SEPTEMBER 11, 2015 – COVINGTON
Covington High School celebrated its 33rd annual Hall of Fame Night on Friday with the induction of the 1995 volleyball team and 2002 graduate Jarod Meyer, who excelled in basketball, golf and baseball.
But it was the Covington football team that stole the show with a convincing 49-0 victory over a much improved Mississinawa Valley team.
“That’s an improved football team,” said Covington coach Dave Miller. “It’s probably the hardest hitting Mississinawa Valley team we’ve played since I’ve been here.”
Still, Covington controlled the action throughout thanks to a balanced offensive attack that racked up 376 yards on the ground and a defense that held the Blackhawks negative 39 yards rushing and just seven yards of total offense.
“Defensively, we accomplished what we wanted coming in,” Miller said. “To hold a team scoreless and allow just two first downs in four quarters is pretty impressive.”
After holding Mississinawa Valley to a three-and-out in the opening possession of the game, Covington waisted little time marching 60 yards for a 7-0 lead on a nine-yard run by junior Deron White and a successful point-after by Nathan Blei.
Mississinawa Valley then followed by moving the ball into Covington territory for the only time in the contest thanks to a quick pass that netted 20 yards and a run around left end that netted 11 more.
But the Buccaneer defense stiffened and forced a Blackhawk punt that was downed at the Covington 21.
On the very next play junior fullback Lance Miller found a huge hole up the middle and raced nearly untouched 79 yards for a 14-0 lead after yet another Nathan Blei PAT.
Things went from bad to worse for the visiting Blackhawks on the ensuing possession as the Covington defense made three straight plays for negative yards to force yet another punt. Only this time the snap sailed over the punter’s head and senior Ben Kuether dove on the pigskin at the Blackhawk four.
Deron White then powered his way in from the four to push the margin to 21-0 with just over 2:00 left in the opening frame.
And with the momentum on its side, Covington wasn’t about to let up as it put two more touchdowns on the board in the second quarter.
First, Deron White capped a time consuming drive with a one-yard plunge for his own hat trick and then Lance Miller took advantage of another mishandled snap over the Blackhawk punter’s head by scoring on a two-yard run.
Leading 35-0 at the break, Covington wasn’t about to become complacent, which sophomore Ethan Herron made sure of by taking the second half kickoff 79 yards for the score to push the Buccaneer lead to 42-0.
With the running clock in effect, Covington then substituted freely throughout the remainder of the contest.
This all led to a very well executed drive by the younger kids that was capped by a three-yard touchdown run by freshman fullback Garrett Warner.
“This is a good win for our football team because of the way we played,” Miller said. “We still have to study the film, but I felt the kids gave a good effort. We came of this healthy and move on to the next challenge.”
Which is a huge road contest at Bethel (2-1) next Friday.
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
BUCCS – 21 – 14 – 7 – 7 = 49
‘HAWKS – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 = 0
SCORING SUMMARY:
COV: Deron White 9-yd run (Nathan Blei Kick)
COV: Lance Miller 79-yd run (Nathan Blei Kick)
COV: Deron White 4-yd run (Nathan Blei Kick)
COV: Deron White 1-yd run (Nathan Blei Kick)
COV: Lance Miller 2-yd run (Nathan Blei Kick)
COV: Ethan Herron 79-yd kick return (Nathan Blei Kick)
COV: Garrett Warner 3-yd run (Nathan Blei Kick)
