Turnovers Costly for North - South ends Season 0-10
J. C. Tilton
The North Panthers have been in a tail spin the last half of the season. Likewise formerly perennial CCC league winners, Covington has been in a funk. Neither team has a shot at the playoffs, the Buccs just wanted to close with a .500 record, TCN wanted a winning season. Despite being out of contention for the league title and playoffs, both teams were fired up for the game.
TCN's first drive did not go very far and they had to punt. Covington's first drive of the night stalled around the TCN 35 yard line. They showed that they were able to move the ball, but North was able to toughen up when their backs were against the wall. North managed a drive of their own late in the first quarter, but a Covington interception on a 4th and 15 play on the Bucc's 25 yard line put a stop to it. The first quarter ended with a 0-0 score.
Early in the second quarter TCN made a gutsy call. A Covington penalty on 4th down moved the ball to within a foot of a first down. So North called a timeout and decided to run a play instead of punting. However, the ball was on the TCN 16 yard line - so this was a do or die decision. Josh Linder managed to sneak the ball for a first down. Elation quickly changed to despair as on the next play a muffed handoff caused a fumble that was recovered by Covington. They were able to capitalize on North's misfortune and score the first TD of the night to go up 7-0.
Covington managed another 2nd quarter drive deep in North territory. But the drive stalled and they attempted a field goal. The kicker may have slipped in the damp grass or just got a bad angle on the ball, as the ball barely made past the line of scrimmage. North did not manage to do much on their possession, but on the punt the ball got past the punter and it was Covington's ball at the 18 yard line of North. Again Covington took advantage of the short field and scored to go up 14-0 with 1:04 left in the half.
In the second half Covington did manage to pad their lead with a TD and a field goal. TCN managed to score a TD of their own and that was it for night as Covington won 24-7. The two first half turnovers put TCN in a hole that they could not dig themselves out of. The Bucc's end this season at 5-5, this is Covington's first non-winning record in many years. TCN's record is 4-5.
About 8 miles to the South of this ballgame, TVS was ending their season against the Mississinnawa Valley Black Hawks. Injuries were again a factor for South, but the team again could not stop the run, and the offense was sporadic. Johnson and Lakes did gain some yardage in between the tackles, but the team was unable to find the goal line. South has not won since August of 2003 and is a combined 1-19 since then. As this is being written the official D6 playoff teams have not been announced, but unofficially the win propels the BlackHawks into the playoffs for the first time in school history.
Comments: email: Chris Tilton
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