Huntsmen Fall 35-20 to Covington as Playoff Run Ends

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The Huntington Huntsmen saw their season come to a close, falling 35-20 to the Covington Buccaneers, Friday night at Earll Knight Field.

This was the Huntsmen’s second ever playoff appearance and the first time they had ever hosted a playoff game.

Huntington looked to be in control after going up 13-0 in the early moments of the second quarter. From that point on the second quarter was dominated by the Covington offense, minus one play.

Despite holding the halftime lead, Huntington only ran 11 plays from scrimmage in the second quarter and the Covington rushing game seemed to be finding its rhythm.

In the second half, personal foul penalties and Covington’s two-headed monster of Landon Castle and Jordan Miller were too much for the Huntsmen to overcome.

The Buccaneers’ defense did its job, pitching a shutout through the last 35 minutes of play to move on to regional quarterfinal play.

Huntington took the opening kickoff and marched down the field. The drive looked to be in peril when the Huntsmen were flagged for intentional grounding, which brought up a third-and-long situation. Quarterback Frankie Hirsch threw a ball to LJ Cooper, who literally ripped it from a defender’s grasp for a 31-yard touchdown strike with 9:08 to go in the first quarter to put the Huntsmen on the board. The PAT was added and Huntington took the lead 7-0.

Covington took the ensuing possession and ran 10 plays before Calvin Hirsch stopped the Covington quarterback on fourth down to turn the ball over on downs and give the ball back to the Huntington offense.

But just four plays into Huntington’s possession, a Huntsmen ball carrier fumbled the ball and the Buccaneers recovered on their own 2-yard line, where they would start their next possession.

After running nine plays, the Buccaneers were forced to punt. The punt went off the side of the kicker’s foot and set up Huntington first-and-10 at the midfield stripe.

On the first play of the ensuing possession, Frankie Hirsch took the snap, found a lane and outran everyone to the end zone for a 50-yard touchdown run with 11:47 to go in the second quarter. The PAT was no good and the Huntsmen led 13-0.

On the next Covington possession, the Buccaneers used the running of Castle and Jordan Miller to march the ball down the field on an 11-play drive that ate up 86 yards and took nearly five minutes off the clock. The drive was capped when Castle ran the ball in from six yards out. The snap was bobbled on the point-after attempt and the Huntington lead stood at seven, 13-6.

After a three-and-out on defense, Covington got the ball back and again used the running attack. Jordan Miller escaped on a 56-yard touchdown run with 5:31 left in the first half. The PAT was good and tied the game at 13.

Another three-and-out gave the ball to the Buccaneers, but on the second play from scrimmage, a Covington ball carrier fumbled. Frankie Hirsch picked up the ball and returned it 13 yards for a Huntington touchdown with 1:35 left in the half. With the PAT the score was 20-13.

The third quarter was much like the second quarter as far as time of possession and controlling the ball were concerned. Huntington only ran seven plays from scrimmage and possessed the ball for just more than four minutes.

Covington continued to feed the ball to Castle and Jordan Miller. A nine-play, 60-yard drive was capped when Trenton Havner scored from two yards out to pull within one. After a personal foul on the extra point attempt, Covington decided to go for two and was successful to take the lead 21-20.

Covington took over its next drive with 3:18 to play in the third quarter and controlled the ball for the rest of the period. With 11:15 remaining on the fourth quarter clock, Castle ran it in from three yards out to stretch the lead to eight, 28-20.

The final nail in the coffin was when Jordan Miller picked off a screen and scampered 40 yards for a Covington touchdown, making the final margin 35-20.

Unofficially, for Huntington, Frankie Hirsch was 8 of 19 through the air for 127 yards with a touchdown and an interception. The Huntsmen senior signal caller also carried the ball 10 times for 105 yards with two scores.

Unofficially, for Covington, Jordan Miller gobbled up 230 yards on 29 carries. Landon Castle also broke the century mark with 25 carries for 107 yards.

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