Covington dominates Hamilton to set up round two rematch with Millington

Covington made short work of an undermanned, overmatched Hamilton Wildcats team on Friday night in Covington, rolling to a 42-6 win in the opening round of the TSSAA Class 3A state playoffs.

The Chargers (9-2) took just 45 seconds and three plays to cover 54 yards and take a 7-0 lead on Jamarion Dowell’s one-yard run, the first of his three-touchdown night.

Skylan Smith (10 carries/121 yards) made it 14-0 on a 30-yard run late in the first period. Dowell (131 yards/11 carries) pushed the advantage to 21-0 early in the second period and the game was never close after that.

“The defense handled things well enough,” said Covington coach J.R. Kirby. “We had some second-half breakdowns that need fixing. The bigger issue was our performance on the kick-off team. We must improve.”

Braden Gover figured prominently in the next three Charger touchdowns.

Following a seven-yard scoring toss to Smith, Gover capped off the half with a seven-yard run to the end zone. For the night he completed 4 of 4 attempts for 22 yards and two scores.

William Davis came on in the second half and tossed an eight-yard completion and an interception. Ryan Mize picked up 16 yards on one carry and Azarion had five carries for 23 yards.

All four of the Region 7 teams won in the first round Friday night. Third-seeded Millington dropped two-seed East, setting up a Covington-Millington rematch in round two.

“We shut them out 44-0 in the third game of the season,” Kirby said. “That was then. They have their starting quarterback playing where he was not earlier. Millington is big, will play hard and is much improved.”

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at George Pinner Stadium.