FORT LORAMIE – The Covington Buccaneers faced a solid Fort Loramie team on Friday and failed to capitalize on some golden opportunities in a 49-0 defeat.
It all started in the first quarter as three critical plays could have made a huge difference for the Buccaneers. Instead, failing to capitalize on the opportunities led to a 21-0 lead for Fort Loramie at the end of the first quarter.
The first missed opportunity for Covington came on a fumble by Fort Loramie deep in its own territory. Unfortunately, the Buccaneers didn’t recover the fumble and the Redskins were able to capitalize on a 56-yard touchdown pass to take a 7-0 lead.
The second missed opportunity for the Buccs came on another fumble by Fort Loramie inside its own twenty. Once again, Covington couldn’t find a way to recover the fumble to give itself great field position and a few plays later the Redskins scored on a 42-yard touchdown pass to take a 14-0 lead.
After a nice kickoff return by freshman Filip McMaken to the Fort Loramie 49, another missed opportunity turned the ball over to the Redskins. On the play, a Buccaneer receiver was wide open at least five yards behind the Fort Loramie defense, but the pass was under thrown and picked off by the Redskins.
Fort Loramie took advantage of the Covington miscue once again by scoring on an 86-yard touchdown pass to take a commanding 21-0 lead.
With the momentum completely on Fort Loramie’s side, the Redskins broke the game open by scoring three more times in the second quarter to take a 42-0 lead at the break.
With the running clock in place throughout the second half, the Buccaneers played very well down the stretch outside of two plays.
The Buccs stopped Fort Loramie on a fourth down play to open the second half and then moved the ball into Redskin territory before a fumble turned the ball over.
Buccaneer freshman Jordan Miller picked off a Fort Loramie pass to give the offense another opportunity to put points on the board, but once again the Buccaneers turned the ball over to Fort Loramie on a third fumble.
The Redskins took advantage by scoring the final touchdown of the game on a one-yard plunge in the waning moments of the game.
Overall, the final score didn’t define the overall effort the young Buccaneers put forth throughout the entire contest.
What the score did reflect was the five turnovers Covington committed on the night – three from fumbles and two on interceptions.
Moving forward, the Buccaneers need to find a way to execute the plays that are called and protect the football if they hope to find success.
Next up is a home contest against Troy Christian next Friday to open TRC play.
