COVINGTON – It was a painful night for the Covington Buccaneers as a great group of seniors played their final game on historic Smith Field in a 42-14 loss to long-time rival Miami East.
It wasn’t the defeat that made the night so emotional, even though a win might have led to many more smiles than tears. Tears ran down the faces of the majority of the Buccaneers after the game because they all knew it was the last time the seniors played on a field where they competed in most of the games throughout there entire football careers – a legendary field in the town of Covington.
It was obvious heading into the game that Miami East was a very talented team with a lot of experience and depth on its roster, but the Buccaneers, who are a relatively young team, embraced the challenge the Vikings presented.
Covington started off in rough situations in their first two possessions due to penalties and miscues in punting situations, but the Buccs were able to rebound quickly with a well executed drive that was capped by a 22-yard touchdown pass from Landin Cassel to Day’Lynn Garrett. Unfortunately a bad snap on the extra point attempt held the lead to 6-0.
Miami East responded quickly itself on the ensuing possession as KJ Gustin connected with Jack Hamaker on a 60-yard touchdown pass on a blown coverage by Covington. The point-after attempt went through the uprights to give the Vikings a 7-6 lead, which held up at the end of the first quarter.
The Vikings started off the second quarter by taking advantage of another blown coverage by the Buccaneer defense as KJ Gustin tossed a perfect pass to Kaden Francis for another 60-yard touchdown to push Miami East’s lead to 14-6 with 11:23 left in the half.
Covington battled right back on its next possession as sophomore quarterback Landin Cassel made a perfect read by faking a handoff to Jordan Miller and raced down the right side of the Miami East defense for a 69-yard touchdown run. Jordan Miller then ran in for a two-point conversion to tie the score at 14-14 with 9:42 left in the half.
The Buccaneer defense then held the Vikings on the next possession and moved the ball inside the Miami East 30. Unfortunately, on a fourth-and-three situation, a pass to a wide open Jordan Miller down the middle of the field was off target, which was a golden opportunity the Buccaneers didn’t take advantage of to capture the lead.
Miami East was able to respond by putting together an impressive drive by mixing up the run and pass. The drive was capped by a four-yard power run up the gut by Aaron Mills to give the Vikings a 21-14 lead with 5:51 left in the half.
Once again, Covington started off its next possession by moving the chains with some powerful runs by Jordan Miller and one timely pass from Landin Cassel to Parker Hoying. This set up another golden opportunity for a potential touchdown as Cassel tossed a perfect ball to a Buccaneer receiver who was open behind the entire Viking defense. Unfortunately, the ball bounced off of the receiver’s hands to eliminate another scoring opportunity.
Miami East took over the ball after a short 8-yard shanked punt by the Buccs and put itself in a potential scoring position inside the red zone. The Vikings were able to take advantage of yet another broken coverage by the Buccaneers as KJ Gustin connected with Jack Hamaker from nine yards out to push its lead to 28-14 with 27 seconds left in the half, which was the fourth time this season the Buccaneers allowed a touchdown with under 30 seconds left in the half.
The momentum for Miami East carried over into the second half as the Vikings took advantage of two more Buccaneer miscues on another scoring drive. The first miscue came when the Buccs had Miami East in a fourth-and-seven situation just across midfield. The Vikings put the punting unit on the field, but faked the punt and converted a first down as the Buccaneer special teams unit headed down the field to set up blocks for a potential punt return.
After that miscue, the Buccaneer defense put Miami East in a fourth-and-thirteen situation at the 34 after a combined sack by Trenton Havenar and Aveyen Meek. Miami East kept the offense on the field and took advantage of another blown coverage by the Buccs to score on a 34-yard pass from KJ Gustin to Jack Hamaker to push the lead to 35-15.
From that point on the Vikings used the ground game to eat up as much of the clock as they could. Still, the Buccaneer defense was able to give the offense more possessions by holding up Miami East on two potential scoring drives.
Unfortunately for the Buccs, Miami East was able to intercept a Covington pass inside the Buccaneer 30 and then closed out the final score of the game on a six-yard touchdown run by Aaron Mills.
Looking at the final score of 42-14 in favor of Miami East, many would assume the game was a complete blowout victory for the Vikings. But, the overall contest throughout the four quarters was so much more competitive than the final score because both teams gave great effort.
Covington’s downfall was the same issues the Buccaneers have had throughout much of the season – the inability to take advantage of opportunities due to mistakes in critical situations. These issues are learning experiences for this young football team. The progression is on the rise and hopefully the results on the scoreboard will eventually change in the near future.
For now, the Buccs are 3-7 overall and 1-6 in the TRC at the end of the regular season. Still, the Buccs qualify for the state playoffs due to the OHSAA allowing 16 teams to qualify in each region. The opponent isn’t finalized yet, but the Buccs will play on the road next Friday on November 2nd at 7:00pm.
SCORING SUMMARY;
1ST – COV: Day’Lynn Garrett 22-yd pass from Landin Cassel (PAT Failed) – 6-0
1ST – ME: Jack Hamaker 60-yd pass from KJ Austin (Caleb Staley Kick) – 6-7
2ND – ME: Kaden Francis 60-yd pass from KJ Austin (Caleb Staley Kick) – 6-14
2ND – COV: Landin Cassel 69-yd run (Jordan Miller 2pt Run) – 14-14
2ND – ME: Aaron Mills 4-yd run ((Caleb Staley Kick) – 14-21
2ND – ME: Jack Hamaker 9-yd pass from KJ Austin (Caleb Staley Kick) – 14-28
3RD – ME: Jack Hamaker 34-yd pass from KJ Austin (Caleb Staley Kick)- 14-35
4TH – ME: Aaron Mills 6-yd run (Caleb Staley Kick) – 14-42
| 1ST | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH | FINAL | |
| BUCCS | 6 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| VIKINGS | 7 | 21 | 7 | 7 | 42 |
