St. Paul'€™s holds off Lions in defensive struggle

In the 50th meeting of the St. Paul’s Wolves and the Covington Lions, there was a lot riding on the outcome. Cross-town bragging rights were on the line, but most importantly it was the chance to remain in the hunt for a spot in the District 6-5A playoffs.

St. Paul’s seized that opportunity and took a hard fought 9-7 victory over Covington on Halloween night. 

Both teams entered the game tied for second with identical 3-2 league records. But it was the Wolves’ defense that proved the difference. 

Covington struck early to stun the Wolves. On the Lions’ first possession they marched 65 yards on seven plays to score. The big play of the drive started with the opening kickoff.  Colt Bruhl scampered 58 yards to set up the Lion offense at the Wolves’ 35-yard line. 

Lion quarterback Tyler Scott hit Jarius Bickham with a 20-yard touchdown pass with 8:25 still showing in the first period. Spencer Graham’s point after was good to give the Lions what would become their only lead of the game. 

With time running out in the first quarter St. Paul’s took over at its own 14-yard line and began a march that would hit pay dirt. They moved the ball to the Lion 1-yard line as the first quarter whistle blew. But on the first play of the second quarter Wolves’ quarterback Alec Duncan scored. On the try for the PAT Covington jumped offsides, giving the Wolves something to think about, and the St. Paul’s coaching staff decided to go for two. But Covington was up to the challenge and stopped Jordan Bodenheimer short of the goal line to keep the 7-6 lead. 

St. Paul’s got the ball back and mounted another impressive drive. Seventeen plays and 62 yards later their offense stalled. Jake Saltalamacchia came on to try a 32-yard field goal but missed wide left.

Saltalamacchia got another chance with only 18 seconds left in the half from 22 yards out.  This time he didn’t miss, giving the Wolves their first lead at the half, 9-7.

Defense was the name of the game in the second half.  St. Paul’s mounted several long drives only to have them stopped by a stout Covington defense. Covington, on the other hand, had only five offensive plays in the third quarter thanks to several, long St. Paul’s drives.

St. Paul’s had another scoring chance in the third, but Saltalamacchia missed again from 31-yards out to keep the score at 9-7.

In the fourth quarter and trailing 9-7, Covington took the ball at its own 20-yard line and strung together 12 plays that moved them to the Wolves 18, putting them within range of a go ahead field goal. But with 7:48 left in the game Scott dropped back to pass and threw the ball into the end zone with his pass being picked off by St. Paul’s Stephen Smith, who brought it out to the 5.

Covington forced the Wolves to punt and got the ball back with 2:44 left with the ball at their own 29. On first down Scott heaved a long pass to Neil Blanchard well into Wolves’ territory. But the play was called back on a procedure penalty.  

On fourth-and-nine with 46 seconds left Scott dropped back to pass. St. Paul’s big defensive tackle, Jordan Crane, came barreling in to sack Scott and end the game. 

St. Paul’s ground game was the difference. Their rushing attack produced 238 yards on 43 carries, while Covington could only manage 69 yards on the ground. Mikhail Washington carried the mail for St. Paul’s, lugging it 17 times for 113 yards. 

Philip Bickham led the Lions with 64 yards on 15 carries. The passing attack for both teams saw St. Paul’s go 5-of-17 for 92 yards, while Covington managed to complete 10-of-17 passes for 77 yards and one interception.

Both teams had outstanding defensive efforts. For Covington it was Jonathan Clemons, Kyle Crouch and Otis Jacobs. Nick Logarbo, Jay Duet and Tyler Adams had fine games for the Wolves.

St. Paul’s coach Ken Sears was relieved to escape with the win.

“We felt like we could run the ball on them, but we made too many mistakes when it counted. Our defense was outstanding tonight, but it was a team effort. The sack by Jordan (Crane) to end the game was big as was Mikhail Washington’s running,” he said. 

Covington coach Malter Scobel was disappointed in the loss but happy with the defensive effort of his team. 

“We had our chances, but we didn’t get the job done,” he said. “My hat is off to St. Paul. They did a great job out there tonight.” 

The Wolves now 7-2 overall and 4-2 in league play, finish the regular season next week when they host the Fontainebleau Bulldogs.

Covington, now 4-4 overall and 3-3 in league play, has a chance to play spoiler next week when they host first-place Mandeville.