COVINGTON, Ga. — The proverbial monkey has been tossed off the back of the Alcovy football team.
The first half of the Tigers’ 2020 campaign was loaded with adversity. The club stumbled out to an 0-5 record, displaying the essential pieces needed for success but failing to place them together for four quarters. But last Friday night, following two weeks off due to back-to-back cancelations, the Tigers got over the hump at last.
Alcovy went on the road to Grovetown for its Region 3-AAAAAA opener and restarted its season with a bang as it pummeled the Warriors for a 44-14 victory.
“It’s always good to get a win,” head coach Jason Dukes said this week. “Our kids have been working very, very hard for a very, very long time. They played a very strenuous season in the early parts. On Friday, they played good, solid fundamental football, which we’ve been preaching since day one.”
Sitting at 1-0 in a region that has only four active teams — Heritage and Rockdale County won’t be eligible for the postseason— the Tigers have suddenly placed themselves in the driver’s seat for a high seed in the state playoffs.
Alcovy has good reason to be optimistic about the future, but the team is making a concerted effort to keep its focus on the task at hand. The Tigers won’t be caught looking beyond anything other than what can bring them repeat success in Week 10.
Alcovy will welcome Lakeside-Evans to Sharp Stadium on Friday night for its homecoming game. The Panthers are 1-6 on the season, most recently suffering a 55-6 drubbing at the hands of region adversary Evans.
Lakeside-Evans has shown a multitude of offensive schemes through its first seven games. With no true identity to prepare for, Alcovy will lean on its speed and physicality to tackle whatever is thrown its way Friday night.
As for the Tigers’ offensive game plan, they’ve found the most success this season when they’ve won the line of scrimmage. Their power run game has given opponents fits while simultaneously opening up opportunities for them to air it out. If they can establish consistency on the ground on Friday, they’ll set themselves up for success over four quarters.
“We know that if we embrace the process of getting better day by day, the results at the end of the night will take care of themselves,” Dukes said. “That’s what happened last Friday night. We have to embrace the process of preparing for this game this Friday night. If we do everything we’re supposed to, we’ll come out on top on Friday.”
Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Follow @CovNewsSports on Twitter for live updates.
