For a third straight year, the Brackman Cup will reside in the trophy case at Covington High School.
Shaun Smith Jr. rushed for 200 yards on 24 carries and scored three touchdowns Friday evening, as the Cougars retained the Brackman Cup with a 28-21 hard-fought victory over the Alleghany Mountaineers.
Simon Gibson’s 13-yard touchdown pass to George Young accounted for the other Covington score, as the Cougars evened their record in the shortened spring season at 2-2.
Matt Howell had 129 yards on 19 carries and scored twice for the Mountaineers. Dylan Nicely added 55 yards on 18 totes and also found the end zone for Alleghany.
“We’re not many, but we’re mighty,” said Covington coach Chris Jones, referencing his 18-man roster that dressed for the Alleghany game a week after injuries prevented them from hosting Narrows. “I’m just so proud of them.”
For all the offensive numbers, it was a play by the Covington defense that sealed the win. With the Mountaineers driving for a potential game-tying touchdown in the game’s waning moments, Skyler Barnett sacked Alleghany quarterback Ethyn Kimberlin on 4th-and-5 from the Covington 19.
Three Gibson kneeldowns later, and the Cougars were celebrating a successful Brackman Cup defense.
“We rolled the dice on that,” said Jones on the key defensive call. “We said they’re going to get us or they aren’t. It just happened to work out in our favor —thank goodness!”
“They’ve got a couple of guys who are more athletic than we are,” Alleghany coach Will Fields said. “Those guys made some plays tonight.”
The Mountaineers unveiled a power running game that caught the Cougars off guard, and it worked to perfection for Fields and his crew early.
Alleghany took the opening kickoff and marched 60 yards in 12 plays to take an early lead. Howell capped the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run off tackle, and Alexandre Taylor added the conversion for a 7-0 Alleghany lead.
The Cougars answered on their first possession with a nine-play scoring drive of their own. A 22-yard Nate Phillips reception on 4th-and-6 from their own 41 kept the drive alive, and after a 37-yard Barnett touchdown run was wiped out by a holding penalty, Smith covered the mistake with a 36-yard touchdown gallop
The Cougars missed the point but found themselves in only a 7-6 deficit.
The Mountaineers responded with another impressive drive that ate up the remainder of the opening quarter and nearly half of the second.
The 14-play, 57-yard scoring jaunt was highlighted by a 27-yard hookup from Kimberlin to Xander Harris on a 3rd-and-22 from the Covington 36, Alleghany’s only pass completion of the night.
A play later following a Covington penalty, Nicely found the end zone from four yards out, and Taylor added the point-after for a 14-6 Alleghany lead.
Following the ensuing kickoff, a 41-yard run by Barnett had the Cougars quickly back in business. Three plays later, Smith was back in the end zone, scoring from four yards away. Smith added the two-point conversion run, tying it at 14-all.
The Cougars took their first lead of the evening just before the half. With only five seconds on the clock before intermission, Young hauled in a 13-yard scoring toss from Gibson, giving the Cougars a 21-14 lead at the half.
They then upped their lead by taking the second half kickoff and marching 73 yards. Jacob Roldan had 53 yards worth of receptions on the drive, including a 30-yard pitch-and-catch from Gibson and a 21-yard catch on a throw from Barnett.
Smith capped the drive with an eight-yard scoring run, and Chadwick Tacy kicked the point for a 28-14 Covington lead.
The Mountaineers were far from finished, responding in quick fashion. Howell’s 30-yard run got Alleghany into the Covington red zone, and then the Mountaineer tailback finished what he started, scoring from 13 yards out. Taylor’s conversion cut the Covington lead to 28-21.
A Justice Smith sack ended Covington’s next possession, but the Mountaineers were unable to move the football and they were forced to kick it away — the only punt of the game.
Alleghany’s coverage team downed Brenden Porterfield’s kick inside the Covington 1-yard line, but the Cougars were undaunted by their unenviable field position. They moved the football 88 yards to the Alleghany 11 with hopes of putting it away.
But the Alleghany defense had other ideas. A Waylon Campbell interception ended the Covington threat and gave the Mountaineers new life.
Given the break, they drove the football from their own eight to the Covington 19 — all on the ground — before Barnett’s game-saving sack preserved the Cougar victory.
“We tried to keep the ball away from them a little bit, and we had some success with it,” Fields said. “I think we came up just a play or two short there at the end.
“I’m super proud of them,” the first-year Alleghany coach continued. “I told them I’ve never been prouder of a bunch of guys. They kept battling. We needed to get one tonight, and it just slipped away.”
Jones credited the work of his linemen, including senior Blaine Pettitt, junior Levi Dressler, sophomores Dillon Cash and Luke Conner and freshmen Ethan Martin and Nate Phillips.
“You take every yard you can get with them,” he said. “I love them.”
He also heaped praise on Smith, who eclipsed the 200-yard mark for the third time in four games.
“There are no words for what that guy can do,” Jones said. “He’s a magnificent football player.”
Fields concluded his postgame remarks by describing the Mountaineers’ power running attack that led to a season-high 222 yards on the ground.
“It was a goal-line, short-yardage thing,” he said. “We were trying to go for ball control and keep the ball away from their playmakers. We were able to have a little success with that, but not enough.”
The Cougars conclude their shortened spring regular season with a trip to Bath County Thursday night.
“One more,” Jones concluded. “We need to get it and see what happens with the playoffs.”
Meantime, the Mountaineers conclude their six-game regular season by hosting Glenvar Friday evening.
“They are a tough team,” said Fields, assessing the Highlanders. “Our kids will show up and play. I know we’re going to be a little banged up and the kids are going to be heartbroken, but they’re going to show up and play, because that’s what they do. They’re tough kids.”
In the anomaly that is 2021, the spring Covington-Alleghany game is just the first of the year. These old rivals will tee it up again on Sept. 10 (moved from Aug. 27) at Casey Field to kick off the fall season.