SEPTEMBER 26, 2014 – COVINGTON
After a slow start, the Covington Buccaneers methodically broke down Cincinnati College Prep Academy, who was a recent addition to the schedule in place of long-time rival Bradford.
And the result was a dominating 40-0 victory for Covington, who improves to 4-1 on the season.
“Good win,” said Covington coach Dave Miller. “We got a lot of kids in and stayed healthy.”
Covington got off to a rocky start as CCPA’s Mathew McQueen broke free on the opening kickoff before being stopped by a shoestring tackle deep in Buccaneer territory.
Fortunately for the Buccs, a clipping penalty brought the ball back to the visitor’s side of the field. And, after the lone first down recorded by the Lions in the contest, the Buccaneer defense forced a punt.
Unfortunately, Covington turned the ball over via fumble on its first possession of the game to give the momentum back to the visitors.
“We need to do a better job of protecting the football,” Miller said. “For what we do offensively, fumbles can’t happen.”
Fortunately, the Buccaneer defense held on three straight plays to force a second Lion punt. This time senior Robert Gengler broke through the line to block the boot and give Covington the ball inside Lion territory.
A few plays later freshman Ethan Herron connected with another freshman, Zach Parrett, from 24 yards out on a halfback pass – a play called by honorary coach Dennis “Scooby” Willoughby.
The point-after attempt was wide left and Covington held a 6-0 lead midway through the first quarter.
From there, it was all Covington as the Buccs scored three more times before the end of the half.
First, Herron capped a long drive with a five-yard plunge and then Deron White plowed his way in from the one to push the lead to 20-0.
Covington capped the first half with a three-yard run by Brock Murphy after a second blocked punt by Gengler.
“The game was won up front,” Miller explained. “We dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.”
Covington took the opening kickoff to start the second half at its own 30 and went 70 yards in 14 plays to score on a two-yard run by sophomore Lance Miller. The extra point attempt was wide left for the second time in the contest as the Buccaneers moved the game into a running clock with a 33-0 lead midway through the third quarter.
Which was still enough time for the Buccaneers to rotate every player into the game throughout the remainder of the contest.
This led to a three-yard scoring plunge by freshman fullback Joey Schmelzer for his first career touchdown to cap a 40-0 win.
In all, Covington tallied 323 yards on 60 offensive plays and surrendered just 13 total yards of offense to the Lions on 24 plays. The Buccaneers also tallied 21 first downs to just one for Cincinnati College Prep.
“Time of possession was huge,” said Miller. “We’ve been preaching that all season, control the clock and keep the other team’s offense off the field. We’ve done a pretty god job of that the last couple of games.”
Still, there were plenty of miscues by the Buccaneers that Miller adamantly feels needs shored up before next week’s huge battle at unbeaten Tri-County North.
“We definitely were not as sharp as we need to be,” explained Miller. “Too many missed tackles and we put the ball on the ground too much. There’s a lot of areas where we need to improve.”
And by the way the kids reacted in the locker room after a 40-0 win, they know a better effort will be needed in the following weeks.
“The kids know we need to play much better next week (against Tri-County North),” continued Miller. “You could tell in the locker room that they were not satisfied. That’s maturity. The attitudes of these kids are really good. We’re growing the right way.”
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
BUCCS – 13 – 14 – 6 – 7 = 40
LIONS – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 = 0
SCORING SUMMARY:
COV: Zach Parrett 24-yd pass from Ethan Herron (Kick Failed)
COV: Ethan Herron 5-yd run (Nathan Blei Kick)
COV: Deron White 1-yd run (Nathan Blei Kick)
COV: Brock Murphy 3-yd run (Nathan Blei Kick)
COV: Lance Miller 2-yd run (Kick Failed)
COV: Joey Schmelzer 3-yd run (Branden Robinson Kick)
