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| Ricky Stephan fights through a chip block. |
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| Freshman Christian Jarvis runs in the open field. |
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AUGUST 7, 2021 - COVINGTON
It’s a new era of Covington football with first-year coach Austin Morgan and his Buccaneers were tested for the first time on Saturday in full-contact scrimmages against Versailles and Tri-Village - two programs expecting to have big years in 2021.
“Our goal coming into the scrimmage was to maximize in our effort and play with relentless aggression to the final whistle,” said Morgan. “Unfortunately, we started out like we were a little intimidated, but we continued to improve as the scrimmage went on.”
What was most noticeable throughout the scrimmage was the energy the Buccaneer coaching staff brought to the field. Once the kids learn to match the energy of Coach Morgan and his staff, the results will improve dramatically for the Buccaneers.
“Our kids have to learn how to fight’” Morgan explained. “Like I told the kids, we as coaches will not let up. We are going to make it harder and harder in practice so they will learn how to respond to uncomfortable situations and embrace the adversity.”
Versailles and Tri-Village both return plenty of weapons from a year ago and each team put Covington in some adverse situations due to solid execution and experience. Covington had some rough moments, but showed flashes of being a quality football team.
“There definitely were some bright spots,” Morgan praised of his young football team. “We had some younger kids make some plays and the kids played better later on in the scrimmage.”
One of the brightest spots was the offensive spark provided by senior quarterback Cam Kirker, who made several big plays - including a 30-yard touchdown run against Tri-Village.
This seemed to ignite the Buccaneer offense as freshman Isaiah Sherman put together some quality runs and hauled in a nice catch out of the backfield.
Plus, with just 27 kids on the roster, Covington’s conditioning was a huge positive as there was no letup in effort as the heat became a factor for each team.
Unfortunately, success for Covington was sporadic as the Buccs never found a consistent rhythm on either side of the ball.
“Our line protection needs to get way better,” emphasized Morgan. “We also need to be much crisper on our routes. Really, everything across the board needs to be crisper.”
The most positive aspect of Saturday’ scrimmages was the fact that Covington gained valuable film to use as teaching tools.
“There’s a lot of learning to happen,” Morgan said. “We’ll go back and digest the film and address our mistakes. For the kids, it’s about accepting the coaching and fixing our mistakes.”
In the grand scheme of things, Covington is fielding a young, inexperienced team learning what it takes to win. Saturday was their first real test with live bullets and the Buccaneers showed promise.
Now Covington works out the kinks next week as it prepares for another challenge next Friday in the final scrimmage against Anna.
