COVINGTON – Friday night was a very emotional evening for the Covington Buccaneers and the community supporters who were on hand to watch the football team capture a 54-27 victory over Arcanum in the season opener.
This was the first win for the Buccs since October 14, 2022 in a 34-6 victory over neighboring rival Bradford and the first time Covington scored over 50 points in a game since October 25, 2019 in a 74-6 win over Tri-County North.
“This game was a culmination of four years of hard work by these kids,” said Covington coach Austin Morgan. “Most of these kids have put so much time in through junior high and now in high school and a group of the seniors have done the same.”
Yes, the victory was great, but what made it even more special is how the Buccaneers honored former football star Johnny Boehringer prior to the game. Johnny, who graduated from Covington in 1986, passed away this past March and the Buccaneers invited his family members onto the field for the coin toss and allowed them to join the team inside the locker room prior to the game. Johnny’s #50 jersey was also placed on the team bench throughout the entire game, which added motivation to the players on the field.
And the motivation reached an amazing level when the game started as senior Garrett Leistner recovered a fumble by Arcanum on its opening drive. A few plays later sophomore quarterback Landin Cassel tossed a perfect strike to junior wideout Day’Lynn Garrett from 21 yards out to put the Buccaneers up 6-0.
After holding Arcanum on its next possession, Day’Lynn Garrett returned a punt for 13 yards to the Trojans’ 47. The Buccaneers took advantage of solid field position by scoring on a 12-yard run by senior Tanner Palsgrove. Landin Cassel then ran in a two-point conversion to push Covington’s lead to 14-0 with 4:52 left in the first.
“That was the first touchdown Tanner Palsgrove ever scored in football,” Morgan explained. “To see his reaction was awesome. He is such an athlete and we are so happy he joined the team in his first year ever playing football.”
The Buccaneer defense then made another huge play on Arcanum’s next possession as senior Jack Blumenstock picked off a pass and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown.
Moments later, after holding Arcanum on a three-and-out, Day’Lynn Garrett returned a punt 70 yards down the home sideline for a touchdown to push Covington’s lead to 27-0 with 3:02 left in the first quarter.
“There was a long stretch in the first half where we didn’t get many offensive plays, but that was good because of our defensive play and special teams play,” Morgan said.
Another reason is Arcanum never packed it in and responded with a well executed drive of its own to cut the margin to 27-7 on a touchdown with 13 seconds left in the opening quarter.
This ignited the Buccaneers to respond quickly as Landin Cassel threw a bomb down the Arcanum sideline to Day’Lynn Garrett for an 83-yard touchdown and a 34-7 lead.
The Buccaneers had Arcanum in dire circumstances by holding the Trojan offense once again, but an interception led to new life and a score to cut the deficit to 34-13 with 5:22 left in the half.
Still, the Buccaneers continued to battle hard as the running game by sophomore Jordan Miller and senior Tanner Palsgrove kept the Arcanum defense on its heals. The duo combined for 130 yards on the ground and running power set Covington up for another score on its next possession, which came on a 27-yard touchdown catch by Day’Lynn Garrett from Landin Cassel with 33 seconds left in the half.
Leading 41-13 at the break, the Buccaneers had themselves in great position to put the game away quickly to start the second half with the ball.
Unfortunately, Arcanum was able to successfully execute an onside kick and followed by marching down the field to score in a short period of time to cut Covington’s lead to 41-21 with 7:12 on the clock.
Fortunately the Buccaneers never relented as they put together the most impressive drive of the game on the next possession by eating up 6:54 on the clock. The drive was capped by a 10-yard pass from Cassel to sophomore Trenton Havenar to put the Buccaneers up 47-21 with 18 second left in the third.
Still, Arcanum showed grit as well as the Trojans connected on a huge pass play to put themselves into scoring position on the ensuing drive. The Trojans were able to take advantage of the opportunity by scoring on a 10-yard pass play over the middle to close the gap to 47-27 with 9:54 left in the game.
But Covington, even though it is still a relatively very young football team, was able to respond once again with a very critical time consuming drive. The Buccaneers were able to keep the drive alive with a huge run for a first down by Landin Cassel on a third-and-fifteen situation and then followed up by another huge run by Tanner Palsgrove on a fourth-and-two situation to keep the drive alive.
The drive was capped by a three-yard plunge by Landin Cassel to seal the 54-27 victory.
“We started off hot, but we had a little drop off there in the second half,” Morgan said. “This was a big win, but there are areas of improvement we need to address.”
Overall, the Buccaneers racked up 404 yards of offense with 250 yards through the air and 154 yards on the ground.
Landin Cassel threw four touchdown passes, three to Day’Lynn Garrett and one to Trenton Havenar. Day’Lynn Garrett had 131 receiving yards and 104 return yards and scored four times.
Arcanum tallied 325 yards of offense with 205 in the passing game and 120 in the running game.
The Buccs (1-0) travel to Dayton Christian next Friday.
SCORING SUMMARY:
1ST QUARTER
COV – Day’Lynn Garrett 21-yd pass from Landin Cassel. PAT Failed – 6-0
COV – Tanner Palsgrove 12-yard run. Cassel 2pt run – 14-0
COV – Jack Blumenstock 25-yard interception return. Wyatt Parker Kick – 21-0
COV – Day’Lynn Garrett 70-yard punt return. PAT Failed – 27-0
ARC – Landon Wagner 4-yard run. Kick Good – 27-7
2ND QUARTER
COV – Day’Lynn Garrett 83-yard pass from Landin Cassel. Wyatt Parker Kick – 34-7
ARC – MJ Macy 4-yard run. PAT Failed. 34-13
COV – Day’Lynn Garrett 27-yard pass from Landin Cassel. Wyatt Parker Kick – 41-13
3RD QUARTER
ARC – MJ Macy 1-yard run. MJ Macy 2-point run. – 41-21
COV – Trenton Havenar 10-yard pass from Landin Cassel. PAT Failed – 47-21
4TH QUARTER
ARC – Truman Knaus 10-yard pass from Bishop Cartwright. 2pt Run Failed – 47-27
COV – Landin Cassel 3-yard run. Wyatt Parker Kick – 54-27
| 1ST | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH | FINAL | |
| BUCCS | 27 | 14 | 6 | 7 | 54 |
| TROJANS | 7 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 27 |
