OCTOBER 18, 2013 – COVINGTON
There’s an expectation at Covington with how you play the game – an expectation of effort, enthusiasm and execution for 48 minutes regardless of the score.
And the Covington Buccaneers, who were coming off of two huge wins against previous unbeaten teams in Tri-County North and Miami East, didn’t live up to those expectations in coach Dave Miller’s eyes in spite of a 42-6 victory over Twin Valley South.
“It’s a win,” said Miller. “But we’ve got to to get a lot better. We didn’t play our best football tonight by any means.”
What displeased the Buccaneer coach was the lack of enthusiasm, issues with protecting the football and too many breakdowns defensively.
“We were flat,” he continued. “You could see it in warm-ups. There’s really not much more to say.”
If Covington wants to get to where it is capable of, turnovers are not acceptable and the Buccaneers put the ball on the ground three times in the contest – two resulting into turnovers.
“We put the ball on the ground too often,” Miller explained. “It’s frustrating. We also didn’t have our best night with our reads.”
Still, Covington was able to overcome its mistakes as A.J. Ouellette scored on runs of 85 and 27 yards in the first quarter for a 14-0 Buccaneer lead.
Ouellette then scored on a 19-yard run in the second quarter to give Covington a 21-0 lead at the break.
Another scoring run by Ouellette, this time from 16 yards out to start the second half, gave Covington a 28-0 lead. But Twin Valley South responded by moving methodically down the field to cut the deficit to 28-6 on a one-yard run by Wes Cole.
“We had some breakdowns defensively and they took advantage,” Miller explained. “Their quarterback is a good athlete.”
Covington followed by putting the game away with scoring drives on back-to-back possessions as Ouellette scored from three yards out and Bobby Alexander plowed into the end zone from the one.
In all, Covington racked up 355 yards of offense to 156 for Twin Valley South. The Buccs also held a slim advantage in the number of offensive plays, 48 to 46, but the time of possession could have been much more if it were’t for the two turnovers.
Next week the Buccs, who improve to 8-0 overall and 7-0 in the CCC, will need a much better effort at National Trail (7-1, 6-1).
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
BUCCS – 14 – 7 – 7 – 14 = 42
PANTHERS – 0 – 0 – 6 – 0 = 6
SCORING SUMMARY:
COV: A.J. Ouellette 85-yd run (Ouellette Kick)
COV: A.J. Ouellette 27-yd run (Ouellette Kick
COV: A.J. Ouellette 19-yd run (Ouellette Kick)
COV: A.J. Ouellette 16-yd run (Ouellette Kick)
TVS: Wes Cole 1-yd run (Kick Failed)
COV: A.J. Ouellette 3-yd run (Ouellette Kick)
COV: Bobby Alexander 1-yd run (Ouellette Kick)
