COVINGTON, Ga. — It’s not how you start; it’s how you finish. 

That statement is applicable to the Alcovy Tigers when they defeated Stockbridge 14-9 in the “Tiger Brawl” scrimmage last Friday.

After a horrendous start to the game that granted Stockbridge a 9-0 lead, everything just seemed to click for the Tigers around the four-minute mark of the final quarter. 

Tristan Mayweather scored the first touchdown on a two-yard run that drew the score 9-7. Following the score, MJ Stroud sacked Stockbridge’s quarterback to force a three-and-out. 

Then, with just 35 seconds left in the contest, Ashton Evans connected with Mayweather for the game-winning touchdown. 

Following the conclusion of the game, head coach Jason Dukes expressed his appreciation for the players’ effort throughout the game. 

“Plain and simple, we weren’t getting it done in the first two quarters,” Dukes said. “We caught fire and got back to what we wanted to do.”  

 Early in the game, though, the likelihood of Alcovy winning seemed dim. 

To start the second quarter, the Tigers had more bad snaps (four) than they did first downs (zero). They couldn’t get anything positive going on offense and, when they did, a penalty would negate it. 

But, once all of the players seemed to settle down in the fourth quarter, the Tigers started attacking. 

Now, they plan to take the momentum off this scrimmage win into the regular season. Their season kicks off this Friday at North Forsyth High School. 

According to Dukes, last week’s scrimmage gave him and his coaches a great measuring stick to where the team is. 

“We went through some tough times in this game,” Dukes said. “We’re going to use this experience to help us weather the storm because we know it’s not going to be easy.”