COVINGTON – The Covington Buccaneers gave maximum effort and made some great plays, but several mistakes led to a frustrating 48-34 defeat to Lehman Catholic in the final game of the regular season.

The highlights for the Buccaneers on Senior Night were the overall effort and intensity by the majority of the players. Plus, senior Day’Lynn Garrett broke two records in the history of the program – the most yards in career receptions of 1860 and the most catches in a single game, 11. He also pushed his career record of receptions up to 140 catches.

What also appeared impressive by the Buccaneers was the performance of the offensive line with two freshmen, one sophomore, one junior and one senior as they opened up the running game for 272 rushing yards. Plus, these players assisted the passing game for 146 yards and a total offense of 418 yards.

The rushing game had a high performance by junior running back Jordan Miller, who tallied 104 rushing yards on 13 carries and one touchdown on a 34-yard run. Plus, Landin Cassel rushed 87 yards on 14 carries and scored three times, while Trenton Havenar accumulated 51 yards on just 4 carries.

What hurt the Buccaneers the most were the five turnovers and failing to take advantage of several scoring opportunities deep into Lehman’s territory.

This started on the opening drive as the Buccs moved down to the ten for first-and-goal. Unfortunately, mistakes led to and attempted field goal, which went off the mark due to a poor snap.

The Buccs forced Lehman to punt after a sack by Trenton Havenar and took over the ball at their own 42. A few plays later Jordan Miller broke through for a 34-yard touchdown run to give Covington a 7-0 lead with 3:10 left in first.

Filip McMaken then picked off a pass tossed by Lehman and returned it to the Cavalier’s 17. On the next play, Landin Cassel tossed a strike to Day’Lynn Garrett for a 17-yard touchdown to put the Buccs up 14-0 with 2:47 left in the first.

The Buccs followed up by recovering a fumble on the ensuing kickoff at the Lehman 37, but failed to take advantage of a great scoring opportunity by coming up short on a fourth-and-four offensive play.

At this current time of the game, if the Buccaneers would have taking advantage of each opportunity to put the ball across the goal line they could have been up 28-0.

Instead, Lehman responded with a 3-yard touchdown pass to close the gap to 14-6 with 10:54 left in the half despite failing on the two-point conversion.

The Buccs struggled on the ensuing possession and were forced to punt the ball away.

Lehman then made two fourth down conversions on its next possession – once on a faked punt – and scored once again on a short touchdown pass from five yards out. The Cavaliers failed in the two-point conversion once again, but were back into the game as Covington’s lead was 14-12 with 5:28 left in the half.

Lehman forced Covington to punt once again, but the Buccaneers forced and recovered a fumble at Cavalier’s 34 with 2:48 left in the half for another outstanding scoring opportunity.

Unfortunately, the very next play went downhill as Lehman picked off a pass at the two to close out the first half with Covington holding a slim 14-12 lead.

Lehman received the opening possession of the second half and scored on a quick drive of 1:36. The two-point conversion was successful to put the Buccaneers behind for the first time in the game, 20-14.

Covington responded efficiently on the next possession due to well executed rushing yards and some timely passing plays. Landin Cassel closed out the drive with a 10-yard touchdown run to tie the score at 20-20 with 9:11 left in the third.

Another highly potential scoring opportunity was set up when Tyler Palsgrove drilled Lehman’s quarterback in the backfield that forced a fumble recovered by Eli Brooks. Unfortunately, Covington came up short of putting themselves inside the ten as they failed to convert on a fourth-and-one play.

Lehman then drove the ball down the field and scored on a touchdown pass and a two-point conversion to go up 28-20 with 4:52 left in the third.

In the next possession for the Buccs, the Cavaliers recorded their third interception and then scored another touchdown to push their lead to 34-20 with 3:16 left in the third quarter.

Covington responded with well executed drive after a nice kickoff return by James Kuether that opened up the offense on Lehman’s side of the field. Landin Cassel scored on a three-yard run to move the Buccs into contention 34-27 at the end of the third.

Lehman responded with a 38-yard touchdown pass and failed on the two-point conversion, but it put the Buccaneers into a tougher situation with the deficit 40-27 with 8:47 left in the game.

The Buccs moved the ball deep into Lehman territory ,but threw the fourth interception and the next play the Cavs scored on an 87-yard pass to take a 48-27 lead with 5:12 left in the game.

The Buccaneers continued to battle hard as the ensuing possession was closed out with a 31-yard touchdown by Landin Cassel. This moved the Buccs two touchdowns behind, 48-34 with 4:31 left.

Covington’s defense gave the offense another golden opportunity to close the gap once again and the offense moved the ball into Lehman’s territory. Unfortunately, the Buccs closed out the final scoring opportunity with a the fifth interception accumulated by Lehman.

The Buccaneers finished the regular season with a 5-5 overall record and a 5-2 record in the TRC, but still earned a playoff spot as #12 seed in Division VI, Region 24.

	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	FINAL
BUCCS	14	0	13	7	34
CAVS	0	12	22	14	48