It seems like it wouldn’t be a Friday night without Mother Nature leaving her mark on area football games throughout the Miami Valley. For yet another week, several games in the area battled a weather delay including Homecoming at Covington as the Buccs hosted the Bees.
While both teams entered the game 3-0 on the season, Mother Nature’s short-lived weather issues seemed to zap the momentum the Bees had coming into the game, as they suffered their first loss of the season 48-7 to Covington, dropping the Bees to 3-1 on the season, while the Buccs move to 4-0.
Bethel’s defense was tested on the games’ opening drive, as the Buccs drove into Bethel territory picking up two first downs. The Bees run defense shut down Covington once they crossed midfield, and the Buccs were forced to punt.
The Bees couldn’t produce on their opening drive, and the Buccs went to work to get the lead.
Starting at their own 34, the Buccs gained a big break when they recovered their own fumble to keep the drive alive. A huge pass from Nathan Blei to Ethan Herron set the Buccs up in the red zone, where they capitalized.
Lance Miller broke loose and scored from 15 yards out, giving the Buccs a 7-0 lead with 3:27 left in the opening period.
Bethel couldn’t capitalize on good field position on their next drive. A personal foul against the Buccs put Bethel into Covington territory, but again their offense couldn’t get anything going, and was forced to punt again.
The Buccs answered with another scoring drive, including a huge 60 yard run from Herron setting the host Buccs deep in Bethel territory at the ten yard line.
Keeping the ball on the ground, Covington punched the ball in from two yards out from Herron to open the second quarter, giving the Buccs a 14-0 lead.
Bethel tried to take advantage of a pass from Jacob Evans to Ian Anderson taking the ball to the Buccs 33 yard line. Again their offense sputtered turning the ball over the Covington on downs.
Bethel senior Tyler Massengale recovered a Buccs fumble in the next drive, and Bethel was in business trying to break through. Unfortunately for Bees fans, Evans threw an interception in the first play of the drive, and Covington went to work again.
The Buccs scored again on their next possession to make it 21-0 before the Bees could finally get on the board.
Evans sprinted 45 yards for a score, which turned out to be the lone score of the game for the Bees. Their defense did step up on the final play of the half, stopping Covington at the goal line to go into the half only down 21-7.
In the second half, it was much of the same for the Bees, being outscored 27-0 and suffering their first loss of the season.
Bethel returns to action Friday night hosting Tri County North, another solid team in the Cross County Conference.
