By Tim Peterson
(Covina) – South Hills rallied from a 14-3 third quarter deficit to beat Covina 16-14 Friday night at Covina District Field.
The Huskies, down 14-3 late in the third, pieced together an 8-play, 65-yard drive to get close. Gary San Angelo finished it with a one-yard plunge to make it 14-10 with 1:11 left in the third quarter.
Covina’s Ronnie Ropke fumbled the ensuing kickoff and the Huskies were in business again. Four plays later Noah Gonzalez hit Messiah Luter in the endzone and South Hills had the two-point lead early in the fourth quarter. The extra point failed.
Covina failed to score on its next two possessions. First the Colts marched down to the South Hills 26 but Jake Duronslet was sacked on fourth down.
South Hills was forced to punt going three and out and the Colts had another shot. This time Duronslet was stonewalled on fourth down on a quarterback sneak attempt at the South Hills 29 with just over a minute left. The Huskies were then able to take a couple of knees and run out the clock for their second straight victory.
Both teams missed golden opportunities in the first half. After Nico Garcia kicked a 22-yard field goal to give South Hills a 3-0 lead, Covina marched 79 yards all the way down to the South Hills one-yard one before turning it over on a fumble.
South Hills also marched down to the Covina one and coughed it with two seconds left in the half. The Huskies took a 3-0 lead into the break.
Ropke took the second half kickoff 95 yards for a score breaking several tackles along the way to put the Colts up 7-3. Later in the third Duronlset capped a short 50-yard drive with a two-yard run and Covina was up 14-3 with 4:22 left in the quarter.
Everything looked good for C-Town at that point until South Hills turned it around.
Duronslet threw for 116 yards and ran for 38 and a touchdown. Joseph Rangel had 47 yards on 7 carries. For South Hills San Angelo ran for 54 yards and a touchdown on 9 carries and Tyler Casaf picked up 74 yards on 19 carries.
The Numbers weren’t great for South Hills but they were good enough to get the job done. The 2-0 record looks especially good for the Huskies after going 0-10 last year.
For Covina it was a loss in the season opener.
Really Covina? Yikes!