SEPTEMBER 27, 2013 – COVINGTON
Covington celebrated its homecoming festivities with a 46-0 victory over rival Bradford on Friday to improve to 5-0 overall and 4-0 in the CCC.
And it was the breakaway speed of senior tailback/fullback A.J. Ouellette that got Covington rolling early as he scored three times on his first three carries on runs of 72, 60 and 63 yards for a 20-0 lead with 5:05 left in the opening quarter.
“Getting off to a fast start was big,” said Covington coach Dave Miller. “We set the tone early.”
Sophomore quarterback Jared Williams got into the act with an 11-yard run and Ouellette closed out the first quarter with a 27-yard scoring run to push the Covington lead to 33-0.
The Buccaneers put two more touchdowns on the board in the second quarter, one on a three-yard run by Bobby Alexander and then a 10-yard run by homecoming king Justin Williams for a 46-0 lead.
“Our starters did a nice job of executing the offense,” Miller explained. “But we still have a lot of things we can improve on and the kids know that.”
With the game well in hand, Covington went to the younger kids in the second half and the reserve unit put together a 15-play drive to open the second half – a drive that ate nearly ten minutes off the clock.
Unfortunately, a penalty stalled the drive deep in Bradford territory.
“It would have been nice to see us finish that drive,” Miller said. “We converted on two fourth down plays and had the ball inside the five when we got the penalty. Our younger kids need to learn to finish there.”
Still, Covington received another chance to put points on the board as Chance Setters intercepted a Bradford pass and returned it to the Railroaders twenty.
But once again, a 15-yard penalty set Covington back and the Buccaneers couldn’t reach pay dirt.
“The penalties are drive killers,” said Miller. “We’ve had way too many penalties.”
Covington has also had issues protecting the football and converting extra points in the kicking game.
“Those are areas we need to address and correct in a hurry,” continued Miller. “Penalties, holding onto the football and extra points. We’re not doing a very good job in those areas and it could come back to bite us if we don’t get it corrected.”
Covington missed three extra points, put the ball on the ground three times with one resulting into a turnover and had 11 penalties for 85 yards.
But on this night, those mistakes didn’t come back to hurt the Buccaneers thanks to a stingy defense that allowed just 70 yards of total offense and negative 11 yards of rushing.
“Our kids were getting after it on the defensive side of the ball,” Miller explained. “We got a lot of pressure on their quarterback and the good thing about it is we didn’t have to blitz to do it.”
Offensively, Covington churned out 431 total yards, all coming via the run game. The Buccaneers had 18 first downs to just 2 for Bradford.
The Buccaneers host Tri-County North next week in a battle of two unbeaten teams, while Bradford (0-5, 0-4) hosts Ansonia (1-4, 0-4) next week for its homecoming.
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
BUCCS – 33 – 13 – 0 – 0 = 46
‘ROADERS – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 = 0
SCORING SUMMARY:
COV: A.J. Ouellette 72-yd run (Bobby Alexander Kick)
COV: A.J. Ouellette 60-yd Punt return (Kick Failed)
COV: A.J. Ouellette 63-yd run (Bobby Alexander Kick)
COV: Jared Williams 11-yd run (Bobby Alexander Kick)
COV: A.J. Ouellette 27-yd run (Kick Failed)
COV: Bobby Alexander 3-yd run (Kick Failed)
COV: Justin Williams 10-yd run (Bobby Alexander Kick)
