Next week Covington travels to rival Bradford in an early season battle between unbeaten teams.
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
BUCCS – 7 – 0 – 14 – 7 = 28
BEES – 0 – 0 – 0 – 7 = 7
SCORING SUMMARY:
1st Quarter:
COV: A.J. Ouellette 16-yd run (Steven Blei Kick)
2nd Quarter:
NONE
3rd Quarter:
COV: A.J. Ouellette 19-yd run (Steven Blei Kick)
COV: Tyler Noffsinger 9-yd pass from Isaiah Winston (Steven Blei Kick)
4th Quarter:
COV: Tyler Niffsinger 5-yd run (Steven Blei Kick)
BET: Jeff Landis 24-yd pass from Jonathan Ellerbrook (Brandon Garlough Kick)
