The Garden City Telegram

Email this story | Add Your Comment | Read (0) Comments

Buffs' Covington finds higher gear, earns Player of Week award

Published 9/10/2008 in Sports : Area High Schools

By BRETT MARSHALL

bmarshall@gctelegram.com

He's not the biggest running back around. He's not the fastest either.

But what Garden City's C.J. Covington is, is the Buffaloes' best and most dependable running back after Week 1 of the 2008 football season. The 5-foot-7-inch, 160-pound senior proved that in the Buffs' opening triumph, a convincing 32-10 victory at Class 4A power Ulysses.

Covington scored two touchdowns in that victory, carrying the ball 20 times and finishing with 162 yards, an average of 8.1 yards per attempt.

For his effort, Covington has earned The Telegram's Player of the Week award.

Covington would be the first to say that his success was predicated on the efforts of his offensive linemen, who opened up holes for him the entire game.

"We just knew we had to run the ball on them," Covington said after the Ulysses victory. "We knew we could push them back because we have a really good offensive line and we just had to keep going with it. And it kept working for us."

The touchdown runs for the Buffs senior covered 12 and seven yards, the first one coming on a burst up the middle midway through the second quarter that allowed Garden City a little breathing room heading into halftime with an 18-3 advantage. His second TD came at the mid-point of the third quarter when he took a last-second pitch from quarterback Jimmy Corbett and dashed around the right end to score from seven yards out.

"C.J. did a really good job for us and the line did a good job of opening holes for him," Buffaloes' head coach Mike Smith said. "When the lights came on, he just found another gear."

Smith said that Covington's style was similar to that of retired Kansas City Chiefs running back Priest Holmes. While not as big as Holmes, Covington finds ways to know where to go.

"He's a bit of a slasher, but he will also run over you if he gets the chance," Smith said. "When he finds the hole, he just accelerates. He's smooth, he sees the openings and he reads blocks well."

Smith agreed that his senior back is not the fastest player on the team, but when it gets to be game time, something changes.

"We had him timed in 4.6 (seconds) in the 40 (yard dash) this summer," Smith said. "Some kids have a different speed on game night, and I'll bet if we timed him last Friday, he would be in the 4.5 range."

One of the other top performances last Friday came from Sublette senior quarterback Brett Holloway.

Making his first-ever start, the left-handed Holloway completed 9-of-12 passes for 160 yards and one touchdown while rushing for one other score in the Larks' 28-0 shutout of Southwestern Heights.

"I thought Brett played a great game for making his first start," Sublette coach Steve Simpson said. "He did an excellent job of picking up blitzes, as did our line."

Holloway's nine completions went to three different receivers, including a 20-yard strike to senior tight end Brice Peters. That play came on a third-and-10 situation.

"Brett was doing an exceptional job all night," said Damon Simmons, the center who snapped the ball to his teammate all evening. His receivers averaged nearly 18 yards per reception for the game.

------------

RUSHING (Minimum 100 yards)

Jesus Navarette, Deerfield (27). . . . . . . . . . .241

C.J. Covington, Garden City (20) . . . . . . . . 162

Chet Skinner, South Gray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Jordan Wilcox, Holcomb (18). . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Lucas Plunkett, Syracuse (26) . . . . . . . . . . 116

Michael Kuehler, Satanta (13) . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Caleb Gifford, Hugoton (16). . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

( ) Indicates number of carries

PASSING (Minimum 100 yards)

Watson McKinney, Wichita Co. (11-23) . . . . 176

Brett Holloway, Sublette (9-12) . . . . . . . . . . .160

Chet Skinner, South Gray (7-23) . . . . . . . . .142

David Gonzales, Deerfield (14-19). . . . . . . . 110

Dillon Stucky, Scott City (10-19) . . . . . . . . . .103

Zach Dunlap, Hugoton (7-10) . . . . . . . . . . . 101

( ) -- Indicates passes completed, attempted

RECEPTIONS (Minimum 75 yards)

Logan Schultz, Garden City (6) . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Levi Kuntzsch, Scott City (7) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Brandon Stokes, Sublette (4) . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

( ) -- Indicates number receptions

Welcome!    

Today's events • Weekly Events

Submit An Event