September 16, 2005 – COVINGTON
The Covington Buccaneers celebrated homecoming with a convincing 48-0 win over Twin Valley South in Cross County Conference action Friday. The win improved the Buccs’ record to 3-1 on the season and 2-1 in the CCC.

“I’m pleased with our performance tonight,” said Covington coach Kevin Finfrock. “Offensively, we were physical and played with intensity. Defensively, again we were physical and I think our secondary had a very nice game.”

The Buccs controlled the action from start to finish as Dusty Kimmel opened the scoring on Covington’s opening series with a 61-yard touchdown run. The 6’4″, 200 lb. senior broke three tackles and outran the South secondary on his way to the end zone.

The Buccaneer defense shut down the Panthers on their first possession to hand the ball right back to the offense in excellent field position near mid-field.

Covington couldn’t take advantage of the opportunity as the South defense forced a Buccaneer fumble.

Again, the Bucc Defense held on four straight plays as the first quarter closed with Covington leading 7-0.

The Covington offensive unit clicked in full force in the second quarter with 28 points in the stanza.

Gene Studebaker started the second with an 11-yard touchdown run to push the Buccaneer lead to 14-0 after Tyler Kanet connected on the point-after.

Studebaker, who finished with a game-high 187 yards rushing, scored moments later on a 20-yard run, but a holding penalty called the play back. On the very next play, Studebaker broke loose again from 30 yards out for his second touchdown of the night. Kanet’s extra point was good to make the score 21-0.

Studebaker wasn’t done as he reached the end zone for the third straight time on Covington’s next possession. The 6’3″ 200 lb. junior broke free from 39 yards out as he weaved his way through the Panther defense. Kanet again made good on the point-after as Covington to a 28-0 lead.

“Gene was a man tonight,” said Finfrock. “He did a very nice job leading the offense. He was fun to watch tonight.”

The Buccaneers put one more score on the board before the half as Dusty Kimmel scored on a 1-yard dive. Kanet’s extra point then made the score 35-0 at the half.

The Buccaneer starters stayed on the field for one possession of the second half and scored moments after a Brock Iddings interception gave them the ball deep inside Panther territory. Studebaker capped off a dominating evening with a 10-yard run to make the score 41-0 as the point-after was wide right.

“Brock (Iddings) had a nice night,” Finfrock described. “He’s a first year player and this was his first start. I’m very please with the way he stepped up tonight. His confidence is growing. Brock had some nice tackles and made had a nice break on the ball on his interception. That was a big play because it set the tone for the second half.”

With victory well in hand, the junior varsity unit took over for Covington’s second offensive series. The results were more of the same as Iddings broke loose for a 63-yard touchdown run. Kanet connected on his sixth kick of the night to make the final score 48-0 in favor of the Buccs.

“The JVs played hard and moved the ball well,” commented Finfrock. “I was impressed with the way the younger kids executed since South kept their ones in for much of the second half.”

The Buccaneers’ dominance was evident by the statistics as they racked up 481 yards of total offense while holding the Panthers top just 170 yards.

To go along with Studebaker’s big night of 187 yards on 14 carries, Dusty Kimmel recorded 179 all-purpose yards. Kimmel rushed for 119 yards on 12 carries and caught 3 passes for 60 yards, all coming in the first half.

Brock Iddings recorded an interception on the defensive side of the ball and then ran the ball 4 times for 70 yards and a score.

Covington looks to maintain its momentum next week with a long road tip to National Trail.

Scoring by Quarters:
Buccs: ……..7……28…..13…….0 – 48
Panthers: ….0……..0……0…….0 – 0