Covington defeats Bland County

By JERRY SCOTT/Correspondent

Freshman Troy Helton scored three times and rushed for 209 yards, including a 70-yard scamper on Covington’s very first play from scrimmage and the Cougars went on to upend homestanding Bland County 19-6 in a non-district football affair that also saw the Cougars snap a 13-game losing skid.
Fullback Adam Simmons added another 104 yards as the Cougars beat up on the Bears worse than the final score might indicate. The Cougars held an overwhelming 324 to 148 edge in total offensive yardage.
The win enabled the Cougars of coach Steve Dressler to improve to 1-1 for the season, the triumph being the first for Covington since a 40-0 win over Craig County back on Oct. 19, 2007, that win being the only one by the Cougars that season. Bland County dropped to 1-2 for the 2009 campaign.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Dressler said. “They’ve worked hard, we have a positive group. We started the year off with a big, strong Double-A school [a 50-0 loss], these kids deserve it.”
It was very obvious right from the outset that this was not going to be Bland County’s night. Helton left the entire Bears’ defense in his rear view on the game’s first offensive snap as the Cougars led 6-0 just 20 seconds into the contest. That was followed by lost fumbles by Jacob Lambert on Bland County’s first two offensive series, the sixth and seventh times the Bears have lost fumbles so far in this young, three-game season.
Covington capitalized on neither, allowing the Bears to stay close in the game between first-time combatants. The yards, however, kept mounting for Helton, who ran rough-shod over the Bears for 147 first half yards.
“We felt like we were a little bit quicker than Bland County,” Dressler stated. “Being that they were in a 52 defense, we felt like if we could seal off the ends we would have the outside most of the night. Then they made some shifts to try and take away the outside and we made our changes where they were leaving the inside unprotected which allowed us to make our cuts and follow our guards.”
The Bears scored their lone touchdown at the end of a 16-play, 75-yard drive that bridged the final 4:25 of the first period and the opening 2:36 of the second when Lambert caught a 14-yard option pass from Dylan Kidd, the score knotting the game 6-6. Lambert nailed the PAT kick but the point was nullified by an illegal block on the Bears; his second try from 35 yards out wasn’t close.
Covington proceeded to drive to the Bland County 32 on its next drive before Lambert broke up a fourth-and-eight pass play to end the possession. Bland County had its final drive of the first half end on the first of four Lambert punts. The second one came on the fourth play of the second half as Covington once again stalled the Bears’ sputtering offense.
The Cougars answered with a drive of 86 yards in just eight plays and took a 13-6 edge midway through the third period. The Cougars’ Simmons rambled 53 yards through the heart of the Bears’ defense on first down from the 14 as Covington enjoyed great field position at the BC33. Seven plays later, Helton scored from six yards out and Covington led for good.
Bland County’s next two possessions ended in punts of 50 and 47 yards by Lambert but Keenan Smith’s 55-yard return on the second one gave the ball to the Cougars at the Bears’ 40 and set up the Cougars’ final score. From the 40, Covington marched 60 yards in 10 plays, twice overcoming penalties to take the final 19-6 lead on Helton’s seven-yard scamper with 5:42 left in the game.
Things got no better for the Bears after that. Kidd threw incomplete on fourth-and-eight at the 4:08 mark and Bland County was left holding the ball as time expired on the contest following Jakob Haun’s 15-yard game-ending run.
The Cougars outrushed the Bears 324-100 and finished with 409 all-purpose yards. Covington quarterbacks failed to complete any of their seven passes.
“My hat’s off to Covington,” Bears coach Harris Hart stated. “They had speed and we weren’t disciplined defensively. They’d rush it around both ends and they’d pound it to both insides. We couldn’t match up to their size or speed. We just couldn’t bounce back once we fell behind.”
Bland County’s top rusher was Aaron Blankenship with 38 yards on seven carries. Kidd hit four of 10 passes for 48 yards and the Bears also had 106 yards in returns. They also lost two of three fumbles.
“In the second half, we brought our cornerbacks up tight on their wide receivers,” Dressler said. “They were hitting us with a few slants but we did that as well as blitzing the linebackers which left their quarterback with less time to do anything.”
Defensively for Bland County, Lambert had six solo tackles and eight assists while teammate Brady Dillow had nine assists among his 10 overall tackles. Haun had seven assists in nine total tackles.
The Bears travel to Damascus this week to face the Holston Cavaliers, 3-0 after a 33-6 shelling of John Battle last Friday. The Cavs are considered a favorite for a high seed in the playoffs and will be the Bears’ toughest test thus far. Game time is 7:30 p.m.

Covington 6 0 7 6—19
Bland County 0 6 0 0—6

SCORING—
First quarter:
C—Helton 70 run (run failed) 11:40
Second quarter:
BC—Lambert 14 pass from Kidd (kick failed) 9:24
Third quarter:
C—Helton 6 run (Laws kick) 6:15
Fourth quarter:
C—Helton 7 run (kick blocked) 5:42

TEAM STATISTICS—
C BC
First downs 13 8
Rushes/yds 48/324 32/100
Comp/Att/Int 0/7/0 4/10/0
Passing yds 0 48
Returns/yds 3/85 5/106
Penalties/yds 7/40 2/20
Fumbles/lost 0/0 3/2
Punts/avg yds 3/26.0 4/42.5

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS—
Rushing:
Covington—Helton 27/209, Simmons 15/104, Waddell 4/12, Jeter 2/-1. Bland County—Blankenship 7/38, Haun 4/32, Lambert 10/17, 10/15, Parker 1/-2.
Passing:
Covington—Fertig 0/6/0, 0 yds., Helton 0/1/0, 0 yds., Jeter 0/0/0, 0 yds. Bland County—Kidd 4/10/0, 48 yds.
Receiving:
Bland County—Gibson 2/25, Lambert 2/23.
Returns:
Covington—Smith 1/55, LaPrade 1/17, Helton 1/13. Bland County—Lambert 3/81, Kidd 2/25.
Bland County tackles (name, solo, assists, sacks):
Stowers 1-1-0, Fisher 0-5-0, Lambert 6-8-0, Gibson 1-2-0, Dillow 1-9-0, Williams 0-1-0, Kidd 3-2-0, Collins 0-1-0, C. Greene 0-5-0, Haun 2-7-0, Blankenship 0-6-0, R. Greene 1-3-0, Mabe 1-2-0, Mustard 2-3-0, Pauley 0-1-0. TOTALS 18-56-0.