The 2010 installment of the Covington Lions Jamboree got under way Friday night at Jack Salter Stadium as all of the participating teams looked anxious to hit someone other than their own teammates.

In the opener, the Class 5-A Mandeville Skippers took on the 3-A Holy Cross Tigers. The outcome was never in doubt as Mandeville dominated every facet of the contest.

The Skippers opened the scoring early on as Kyle Pellegrini drilled a field goal from 32 yards out to give MHS a 3-0 lead.

Covington junior linebacker Otha Peters puts the hit on a John Curtis Patriots ball carrier during Friday night’s second game of the Covington High Jamboree played at Jack Salter Stadium. Lions’ defenders Eric Crouch (50) and James Smith (49) close in on the play. John Curtis won the contest 14-0. (Photo by Mike McCall)

On the Skippers’ third possession, junior QB Matt Bergeron hit Sean Zemke with a 1-yard touchdown pass to make it 10-0 after a successful PAT by Pellegrini which ended the scoring in the first of two, 15-minute halves.

But the play of the game came on Mandeville’s first possession of the second half.

At the Skipper 25-yard line, Charles Jones took a handoff from Bergeron and scampered untouched for a 75-yard touchdown to put the Skippers up 17-0 before the crowd had gotten back in their seats.

On the Tigers’ next possession things went from bad to worse.

Holy Cross QB Tucker Herzog put the ball in the air and the Skippers’ Jonathan Baham picked it off. He returned the ball 30 yards for what turned out to be the game’s final score. Pellegrini missed his last PAT attempt to end the contest at 23-0.

Holy Cross could only manage 146 yards of total offense.  Herzog was 9-of-20 through the air for only 67 yards. Their running game was not much better. The Tigers could only muster 79 yards on 20 carries.

On the other side of the ball the Skippers had an adequate night.

Bergeron was 10-of-15 for 133 yards and one touchdown toss. Jones led all rushers with 81 yards with the bulk coming on his 75-yard TD run.  

John Curtis 14 Covington 0

The nightcap saw the host Covington Lions taking on the always powerful John Curtis Patriots, last year’s Class 2A state runner up.

The Lions looked good in their opening drive but stalled out due to a very costly penalty.

“When you play as good a team as they are you cannot make mistakes,” lamented Lions’ head coach Malter Scobel.

The Patriots did, indeed, make them pay for that mistake on their next series of plays. Curtis scatback, Torrey Pierce, took a handoff from QB Brandon Bourgeois and sauntered 65 yards for the score to draw first blood. Kicker Brandon Naumann’s PAT made it 7-0 with 7:00 left in the first half.

Curtis scored again on its next possession as Pierce broke loose again this time for an 11-yard touchdown and a 14-0 lead.  

Covington never got on track after that as the rain began to fall as well as the Lions’ hope of an upset.

The only Lion bright spot came on the defensive side of the ball as Blake Camardelle picked off a Bourgeois pass to stop a late Curtis drive.

Curtis kept the ball on the ground most of the night picking up 195 yards and only 26 yards in the air.

Covington’s 150 total yards came from 49 yards on the ground and 101 in the air.

Despite the score, Scobel was upbeat about the performance of his team.

“They fought their hardest against some pretty stiff odds, “ said Scobel.

“We knew we were going to be outmatched by them but we kept fighting.  A couple of breaks here and there might have made a difference in the outcome.  When you play against the 15th ranked team in the country you have to do everything right,” Scobel added.