The Covington Buccaneers competed in a highly contested seven-on-seven passing scrimmage on Saturday at Bowling Green University and showed the potential of future success thanks to the effort and determination displayed as a team.

BOWLING GREEN – Austin Morgan is entering his third season as the head football coach at Covington and the culture he is establishing within the program is showing massive progress with each challenge the kids must face.

This was evident on Saturday as the Buccs traveled to Bowling Green University to compete in seven-on-seven scrimmages against programs from northern Ohio and Michigan. Despite facing much larger programs with more experience, Covington showcased its relentless effort across the board.

“We knew going in that we were going to face some teams with a lot of talent, speed and more experience,” Morgan said. “I’m proud of how the kids competed and didn’t back down.”

The reason Morgan put the Buccs in the mix against quality programs was to set the bar for the rest of the summer in preparation for the upcoming season.

“This was a great test for our kids to see where they are at this point,” Morgan explained. “That’s why we wanted to do this, to see how tough and how hard our kids are willing to compete. With the way we competed and the effort we gave, I think we are ahead of schedule.”

The Buccaneers return a lot of players from a year ago, but are still a very young football team. The youth and inexperience led to mistakes, but the benefit was the overall learning experience the kids received.

“Yes, we made some mistakes where we were out of position at times, but the kids took to the coaching and showed improvement throughout the day,” Morgan said. “These kids are buying in and it showed today.”

The most impressive aspect of Covington’s performance on Saturday was the overall effort as a team. This led to receivers finding openings in the opposing defenses even though some of the execution wasn’t in synch at times. It also led to some potential huge plays by opposing offenses to be denied by the Buccs’ defensive effort, even when players may have been out of position in certain situations.

Still, the Buccaneers were able to make some big plays on both sides of the ball due to their relentless effort and willingness to embrace the coaching they received throughout the day.

“What was really satisfying is every time one of the kids made a mistake, they knew it, and asked what they needed to do to correct their mistakes,” said Morgan. “That shows their competitiveness and willingness to learn.”

Overall, Saturday was a great experience for the Buccaneers. Yes, the Buccs have a lot of hard work ahead of them to continue to improve and develop, but they are headed in the right direction.

The future is extremely bright if the Buccs continue on the right path.