• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
The Leader

The Leader

Tipton County's Newspaper since 1886

  • Home
  • News
    • All
    • Business
    • Churches
    • Courts
    • Education
    • Election 2024
    • Events
    • Local Government
    • Local Politics
    • Military
    • Public Records
    • Public Safety
  • Sports
    • All
    • Baseball
    • Basketball
    • Cross Country
    • Fishing
    • Football
    • Golf
    • Soccer
    • Softball
    • Volleyball
    • Wrestling
  • E-Editions
  • Public Notices
  • Subscribe
  • About
  • Contact Us
    • Submit News
    • Advertise With Us
  • Where to Buy

Covington football proves once again it’s the best team in Tipton County

By Jeff Ireland on September 13, 2021

[metaslider id=9484]

Twelve seconds into the second half of Friday night’s Brighton-Covington showdown, the Charger coaching staff was scrambling to find some pickle juice to treat a cramping running back and head coach J.R. Kirby was firmly scolding (okay, screaming at) a player who drew a flag for getting on the field during a play.

If it sounds like things were going poorly for Covington, well, they weren’t.

Jamarion Dowell was writhing in pain, but he had just run 80 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the second half to give Covington a 58-22 lead to activate a running clock. The player who got on the field during Dowell’s touchdown run was taking his vocal criticism admirably and the get-back coach made everybody scoot back to the track.

All was good in Charger Nation.

Entering the game in Covington, Brighton (3-1) and Covington (4-0) were ranked first and second, respectively, in the Shelby-Metro area in total offense and rushing offense. Brighton was averaging 547 yards per game and Covington 499. Something had to give, and something did.

The Charger defense slowed down Brighton’s offense, holding it to 226 yards. Covington’s offense kept rolling with 452 total yards, including an astounding 415 on the ground.

“They did a really good job offensively,” Brighton head coach Mike David said about Covington. “Full house (formation) teams are extremely tough to stop. They do an incredible job running that. You really have to change a lot of what you do that week to prepare for it. You prepare all summer for all kinds of stuff, but not for that.”

“I thought our kids played extremely well overall,” Kirby said. “Defensively we had to make some adjustments because we knew they were better than they’ve been. Coach David does a great job. We knew it was going to be a challenge defensively, but offensively we figured we could move the ball and score some points. We really didn’t know how they were going to play us. They made us adjust and we did.”

Covington scored touchdowns on its first seven possessions of the first half and got a 39-yard field from Gabe Wellentin just before halftime to make the score 51-22.

Brighton tried to keep up. Braxton Sharp returned a kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown midway through the first quarter to stop the bleeding temporarily, Ty Stark had a nice game with 80 yards on nine carries and Nick Harvell found some success in the passing game and threw a 14-yard touchdown pass. Nevertheless, it was clear from the jump that Covington was the better team.

Covington, which beat Munford 41-8 in the season opener, has not lost to Brighton or Munford since 2016, and most of the games have not been competitive. The Chargers’ county dominance is even more impressive when you consider they are the smallest school in Tipton County and play two classifications below Brighton and Munford.

Following the game, a pair of Covington seniors were asked for their thoughts on winning another game against a county rival.

“Coming in, we just wanted to keep our heads up, play how we know we can play and be physical up front and let our backs to the rest,” Robert Dohnken said. “As you can tell on the scoreboard, that’s what we did.”

“They have a better team than what they normally have, but we have the best backs, in my opinion, and I’ll say it,” Chris Godwin said. “That makes our job a lot easier. Even when we mess up, they make us look good.”

There are still many more important games left on the schedule for both teams that will ultimately determine how successful each team’s seasons will be. Brighton hosts an undefeated Memphis Central team Friday in a key region game and Covington has league games with Ripley, Dyersburg and Bolivar over the next four weeks.

While Friday’s game had no postseason or league consequences, it reiterated one thing: Covington is the best team in Tipton County, and it’s not even close.

 

Related Articles:

5d49f16e41c8f.imageWhat we learned visiting with Bears defensive assistant coaches Opinion: Coronavirus can take an emotional toll on all of us August 18, 2022 August 24, 2023

Posted Under: Football, Sports Tags: braxton sharp, Jamarion Dowell, JR Kirby

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Search

Featured News

Tipton County to host two Independence Day celebrations

June 28, 2025 By Echo Day

Independence Day … [Continue Reading...] about Tipton County to host two Independence Day celebrations

Brighton alderman/constable charged with child abuse

June 20, 2025 By Echo Day

A Brighton alderman … [Continue Reading...] about Brighton alderman/constable charged with child abuse

What’s happening this weekend: June 20-22, 2025

June 20, 2025 By Echo Day

Summer has … [Continue Reading...] about What’s happening this weekend: June 20-22, 2025

Party with the Pollinators Friday night for some good family fun

June 20, 2025 By Echo Day

COVINGTON — Tipton … [Continue Reading...] about Party with the Pollinators Friday night for some good family fun

Tags

auvic white black history braxton sharp brighton baseball brighton basketball brighton football brighton high school city of covington City of Munford coronavirus covid-19 covington Covington Baseball covington basketball Covington football covington high school covington police covington police station Election 2020 events homicide J.R. Kirby Jalen Fayne Jamarion Dowell jeff huffman john edwards Jordan Bell JR Kirby munford baseball Munford basketball munford football munford high school murder ronnie gorton sex crimes shooting Slade Calhoun tcso Tipton-Rosemark Academy Tipton County Museum tipton county schools tipton county sheriff's office town of atoka town of mason TRA basketball

Footer

The Leader is a weekly newspaper, published on Thursdays, serving Tipton County, Tenn. since 1886.

Contact us: news@covingtonleader.com

Editor’s Choice

Here’s how Home Depot and a team of volunteers helped make over CIAA

December 5, 2019 By Echo Day

Black History Month: Mason’s John W. Boyd went from slavery to the statehouse

February 7, 2020 By The Leader

Search

Copyright © 2025 · The Leader | Legacy Media · Log in