COVINGTON, Ga. – The Alcovy Tigers looked to usher in a new era with a victory during its scrimmage against the Union Grove Wolverines on Thursday, but ultimately fell short.

While new quarterback Trey Bryant led the Tigers to an efficient first half performance, it was a three-score fourth quarter effort from the Wolverines that made the difference.

Game Action

Within the first two minutes of the contest, Bryant showed his arm talent, converting a 65-yard pass to Kendrick Henderson. The play set up the first touchdown of the night to Terry Powers to put the Tigers up 6-0.

The Wolverines answered immediately with a 50-yard run from Avery Howard, leading to a rushing touchdown from Daniel Parson. With a successful PAT, the Wolverines took the lead at 7-6.

Both teams traded possessions with no scoring to close out the first quarter.

Bryant emerged once more at the start of the second quarter, completing two long conversions to do-it-all athlete Kaeden Booker and Colton Curnutt. But despite driving down the field, the Tigers came away empty-handed.

The Wolverines would only last 1:30 on the field before they punted back to the Tigers.

With 2:00 to go, Bryant went back to work, converting two passes to the former Tigers quarterback Kavion Sutton. As the seconds winded down in the second quarter, it was Bryant’s legs that proved to be the difference, running it for a 15-yard score to put the Tigers up 12-7 to end the half.

Union Grove began the third quarter with a gutsy fourth-down conversion in their own territory. But it was all for none, as Henderson picked off Wolverines quarterback Tristin Sharp to end the drive.

While Bryant converted another long pass to Jaylen Randon, several penalties resulted in the Tigers punting back to Union Grove.

After neither team scored in the third quarter, it was all Union Grove in the closing 12 minutes of the game.

First it was a pass from Sharp to freshman wide receiver Jarious Hamm to put the Wolverines up 14-12. Two minutes later, it was the Wolverines backup quarterback Jorden Guinn who ran it on a 17-yard keeper.

Union Grove acquired its third touchdown with 3:53 to go  with a Oluwamayoma Ibuoye rushing touchdown.

While Bryant and company attempted to mount a late comeback, it was not meant to be as the Wolverines handled the Tigers with a 27-12 road victory.

Coaches Comments

After the game Head Coach Spencer Fortson told The Covington News that the end result came down to the game being a tale of two halves.

“We came out in the first half and we were executing,” Fortson said. “Guys were making plays and doing what they were coached to do all summer long, so you saw that in the first half. We started out good in the second half, but we started making small mistakes and not doing our jobs. 

At the end of the day, they started to have more success. Once you have that success, your confidence builds up. And that’s what they had, their confidence built up so they kept making plays and we weren’t. That’s how you get the result that’s on the scoreboard.”

While the game slipped away from the Tigers, Fortson shed some positive light on some of the good he saw throughout the game as well. He particularly had a lot of praise for his new quarterback.

“He works hard,” Fortson said. “He does everything the right way. So we want to make sure that we continue to move forward that way and continue to build out the momentum we had in the first half.”

Alcovy plays its first regular season game on the road at Arabia Mountain on Friday, Aug. 16 at 7:30 p.m. The Tigers will look to improve upon its 2-8 record from 2024.

“We’ve got some good things going,” Fortson said. “We just gotta make sure we put everything together in all three phases of the game.”