There was too much Evan Anderson. And too many injuries.
Covenant refused to go quietly Saturday afternoon against North Cross with the squad’s playoff hopes on the line. But despite a strong second half rally, the Eagles fell 46-27 to the Raiders, ending the Eagles’ chances of a postseason bid.
“I’m just sad for our seniors because this is obviously knocking us out of the playoffs,” said Covenant coach Dave Rocco.
North Cross’ Anderson exploded for 214 yards and five touchdowns, putting together his finest performance for a team that has been passing-oriented this season behind sophomore quarterback Max Revercomb.
“He was going untouched for some big runs in the first quarter and that’s good to see because we have five brand new starters on the offensive line this year,” said North Cross coach Stephen Alexander. “That’s an area we wanted to improve all year long and today was their best day.”
The adjustment, understandably, caught Covenant off guard.
“We thought they were going to throw a lot more so we changed our defense up a little bit and then we had to go back to try and stop the run,” Rocco said. “But he’s a really good runner and we just didn’t get enough hats to the ball.”
It took Covenant a long time to recover, as North Cross built a 40-7 lead late in the third quarter. It didn’t help that Covenant quarterback Brady Doyle, the fifth-most prolific quarterback in Central Virginia, exited the game after a hard hit in the first half. That forced backup Gus Rose into the role. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Jaime Gaston, Covenant’s leading rusher, left the game with an injury in the second half, leaving the bulk of the rushing duties to sophomore Austin Llera.
Both replacements proved up to the task, remaining undaunted even when they trailed by 33 points. Rose and Llera, with the help of an offensive line that started moving North Cross’ front seven and opening big gaps for Llera on the ground.
“I was very proud of the offense in the second half,” Rocco said.
Llera provided the first real spark of the day for the Eagles, ripping off a long kick return into North Cross territory. On the next play, he raced into the endzone, cutting North Cross’ lead to 40-13. Rose then connected with Llera with 11 minutes left to play, pulling the Eagles within 20 point at 40-20. Covenant then recovered the ensuing onsides kick and marched quickly in for another Llera touchdown that made things interesting.
North Cross continued to struggle to close out the Eagles by holding onto the ball, but an interception on a deep ball attempt with 3:51 left allowed North Cross to retake the momentum. Shortly thereafter, Anderson broke through for his fifth touchdown to seal it.
Llera finished with 93 yards and two touchdowns on 11 touches on the ground, plus the touchdown through the air. Rose threw for 149 yards on 15-for-29 passing, with Daniel Crawford serving as one of his top targets with 64 yards on three catches.
Revercomb balanced Anderson’s incredible effort on the ground with a 10-for-19, 167-yard performance through the air that included a pair of touchdowns. One of those scoring tosses went to Jordan Lowery, who led North Cross with four catches for 66 yards.
“I’m not committed to anything, we’ll take what the defense gives us,” Alexander said. “If we can run the ball like we did today he’s going to keep getting fed the rock.”
The win gives North Cross an outside shot at a playoff berth, but eliminates Covenant’s chances at keeping things going. The Eagles will close out the season Friday on the road against Trinity Episcopal.
