Eagles stop Ambassadors

With the aid of three non-offensive touchdowns and a strong rushing effort from tailback Chris Shifflett, Covenant defeated Norfolk Christian 40-28 Friday afternoon on a rain-soaked field.

The Eagles recovered the first of five Ambassadors fumbles on the second play from scrimmage and watched as their offense quickly drove down the field to take a 3-0 lead — one they wouldn’t relinquish the rest of the day.

“On the first series, defensively, we said, ‘This is the first game of the year, everyone’s got butterflies, here’s a great opportunity for a take-away.’ And that’s what happened,” said first-year Covenant coach Rich Little. “We have emphasized taking the ball away a lot during practice … we put players in position to make plays.”

In a game dominated by turnovers, it was Covenant (1-0) who was able to take advantage early as Norfolk Christian (0-1) coughed up the ball on its first three possessions of the game. The most critical of the drops came late in the first quarter when Covenant junior Jesse Getchell pounced on a mishandled lateral attempt in the Norfolk Christian end zone, giving Covenant a 10-0 lead.

Ambassadors sophomore Kwontie Moore returned the ensuing kickoff for a 74-yard touchdown to cut the Eagles’ lead to two. However, Eagles senior Sam Dale returned the favor, taking back the following kickoff for a touchdown and giving Covenant a 16-7 lead.

“They’re a good team, no doubt,” stated Norfolk Christian coach Heath Gibbs, “but we helped them out. We made mistakes that gave them an advantage … if we don’t give up those two [first-quarter] scores, we’re right in the game.”

A 17-yard touchdown scamper by Moore made the score 16-14, but the Eagles responded with an impressive offensive drive which led to a Sean Rutherford field goal and gave them a five-point cushion heading into halftime. 

Getchell made a return trip to the end zone to start the second half as he took the opening kickoff 80 yards and gave Covenant a 26-14 lead.

After Norfolk Christian quarterback Brean Bailey cut the Eagles’ lead to 26-21 late in the third quarter, the Eagles once again responded as Shifflett took over.

Following another fumble recovery by the Covenant defense, Shifflett took a handoff around the right side, scampered down the sidelines for a 62-yard touchdown and pushed his team’s lead to twelve to start the fourth quarter. Shifflett accounted for 195 yards of total offense in the game, including an impressive 158 on the ground on only 13 carries. 

“It was the offensive line blocking,” Shifflett said. “It all starts up there. I just pick my spots.”

The spark provided by Shifflett on his long run carried over into the fourth quarter when Eagles quarterback Lee Coppock connected with Sam Patterson for a 30-yard touchdown pass giving Covenant a comfortable 40-21 lead with nine minutes remaining.

Coach Little credited his running game for opening up the pass play in the final quarter.

“We wanted to establish the run off the bat,” he said afterwards, “we felt like we were very successful running the ball, and that was able to open up the playbook a little with the pass in the fourth quarter.”

Norfolk Christian would add a score in the final minutes to make the tally 40-28. Up next for Covenant is a home date with defending VIS Division II champion Atlantic Shores.