Covenant football’s Jonas Sanker isn’t just taking instruction and playing. He’s game planning.
“He is the first guy to text me thoughts about the film after he’s watched it and he’s on point,” said Covenant coach Seth Wilson. “So he and I game plan on Sundays, we just text back and forth all day, watching film. A guy like him, who has so much creativity and wants to do some cool stuff, he just gives it his all.”
Something Sanker saw during one of those film sessions helped Tuesday night in a 66-0 win over Brunswick in the VISFL eight-man semifinals.
“I looked at their personnel and they have a (two) guys they like to go to and I saw him coming across the middle and I knew the quarterback was probably going to go there so I just jumped in front of it,” Sanker said.
Sanker picked off the pass on the third play from scrimmage and raced in from 30 yards out, kickstarting a 28-0 run that occurred before the Eagles had even run an offensive play outside of a series of two-point conversion tries. Covenant’s defense suffocated Brunswick, with Rick Weaver blowing through the line and blocking a punt, collecting the ball and scoring after Sanker’s pick six, Jake Hoadley scooping and scoring on a fumble and then Sanker sprinting in on a 54-yard punt return for a touchdown where he broke a wave of tackles just when it seemed the Eagles would have to snap the ball on offense.
Covenant will now face St. Anne’s-Belfield for a shot at the VISFL title Saturday, time to be determined.
Sanker tacked on a 70-yard catch and run on a slant in the second half to round out his explosive day by scoring in all three phases.
“I don’t want people to think that it’s god-given because (Sanker) works his tail off for it,” Sanker said. “The kids are just hungry to play, it has been 18 days since we were able to suit up against another team and this is a team that loves to play. They can’t wait for it to happen so they’ve been cooped up a little bit.”
Sanker fits that mold in particular as he tried to sneak into the lineup on Covenant’s final offensive drive before Wilson subbed for him. The Eagles just want a chance to play, and for 18 days they hadn’t gotten that opportunity.
“I think that’s just my competitive edge coming out,” Sanker said.
When the Eagles finally did get on offense they were dominant there too, with Luke Sorenson ripping off a 70-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage to extend the Covenant lead to 36-0. Sorenson also connected with Chaz Harvey for a touchdown and then found Nic Sanker for a touchdown catch and run to start the second half. The big plays continued when Weaver sprinted in from 35 yards out, going back to his usual role as bruising runner after terrorizing the Brunswick backfield and punt team as a defensive lineman in the first half.
“I just saw it as soon as I blocked it that it popped up over my head so I just reached up and took it,” Weaver said of the early punt block.
Now Covenant will look to finish with its third meeting this season with the Saints, a team they beat 62-20 and 62-13 earlier this year. They’ll do it with depth that has grown by leaps and bounds this year too according to Jonas Sanker.
“They’ve all grown tremendously,” Sanker said. “It’s awesome because knowing when we play good teams like STAB or VES, knowing when we get tired we can count on other players to come in and play hard, that’s been a blessing this year.”
