Covenant had to bounce back from the Eagles’ loss to Blue Ridge against Fishburne Friday and they had to do it with a quarterback in Jacob Smith who hadn’t played the spot since seventh grade.
Luckily, he’s got some help. Rick Weaver and Donavan Jackson can make things a lot easier for a new signal-caller, particularly when Weaver has settled in after returning to action last week.
“It was great, I loved having him back,” Smith said. “It definitely helped our team. Having Rick and Donny, it’s a whole different offense for us.”
That who different offense ran past the Caissons to the tune of a 40-0 victory, scoring on an early fumble recovery and then getting some clutch play from Smith, Weaver and Jackson to finish the job.
“It was a good step forward after last week, definitely excited about that, excited about the guys refocusing, recommitting,” said Covenant coach Dave Hart. “It’s great to see.”
Smith made several big plays, including a long run to set up a touchdown sneak of his own and a 60-yard touchdown toss to Connor Poindexter where Poindexter wove all over the field and broke several tackles, including a leap to his left near the end to shake Fishburne’s final threat to stop him. The score put Covenant up 24-0 in the first half. Smith also made enough of the right reads in the Eagles’ option attack to keep Covenant moving, a tall task for a player who was pressed into action against Blue Ridge due to Nic Sanker’s injury.
“I’m very proud of how he’s handled it,” Weaver said. “He’s stepped into the position and done a great job.”
Weaver, meanwhile, had a 73-yard run for a touchdown to open the second half, looking like his old self that rushed for more than 1,000 yards last season in just his second game back from a knee injury.
“I felt a little bit more settled in,” Weaver said. “Every time I’m out here it’s just a great feeling, being with my team, running with them and doing whatever I can to help the team.”
He also had a play in the third quarter where the Eagles fumbled the ball near the line of scrimmage and Weaver reached down, snagged it and then carried a couple of defenders en route to picking up a first down.
“I don’t know what happened there, that was amazing,” Hart said. “Week to week, I just think he’s going to get more comfortable.”
Jackson scored a touchdown in the second half, set up in large part by his own long run a couple of plays earlier. He was also efficient on 2-point conversions, scoring on a pair of those as well.
Covenant enters a bye week now before taking on St. Anne’s-Belfield on October 21.
