WEST MILTON – The Covington Buccaneers recorded their fifth straight win of the season with an impressive 35-21 victory over Milton-Union.

The key for Covington was the overall effort and toughness displayed on the field against a Milton-Union football team that had several talented and big players.

The Bulldogs received the opening kickoff to start the game, but the Buccs stopped Milton-Union on the opening possession due to a sack by Tyler Palsgrove and Eli Brooks.

Offensively, the Buccaneers started off with a time consuming drive that was sparked by two huge passes from Landin Cassel to Day’Lynn Garrett and powerful runs by Jordan Miller. Landin Cassel capped the drive with a two-yard touchdown run, but the Buccs failed a two-point conversion attempt to be held up with a 6-0 lead with 4:47 left in the first.

Milton-Union, who ate up a significant amount of time with long possessions in the first half, moved the ball to the 22 at the end of the first. The Bulldogs closed out the drive with a three-yard touchdown run by Charlie Lane. The extra point gave Milton-Union a 7-6 lead with 9:10 left in the half.

Covington went three-and-out on its next possession and the Bulldogs scored on a 48-yard run by Charlie Lane to put the Buccs behind 14-6.

Fortunately, the Buccaneers responded with a well executed drive of their own on the ensuing possession. The drive was finished with a 20-yard touchdown run by Landin Cassel and then Cassel ran for a two-point conversion to tie the game at 14-14 with 1:25 left in the half.

The score remained 14-14 at the break and Covington received the opening kickoff of the second half where Day’Lynn Garrett returned the ball to midfield. Unfortunately, the Buccaneers went three-and-out and were forced to punt for the second time in the game.

The Buccaneer defense followed up with a huge impact on the second offensive play by Milton-Union as Jordan Miller stripped the ball away from a Bulldog running back and returned it 20 yards for a touchdown. Filip McMaken’s extra point pushed Covington’s lead to 21-14 with 10:08 left in the third.

Milton-Union was eating up the clock once again with a time consuming drive, but Day’Lynn Garrett made a another huge play for the defense with an interception he returned 70 yards for a touchdown to push the Buccs’ lead to 28-14 with 5:26 left in the third.

The biggest mistake by Covington in the game happened on the ensuing kickoff as Charlie Lane broke free on an 80-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to close the gap to 28-21 with 5:14 left in the third quarter.

For the second straight game where things didn’t go ideal for the Buccs, Covington responded with effort an toughness on the next offensive possession as Landin Cassel tossed an ideal pass to Day’Lynn Garrett down the middle of the field. Garrett made a great catch and raced to the end zone to cap a 71-yard touchdown. Filip McMaken connected on the extra point attempt to put the Buccaneers up 35-21 with 4:23 left in the third.

Day’Lynn Garret then picked off another pass on Milton-Union’s next possession and the Buccaneers put together a time consuming drive before being forced to punt the ball away for the third time.

The Bulldogs gave a great effort in an attempt to put together another potential scoring drive and eventually moved the ball inside the red zone. Fortunately, the Buccaneers held Milton-Union on fourth down with 4:27 left in the game.

Covington then ate up the entire time that remained on the clock with a well executed drive that proceeded into the Bulldog’s side of the field. The game was closed out with a knee taken by quarterback Landin Cassel.

Overall, Covington tallied 306 yards of offense with 177 yards coming in the passing game and 129 yards on the ground. Jordan Miller had 119 total yards on offense with 83 yards on 14 carries and had three receptions for 36 yards, while Day’Lynn Garrett hauled in five receptions for 129 yards. Landin Cassel connected on nine of 15 passing attempts for 177 yards and accumulated 31 rushing yards on nine carries.

Milton-Union accumulated 285 yards of offense with 236 yards on the ground and 49 yards through the air. Charlie Lane had a huge game with 144 rushing yards on 25 carries and score all three touchdowns for the Bulldogs.

Covington improves its overall record to 5-4 and is now 5-1 in the TRC.

Next the Buccaneers host Lehman Catholic in the final regular season game.

	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	FINAL
BUCCS	6	8	21	0	35
BULLDOGS	0	14	7	0	21