ST. PARIS – The Covington Buccaneers suffered a 49-8 loss to Graham in a game where the overall effort and intensity wasn’t at the level that was on display throughout this week of practice.
Yes, Graham is good and the Buccaneers now have seven key starters out due to injuries – six before the game started and one more today – but there is still expectations for players to give maximum effort on the field throughout every play. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen from start to finish as several ideal situations didn’t materialize properly for the Buccs.
Graham received the opening possession of the game and Buccs had the Falcons facing a fourth-and-ten situation. Graham was able to convert the first down on a screen pass where the receiver broke tackles and then the Falcons were able to score the first touchdown on a five-yard run on the next play.
Covington then opened up its opening offensive possession by moving the ball to the Graham 39, but came up one yard short on a fourth-and-seven play. The Falcons then used the power running game to put together another scoring drive to take a 14-0 lead with 2:14 left in first period.
In the next possession for Graham, the Buccs had the Falcons in a fourth-and-five situation near midfield. The Falcons were able to take advantage of missed tackles again to get the first down and three plays later they scored on a two-yard run to take a 21-0 lead. During that drive, another key player who plays on the offensive and defensive line for the Buccs got injured.
Things went downhill further as the Buccs fumbled on the ensuing possession and Graham recovered the ball at Covington’s 36. The Falcons then scored on a five-yard run with 3:47 left in the half to take a 28-0 lead.
The Buccaneers went three-and-out on its next possession and the punt was blocked to give Graham the ball at the Covington 25 with 1:54 left on the clock. Three plays later the Falcons scored on a nine-yard run to go up 35-0 at the half.
In the opening drive of the second half the Buccs moved the ball to the Graham 23 to put themselves into a scoring position. Unfortunately, Graham’s defense stuffed the Buccaneers by ending the potential scoring drive on a fourth-and-eight play.
In Graham’s next possession the Buccs had them on a fourth down play for the third time in the game. The Falcons went 3-for-3 on fourth down plays by scoring another touchdown to push the lead to 42-0.
The highlight for Covington was a huge play by senior Day’Lynn Garrett as he broke free on a rushing play up the gut and raced 74 yards for a touchdown. Landin Cassel followed up with a run for a two-point conversion to put the Buccaneers on the board.
The Buccaneer defense then made a huge play as Diego Lopez recovered a Falcons’ fumble at Graham 42. Unfortunately, Covington turned the ball over by a fumble three plays later and then Graham scored on a 78-yard touchdown run to close out the final score, 49-8.
The loss drops Covington’s record to 0-3 at this point of the season and the next game is at Miami East, which is the first TRC contest of the season.
