Milan wins at Covington
COVINGTON - In a game that involved a good amount of purple, the Milan Bulldogs used good field position to capitalize early and hold on to their lead late as they defeated the Covington Chargers 23-21 and advance in the TSSAA playoffs.
Milan took over on its own 46 yard-line after forcing Covington to punt on its opening drive. After a pass play moved them down deep into Charger territory, it was Anthony Ballard who capped of the drive with a nine-yard touchdown run to give the Bulldogs the 7-0 lead.
The Bulldogs forced a fumble on the second play of the Chargers’ next drive, setting themselves up again with great field position on the Covington 39-yard line. Though the Bulldogs ended up punting, they pinned Covington deep down inside the 10-yard line to start their next drive.
Forcing the Chargers to punt, the Bulldogs started their next drive on their own 43-yard line. Ballard broke free on the first play, scoring his second touchdown of the game on a 57-yard run to put Milan up 14-0 with 3:18 to play in the first quarter.
Covington started its next drive with the best field position that it had in the whole half, starting at the Milan 43-yard line after a good return was helped out by a personal foul penalty. They capitalized on the field position, scoring two minutes later on a 25-yard pass play from Brock Lomax to TJ Smith to make the score 14-7.
Both teams traded punts, with Milan continuing to start their drives with better field position.
“Field position is earned,” Milan head coach Jeff Morris said. “The offense has to move the ball, the defense can’t let them move the ball, and the kicking game needs to be successful.”
Milan showed how much they trusted their kicking game, having kicker Conner Allen scoring the final points of the half for the Bulldogs, kicking a 27-yard field goal with three minutes left to play before halftime to give Milan the 17-7 lead.
Both teams came out continuing to hit hard in the second half. Covington capitalized on a fumble and started with its second best field position of the game and again found a way to move the ball down the field and scored on a 13-yard touchdown run cut the lead to 17-14 with less than a minute in the third quarter.
Milan responded with a drive but stalled just inside the Covington red zone, settling for a 34-yard field goal by Allen to make it 20-14 with 9:58 left in the game.
Covington converted one fourth-down play on its next drive, but Milan stopped theChargers on the second, taking the ball over on its own 45 yard-line.
The Bulldogs drove down again, getting the ball inside the two-yard line, but elected to kick an 18-yard field goal instead of going for it on fourth and goal to make it 23-14.
“In years past we probably would have gone for it,” said Morris. “We are comfortable with our entire field goal unit – the snapper, holder, and kicker.”
Covington responded quickly, completing three passes and putting it in the end zone in just 31 seconds to cut the score to 23-21, but Milan recovered the football on the ensuing onside kick to seal the game.
Milan advances to face Liberty next week in Jackson.
“We have a tremendous task,” said Morris. “We feel like we have improved since we played them last and we are looking forward to having another chance at them.”