The Covington Buccaneers are giving it their all, but unfortunate injuries are mounting and forcing the Buccaneers into difficult circumstances, which was on display Friday night in a loss to Bethel.
COVINGTON – For every step forward the Covington Buccaneers take, more and more adversity arises as injuries are taking toll on this young football team.
After last week’s struggles against Troy Christian, the Buccaneers responded with pair of their best back-to-back practices on Monday and Tuesday in preparation for Bethel.
The Buccaneers entered Friday’s game against Bethel with high hopes as sophomore Isiah Sherman – the lone two-way returning starter from a year ago – returned to the lineup after missing the first four games of the season due to injury.
Unfortunately for the Buccaneers, Sherman was forced out of the game on Covington’s third offensive play after suffering yet another injury.
Covington was already without senior leader Brain Morrison, Leland Brown, Maddox Curtis and Zane Lemp, which magnifies any additional injuries.
Shortly after Sherman’s injury, lineman Zeb Woodward-Roeth suffered an injury that forced him out for the remainder of the game. Injuries followed with quarterback Kian French and Derrick Meyer, but fortunately both were able to gut it out and finished the contest.
Banged up with minimal depth, the Buccaneers left everything they had on the field. But it wasn’t enough to stay with Bethel on the scoreboard as the Bees rolled to a 57-0 win.
Bethel started things off with three scores in the opening frame on runs from 43, 40 and five yards out. They pushed their advantage to 35-0 at the break with a pair of touchdown passes and then scored three more times in the second half.
Regardless of what the scoreboard read, the 15 available kids in black and white uniforms showed toughness and a never-quit attitude as the effort was much better than a week ago.
Yes, there is a lot of adversity this young team faces, but in the long run it will benefit these kids because their character and toughness will be revealed as long as they stick together and continue to grind.
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
Covington: 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 = 0
Bethel: 21 – 14 – 14 – 8 = 57
SCORING SUMMARY:
BET: Christian Bennett 43-yd run (Jace Houck Kick) – 7-0
BET: Lucas Truman 40-yd run (Jace Houck Kick) – 14-0
BET: Braxton Lawson 5-y run (Jace Houck Kick) – 21-0
BET: Elijah Schroeder 16-yd pass from Cooper Mears (Jace Houck Kick) – 28-0
BET: Lucas Truman 4-yd pass from Cooper Mears (Jace Houck Kick) – 35-0
BET: Cooper Mears 28-yd run (Jace Houck Kick) – 42-0
BET: Braxton Lawson 2-yd run (Jace Houck Kick) – 49-0
BET: Ethan Swinehart 4-yd run (Lucas Truman Run) – 57-0
