On a cool Friday evening in Staunton, Va., the Covington Cougars fell 50-26 in their varsity football game against the Staunton Storm.
Storm junior, Walker Darby went 11-22 passing while throwing for 216 yards and three touchdowns in the Storms first game of the season.
After COVID-19 struck the Storms football program a few weeks ago, the team had to postpone their season opener with Wilson Memorial High School last Friday.
Darby and the Storm offense made sure the Cougars could not weather the storm that was coming.
The Storms offense finished the game with over 350 yards of offense against the Cougars who were coming off of their season opening shutout victory against the Bath County Chargers last Friday 22-0.
The aerial passing attack from the Storm proved to be too much for the Cougars.
Six of Darby’s completed passes went for 20+ yards.
The week prior against the Chargers, the secondary only seen a handful of passes thrown at the secondary.
Last night was a much different story as the Storm attacked the Cougars secondary and looked for the deep plays.
Despite the loss for the Cougars, the team put together some great big plays.
Senior Javier Yancey 6-16 passing, almost doubling his throws from the Chargers game last week. Yancey had 165 yards passing to go along with two touchdown passes.
Yancey also chipped in with 37 rushing yards to go along with a rushing touchdown.
He finished with three total touchdowns.
As mentioned, the team did put together some big plays. Yancey and fellow senior Chadwick Tacy connected for two touchdowns in the game. The first for 72 yards and the second touchdown for 41 yards.
Tacy finished the game with three receptions for 125 yards and two receiving touchdowns.
While the passing game was a huge factor in the Storms victory, the Cougars offensive woes did help.
The Cougars committed four turnovers (all fumbles) in the game. Three in which came in the first quarter alone and all four coming in the first half.
While the Cougars did commit nearly a handful of turnovers, the defense did forced two turnovers.
The Cougars unfortunately did not capitalize on any of the forced turnovers.
One for certain though for the Cougars who lost their first game of the season, the team does have quite the following from Covington.
The visiting bleachers at the Storms football field, while much smaller in size than the home side, the visiting bleachers themselves was well packed.
Although the Cougars may lost, the team showed heart and did not quit at any point in the game and kept fighting to try and get themselves back in the game.
When the team trailed 36-7 after giving up a quick touchdown on a two-play drive to start the second half, the team could have given up, but the team kept going until the last seconds of the game.
Let’s recap how it all went down last night.
After receiving the ball to start the game, sophomore Neeko Jeter committed one of the four fumbles of the game on the fifth play of the game.
The Storm however, on their first offensive play fumbled the ball after a two yard rush.
After the Cougars next possession ended quickly on four plays and one flag, the Storm got the ball back.
After passing completions from Darby of 51 and 24 yards, the Storm got to the Cougars five yard line and coughed the ball up for their second turnover of the game.
With the ball on their own five yard line, the Cougars had to play cautious. However, sophomore Purcel Turner fumbled the ball and was picked up by a Storm defender and returned for a defensive touchdown. The extra point was good, giving the Storm a 7-0 lead.
Jeter committed his second turnover of the game on the very next play when he bobbled the kick return and was recovered by the Storm.
The Cougars defense held up and forced the Storm to punt.
After a great punt of 48 yards and downed at the Cougars two yard line, the Cougars offense was facing another challenge of having the ball so close to their own endzone.
On the second play of the drive, the Storm defense came barreling through the offensive line and knocked senior Dontai Samuels into the endzone for a safety, giving the Storm a 9-0 lead.
The Storm opened the second quarter with one play and a 15 yard rushing touchdown. After adding an extra point the Storm took a 16-0 lead.
After a missing out on what would of been a huge turnaround for the offense on two failed completions to senior Mitchell Tallman, the Cougars offense was quickly off the field.
The next drive for the Storm resulted in another rushing touchdown, this time from only one yard out to give the team a 22-0 lead. The extra point was no good.
After holding the Storm’s offense on multiple drives for the first time since the start of the first quarter, the Cougars got on the scoreboard on a one-play drive resulting in a 72 yard touchdown pass from Yancey to Tacy. With the extra point added, the Cougars cut the lead to 22-7.
It seemed as if momentum was on the Cougars side. The only problem was the team left one minute to long on the clock for the Storm.
The Storm drove down the field for 63 yards en route to a 26 yard touchdown pass from Darby. The extra point was good and took the Storm to halftime with a 29-7 lead.
To open the second half, the Storm started just as the left off the half with a quick score.
After a 79 yard kickoff return, the Storm grabbed their third rushing touchdown of the game, this time from three yards out. After adding the extra point, the team took a 36-7 lead.
With 5:40 to go in the third quarter and trailing by 29 points, the Cougars defense forced the Storm to punt.
After a short almost two minute drive, the Cougars grabbed their second touchdown of the game, this time coming from Yancey on a quarterback keeper from three yards out. The extra point was no good keeping the game at 36-13.
The drive was highlighted by a 15 yard run from Turner and a 26 yard run from Yancey.
As the fourth quarter opened up, Darby had his second touchdown pass of the game, this time from 23 yards. The extra point gave the Storm their biggest lead of the game at 30 points.
Only needing three plays and a 41 yard receiving touchdown from Tacy by Yancey, the Cougars quickly erased the 30 point lead and cut it to 23 points after the extra point was successful.
With the score 43-20, the Storm would use up most of the clock on their next drive.
The Storm had an 11 play drive resulting in Darby’s third touchdown pass of the game, this one from only four yards out. After a successful extra point, the Storm retook a 30 point lead.
The Cougars did get back on the scoreboard after a six-play drive resulted in a Turner rushing touchdown from 20 yards out. The extra point was no good and the game ended with the final score of 50-26.
It was Storm’s head coach Jake Phillips second win over the Cougars and second win over his former Bath County head coach, Chris Jones.
Coach Jones coached Jake and his brother John to a state championship at Bath County.
Up next for the Cougars is next Friday’s rival game with the Alleghany Mountaineers for the Brackman Cup.
The Cougars have won the last three meetings with the Mountaineers and look to keep the Brackman Cup inside the building at Covington High School.
Team Quarter/Points
Cougars 0 7 6 13
Storm 9 20 7 14
Team Stats Pass Rush Total Yds First Downs TO’s Flags
Cougars 165 117 282 10 4 5
Storm 216 148 364 14 2 10