Sometimes it only takes a game for an entire team to truly buy in, especially when you’re coming off a 3-7 year in 2016. Just one week into the season and Covenant is feeling pretty good. First year coach Seth Wilson was able to get his team to come out and execute to the tune of a 44-0 drubbing of Greenbrier Christian. And since the Eagles had four touchdowns called back and struggled with penalties, the season opening win is almost perfect as Covenant has much to be excited about, and yet still has plenty of room for improvement.
“I’m certainly happy but I don’t want us to get ahead of ourselves,” Wilson said. “This game is going to be fun to think about until we get the film and then it’s back to grind mode. This win is nice, it feels great but we have much bigger goals and this is all just one part of the process.”
Jonas Sanker played last year sparingly as an eighth grader for the Eagles. In his first game as a freshman, Sanker finished with three rushing touchdowns and two interceptions, a handful of extra points kicked and another handful of punt returns in what looked like a one man show at times, but obviously was more complex than that.
“Everyone on the team was on the page,” Sanker said. “We’re all able to do our job. A lot of scored, a lot of us made great plays and it just lead up to a big win like this.”
The Eagles drew first blood after Sanker returned a punt to the Greenbrier 15 yard line to set up a short field. Two plays later and quarterback John Huemme was able to scamper in for an 11-yard rushing touchdown. Less that two minutes later it would be 14-0 after Lorenzo Allorto came up with an interception that allowed Sanker to peel off a 28-yard rush to the edge.
Nic Sanker and Huemme combined to deliver the next blow on the first play of the second quarter with the senior receiver coming up with a 65-yard reception to the house to make it 21-0.
“When I was thinking about how to put this offense together I just kept thinking, with what we have, why stack everybody in the box?” Wilson said. “Why not put the Sankers out on the edge a little bit and allow them to make plays in space? You get those guys the ball in space it usually is a pretty good result for us.”
Jonas Sanker came up with a 28-yard field goal three minutes later and then with 3:36 left until the half, he broke off a 41-yard run to make it 30-0.
Donovan Jackson — who’s inside running set the table for all the edge rushing for Sanker — found pay dirt just before the break with a 5-yard rushing score. That allowed Covenant to enter the third quarter with a running clock at 37-0.
“It’s really nice (defenses) have to respect the run because Donovan and John are great runners and then at the same time they have to respect the pass with me, my brother, Connor Poindexter and the other receivers,” Sanker said. “It’s nice to make the defense spread out a little.”
The lone touchdown drive in the second half came late in the third when Sanker uncorked an 88-yard to the end zone. The rest of the half was about Covenant’s defense as they forced four turnovers and came up with four fourth down stops.
“We want to be solid defensively, we know that wins championships” Wilson said. “We want to be able to bend and not break, let everyone fly around and make sure they know their roles. If everyone can dominate their role, we can be a dominant defense. Hopefully we showed flashes of that today, but it’s only the first game. So we have to stay focused.”
And of course, the second team defense held up its end of the bargain as it kept the Gators out of the endzone as they were set up with first and goal with less than a minute to go but could not break the goal line as time expired.
Winning in dominant fashion in Wilson’s debut had a strong effect on his players. They’re looking forward to what’s next.
“It’s exciting and it means a lot,” Sanker said. “It means he knows what he’s doing and we just have to trust the process and hope for the best.”
Covenant (1-0) will host Christchurch on Friday at 4 p.m.
