COVINGTON – The Covington Buccaneers had several mistakes against Northridge, but were able to hold on for a 27-24 victory due to effort and toughness.

Early in the game it seemed that the Buccaneers were on their way into a blowout victory as they had a 20-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Unfortunately, key mistakes in the second quarter put Northridge back into intensity and more several miscues by the Buccaneers extended throughout the rest of the game.

Covington started off with the opening possession with Day’Lynn Garrett returning the ball near midfield, but the Buccs went three-and-out.

Fortunately, the Buccs held Northridge on three-and-out too and took over the ball at the Polar Bears’ 39. Landin Cassel then had three great runs with the final run being a five-yard touchdown to make the score 7-0 with 8:16 left in first quarter.

Filip McMaken then picked off a pass and returned to ball the 40. Day’Lynn Garrett had a critical 17-yard run for a first down on a fourth down play and Landin Cassel scored on another five-yard run to push the Buccs up to 14-0 with 1:15 left in first.

Landin Cassel then recorded a 50-yard pick-six to push the lead to 20-0 with 29 seconds left in the first quarter.

Unfortunately, the Buccs gave Northridge a fumble that was returned 38-yards for a touchdown and a two-point conversion closed Covington’s lead to 20-8 with 9:51 left in the half.

Covington responded with a 48-yard touchdown run by Tyler Palsgrove on the next possession to push the lead to 27-8 with 8:32 left in the half.

Northridge then turned the ball over on the third consecutive possession due to a fumble recovered by the Buccs, but Covington failed to eat out the clock of the first half and was forced to punt.

Even though there was limited time left on the clock, Northridge took advantage of an offensive opportunity by scoring on a 77-yard touchdown run due to several missed tackles by Covington. Northridge then made a two-point conversion to close the gap to 27-16 with 31 seconds left in the half.

Northridge started off the second half on offense and the Buccaneers put the Polar Bears into a third-and-long situation. Another unfortunate situation, on a tackle for loss, the Buccs committed a personal foul penalty that gave the Polar Bears a first down. Northridge followed up by taking advantage with a 39-yard touchdown run and a two-point conversion to cut the Buccs’ lead to 27-24.

The Buccaneer Offense went into self destruction with penalties and mistakes throughout the majority of the second half and failed to score. Covington did move the ball into scoring position inside the 20, but fumbled the ball into the end zone where Northridge made the recovery to take over at the 20 with 6:37 left in the game.

Fortunately, Covington’s defense picked up its effort and intensity throughout the rest of the game and held the Polar Bears in check with the biggest impact coming on the final play of the game with a quarterback sack by Eli Brooks.

Overall, Covington tallied 290 yards of offense with 247 yards being accumulated in the running game.

Landin Cassel led the Buccs with 109 rushing yards on 22 carries and two touchdown runs. He also had a third touchdown on an interception return.

Tyler Palsgrove rushed for 66 yards on nine carries with one of the runs being a 48-yard touchdown.

Defensively, the Buccaneers held Northridge to 211 yards of offense with two of the plays accumulating 116 yards on touchdown runs.

Covington’s victory improves its record to 4-4 overall and 4-1 in the TRC. Up next is a road contest at West Milton against the Milton-Union Bulldogs.

Yes, the Buccaneers showed effort and toughness in a close game against Northridge, but execution and eliminating mistakes must be much better next Friday against Milton-Union.

	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	FINAL
BUCCS	20	7	0	0	27
POLAR BEARS	0	16	8	0	24