Two of the three teams tied atop District 6-5A meet tonight at Northshore when the Panthers take on the Covington Lions.

Northshore (5-1) and CHS (4-2), who are both 3-1 in district play, have the same record as Mandeville.

Northshore coach Mike Bourg said it’s a must win for both squads and said his team is going against a tough club.

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“We look at Covington the same way we looked at St. Paul’s and any other school we’re playing. They’re 3-1 for a reason, because they’re a good football team. We have to play our ‘A’ game,” Bourg said.

Both teams are coming off wins. Northshore collected a 34-19 victory over St. Paul’s, while Covington edged Hammond, 21-16. In the Lions’ victory, junior Otis Jacobs returned a muffed punt 91 yards for the game-winning score with 1:39 left in the contest.

Last year’s game went to the Panthers, 10-0, but things have changed since then. Covington has changed coaches, bringing in Malter Scobel. When asked about how his team’s handling success, Scobel said, “They’ve done fine. We’ve kept them grounded. We’ve got room for improvement. Just because we’ve won doesn’t mean we’re great.”

On Northshore’s side, the Panthers played against Covington last season without quarterback Jervious Epherson, who missed the final seven games of 2007 with a foot injury.

This season he’s back and has been strong. Last week, the signal caller hit on 12-of-20 for 179 yards and three touchdowns, while adding 60 yards on the ground out of the spread offense. His scoring strikes went to Ben Cardon, 60 yards, Archie Ambo, 16 yards and Taylor Eads, 11 yards.

Epherson completed passes to seven different receivers, including Ambo, Cardon, Eads, Adam Chopin, Andrew Cossé, Chris Wade and Channing Wise.

The running back is Wise, but he is questionable. If Wise is unable to go, senior Mark Bertel (5-foot-6, 165 pounds) will take his place.

Bourg said Bertel is a strong back, a hard runner and the team’s wedge buster on kickoffs.

Defensively, Covington is led by Jacobs, senior linebacker Jeff Joiner and junior linebacker Kyle Crouch.

Coach Scobel said those three have been the biggest playmakers this season for his club.

In last week’s win, Jacobs, a safety, had a big night on defense and special teams. He recorded seven primary stops, three assists, a blocked field goal and the muffed punt he returned for the winning TD.

Joiner tallied nine primary tackles with three assists and he recovered a fumble last week. Crouch had four primary stops, eight assists, an interception and one sack.

Offensively, Covington runs a spread with Tyler Scott at quarterback. Last week, Scott threw for 60 yards with two touchdowns and a pair of interceptions. His scoring strikes went to Eddie Pea for 22 yards and Tank Mizell six yards.

The running back is Phillip Bickham. Last week, he broke the 100-yard barrier with 23 carries for 102 yards.

The Lions will be facing a Northshore defense that came up big last week. On St. Paul’s first offensive play from scrimmage, the linebacking corps got off to a good start when Chris Ruiz forced a fumble and Wade scooped it up then ran it 19 yards for a TD.

Wade finished last week by leading the Panthers with six tackles, two for loss, one assist and one sack.

Quinn Johnson posted four tackles, one for loss, one assist, one pass defensed and he blocked an extra point.

James Wigstrom tallied four stops and an assist. Eads, whose primary position is linebacker was in on three tackles with an assist, a sack and two passes defensed.