COVINGTON, Ga. — Alcovy put a bow on its 2021 spring football program Friday night.
One year after being forced to cancel spring practice due to COVID-19, the Tigers welcomed Lakeside-DeKalb to the practice field on their home campus for a four-quarter scrimmage.
Spring games are designed to highlight progress made throughout weeks of practices and shine a light on areas in which the team will aim to continue improving throughout the summer. They’re scrimmages in which the mechanics of plays and safety of players involved far outweighs the final score.
But that doesn’t mean a team can’t still relish a victory.
Alcovy’s performance wasn’t perfect. Head coach Jason Dukes isn’t afraid to admit there were some adjustments that his team will need to make as they continue preparing for the 2021 season this fall.
Even still, no amount of blemishes could wipe the smile from Dukes’ face after the Tigers closed out spring practice by collecting a 27-0 victory over the Vikings.
“I feel our whole program is blessed right now. We didn’t have spring football last year. And to be out here on the field, underneath the lights on a warm May night, you can’t beat this,” Dukes said. “Our kids, they’ve been through a lot this last year. They really committed to this in the offseason. Some of our younger players have really grown up and become leaders.
“They went out and played. It wasn’t perfect, but we got some really good things accomplished and we took a really, really big step in the right direction for our kids and for our program. I’m super happy.”
Alcovy came up one win shy of claiming its first region title in program history last fall. An 0-5 start to the year was succeeded by back-to-back Region 3-AAAAAA victories over Grovetown and Lakeside-Evans, setting up a de facto region title game against Evans.
While the Tigers gave the Knights a fight for four quarters, a late interception sealed their fate in a narrow loss. Their consolation prize: hosting a state playoff game for the first time since 2011.
Dukes and his staff will now try to build off that late-season success and carry it over into the upcoming campaign. With spring practice in the rearview, Alcovy’s focus will shift to its summer lifting and conditioning program.
“We know that our commitment to getting better and our growth in the program starts in that weight room,” Dukes said. “We’ve seen a lot of growth of our players just in the offseason. Now, with the feeling of coming out of COVID, it feels kind of like a rebirth. Our coaches and our kids are excited to get after it. We can’t wait.”
