"I saw some very nice things from the kids," said Covington coach Dave Miller. "Overall, I was pleased with our effort, although we are not where we want to be."

The Buccaneer offense moved the ball up and down the field, scoring once and moving inside the ten on three other occasions. The Buccs' score came on an 8-yard pass from Chris Long to Garrett Clark.

"We moved the ball very well inside the twenties," Miller described. "But we should have scored at least three more times instead of turning the ball over on downs."

Not finishing the drives only proves a point Miller has stressed to his kids since day one of summer camp.

"We've been stressing to the kids that we need to give maximum effort on every single play and play hard to the whistle," explained Miller. "We have to finish better. We'll continue to work on that."

After a defensive laps on Eaton's first play of the scrimmage that resulted in a touchdown, the Buccaneer defense had a solid scrimmage.

On one 10-play series in particular, the Buccs showed the potential of fielding an outstanding defensive unit as Eaton could only manage to move the ball 25 yards in the sequence.

Covington also had three interceptions and forced two fumbles in the scrimmage.

"We saw some great things defensively," Miller praised. "We had some guys getting after the quarterback and swarming to the ball."

Still, Miller saw plenty of room for improvement as mental lapses and missed assignments occurred in situations that could have meant disaster in a real contest.

"We had a few plays here and there where we lost our focus," he continued. "Mental lapses can cost you games and we'll need to correct that."

A handful of players stood out for the Buccs with impressive performances.

"Logan Hall and Jordy Burelison both were all over the field defensively," Miller said. "JJ Thompson had a nice effort as well. We had some other kids make some big plays as well, but we need to play well more consistently."

With one scrimmage left next week against Versailles before the season starts on August 24, Miller is pleased with his team but realizes more work needs to be done.

"We made some strides today," he concluded. "I saw a lot of emotion from the kids, which is good to see. We just need to continue to improve, which we'll do because these kids are very coachable."

The Buccs will get back to work on Monday and test themselves again next Friday in the final scrimmage against Versailles.