DAYTON – The Covington Buccaneers suffered their third defeat of the season as they self destructed once again in a 24-0 loss to Northridge.
Even though the Buccaneers accumulated 235 yards of offense to just 101 yards by Northridge, there was no way to win a game on the scoreboard when turning the ball over five times and committing 8 penalties that hindered potential scoring opportunities.
“We need to get things squared away,” said Covington coach Austin Morgan. “There is a lot of hard work and effort our kids are putting in, but there isn’t much discipline in focusing on our execution. Not too much more to say.”
Yes, the weather was horrible with pouring rain, but both teams were in the same situation on the field.
Unfortunately, the Buccaneers didn’t embrace the weather as an opportunity to capture a huge win. Instead, mistakes piled up throughout the game, which eliminated so many scoring opportunities and also gave Northridge everything it needed to win on the scoreboard.
The first miscue came after the Buccaneer defense forced Northridge to punt on its first possession. The punt wasn’t returned and the ball bounced inside the Buccaneer ten. On third down Covington attempted to convert a first down on a pass attempted, but the ball bounced off the hands of a Buccaneer receiver and into the hands of Deonte Smith of Northridge. Smith returned the ball 24 yards into the end zone and the Polar Bears followed with a two-point conversion to take an 8-0 lead.
The next miscue came in the second quarter when Covington was putting together a potential scoring drive, but fumbled the ball inside the Northridge 30. The Polar Bears took advantage of the mistake as Teon Hill, who is blazing fast, broke free up the middle and raced 67 yards for a touchdown. Once again, Northridge followed with a two-point conversion to push its lead to 16-0.
Despite trailing by 16 points, the Buccaneers had two more scoring opportunities before the end of the first half.
The first scoring opportunity came when the Buccaneers drove the ball just inside the Northridge 30 and had a golden opportunity to convert a first down on a fourth-and-one situation. Unfortunately, a false start forced Covington to punt and a bad snap led to a loss of more yardage with just over two minutes left in the half.
The Buccaneers had two timeouts left and was able to force the Polar Bears to punt in a three-and-out. The punt bounced off the offensive lineman and Covington took over the ball near the 35 with 50 seconds left in the half.
Two plays later Landin Cassel broke loose down the left side of the field and stopped the clock by going out of bounds at the 15 yard line with 24 seconds left. In a great scoring position, Covington once again hurt themselves with two straight false start penalties to take another scoring opportunity away.
Covington had more scoring opportunities in the second half as the running game continued to put the Buccs in great position. Unfortunately, more miscues cost the Buccaneers drastically.
The Buccaneers had the ball on Northridge’s end of the field for the majority of the second half. Two of the scoring opportunities were eliminated by a penalty on a block in the back and then on back-to-back false starts when the Buccaneers moved the ball inside the ten.
Another scoring opportunity was denied by a perfect pass that was dropped in the back corner of the end zone.
Still, late in the game the Buccaneers moved the ball near the red zone, but a pass was intercepted by Deonte Smith once again and he returned it 73 yards to the three-yard line with just under two minutes left in the game. Teon Smith then scored a touchdown on the next play and a two-point conversion put the final dagger on Covington with the score 24-0.
Statistically, the Buccaneer defense played amazing outside of the one touchdown run in the second quarter. Outside of that 67-yard run, the Buccaneer defense held a very athletic and fast Northridge offense to just 34 yards throughout the rest of the game. Plus, Covington only allowed three first downs to Northridge all night.
Plus, Covington’s running game was stellar as it tallied all 235 yards of offense. Sophomore Jordan Miller ran like a beast as he rushed for 109 yards on 31 carries. Plus, senior Tanner Palsgrove ran well as he rushed for 69 yards on 11 carries and sophomore quarterback Landin Cassel rushed for 50 yards on 11 carries.
The Buccaneers tallied nine first downs on offense, but five more were negated by penalties.
Covington’s record is now 3-3 overall and 1-2 in the TRC, but the coaches have put the team in the ideal position to be 6-0. The difference in the record of the team is what coach Austin Morgan said, “There is a lot of hard work and effort our kids are putting in, but there isn’t much discipline in focusing on our execution.”
Discipline and focus on execution will determine how the team performs the rest of the season, which starts next Friday at home against Milton-Union.
SCORING SUMMARY:
1st – NR: Deonte Smith 24-yard interception return (2-pt conversion) – 0-8
2nd – NR: Teon Hill 67-yard run (2-pt conversion) – 0-16
4th – NR: Teon Hill 3-yard run (2-pt conversion) – 0-24
| 1ST | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH | FINAL | |
| BUCCS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| POLAR BEARS | 8 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 24 |
