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Covenant defense shines in opener

Well that didn’t take too long.

First year coach Rich Little just took the helm for the Covenant football program in June, but wasted little time in collecting victory number one for the Eagles as Covenant rolled 40-28 against Norfolk Christian.

“All we talked about was let’s set the year off on the right foot,” Little said. “Let’s be the ones that actually get the school going and start the year off with a bang.”

In years past Covenant has won with its potent offense, and while there were some big plays on that side of the field on Friday — like Chris Shifflett’s 63 yard touchdown run or Sam Patterson’s 38-yard reception for a score — the real story for the Eagles was on defense and special teams.

The Covenant defense forced five turnovers. Jesse Getchell scored on one of the turnovers in the first quarter when he recovered a fumble in the Ambassadors’ endzone. Patterson was a menace in the Norfolk Christian backfield, constantly keeping quarterback Breon Bailey on the run while also collecting three sacks.

“At the beginning of the game they were really trying to get us with the run,” Patterson said. “But towards the end, as we started to stuff it, I went a little on my own. I got the sense that they might start rolling out a bit more and it just worked out.”

On special teams, both Getchell and Sam Dale returned kickoffs for touchdowns. Dale’s came immediately after the Ambassadors’ Kwontie Moore took an Eagles kickoff back for a score.

Moore, who as a sophomore has received letters from UCLA, piled up 117 yards on the ground but was plagued by a pair of fumbles. Bailey was the top rusher for Norfolk Christian with his 140-yard performance, but only managed 22 yards passing on a pair of completions.

The Eagles never trailed in the game, but the Ambassadors got to within two points after back-to-back Covenant turnovers. However, the momentum swung back in Covenant’s favor in the second half with quarterback Lee Coppock finally finding a rhythm in the passing attack, and Shifflett continuing to pound the ball.

“The bottom line is that we ask the kids never to hang their head,” Little said. “If you make a mistake in practice we want you to get right back up and get back in the next play. We don’t want you to get down on yourself.”

Shifflett finished the game as the top rusher, accumulating 158 yards and breaking loose for 30 yards or more on three different occasions.

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