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| Carl Lankford warms up with a clean lift. |
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| Senior Brandon Magee gets ready for the lift-a-thon with some reps on the squat machine. |
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JUNE 26, 2015 - COVINGTON
There is excitement in the air after Covington's annual Lift-A-Thon on Friday as the 34 kids who will fill out the Buccaneer roster in 2015 made great strides in weight room measurables.
"I thought our kids did very well," said Covington coach Dave Miller after the weights were tallied and awards were handed out. "From top to bottom, we have kids who work very hard and want to be here. So far, this is one of the most enjoyable group of kids I've had the pleasure of being around - and I don't say that lightly because we've had some great groups in the past."
Trophies were handed out to the winners in each weight class, plus the winner of the pound-for-pound competition. Senior Jared Williams had an outstanding performance by winning the middleweight class and pound-for-pound title. Juniors Seth Thomas and Deron White won the heavyweight and lightweight classes while junior Carl Lankford was runner-up at heavyweight and seniors Brandon Magee and Shane Straw were runner-up at middleweight and lightweight.
"Winning the lift-a-thon doesn't come by accident," said Miller. "There were a lot of kids who didn't win who still set personal records, so every year the internal competition becomes tougher and tougher."
As good as the lift-a-thon was for the Buccs, it's still has to translate to success on the field on Friday nights.
"This (the lift-a-thon) is the physical part and that's the ten percent of football," Miller said. "The ninety percent is the mind and we have to conquer the ninety percent over the next few months if we want to get to where we want to be. All this means is we have the potential to get there."
Covington has set the bar very high for 2015 despite coming off an injury riddled season a year ago. In all, 10 sophomores and 3 freshman started in last year's playoff loss to Sidney Lehman.
"We were young last year and a lot of that had to do with a small senior class and all of the injuries we suffered throughout the season," said Miller. "Still, we were able to make the playoffs, which was a huge accomplishment for as banged up and as young as we were. The key for us this year is what we do over the rest of the summer and if we can stay healthy."
The Buccaneers are limited in numbers with 34 kids, but Miller wouldn't trade any of the 34 kids he has in his summer program for anything.
"What we have are kids who want to be here - who want to play football," he said. "I'll take that any day over fifty kids where ten or fifteen aren't fully committed. That leads to dissension and that's something we don't want or have right now. I really like the attitudes of our kids."
The potential is there for another stellar season for the Covington football program looking to qualify for the state playoffs for the eleventh year in a row and the 16th time in the past 17 years. But Miller and the Buccs are taking it one day at time.
"We have team goals we talk about in house and the kids are working to achieve those goals," explained Miller. "Is the potential there? Yes. But, we have July and August ahead of us and that will determine what type of football team we will be when we go over to play St. Henry in week one. I like the start we've had to our summer, but we have to max out every day from here on out if we want to be the team we think we can be."
At the end of the day, it all comes down to maxing out.
