MAUD - District C-3 continued to be a big stumbling block for the Maud Tigers Friday night in the first round of the Class C football playoffs.
Covington-Douglas, the fourth place team in C-3, received 170 yards rushing and three touchdowns out of quarterback Dylan Sterling as the Wildcats, with a dominating first half, rolled to a 34-14 victory over C-4 champion Maud at Derrel Pearcy Stadium.
The Tigers, who concluded their season at 10-1, have now bowed out to a C-3 team in the opening round of the playoffs for three straight seasons.
“Those guys play a district title type game every week,” said Maud head coach Bruce Harrell about the Wildcats, who improved to 7-4.
Sterling, a 5-foot, 9-inch, 156-pound junior, carried the ball 24 times while scoring on a pair of 1-yard runs and a 5-yarder. If that wasn’t enough, he was 5-of-9 passing for 138 yards, including a 62-yard scoring connection with Justin Venard on a screen and run.
“We were well aware of him (Sterling). We played against him during his freshman year and have seen him on film all week,” Harrell said. “He’s shifty and runs hard.”
Covington-Douglas, which rolled up 419 yards of offense, had 281 on the ground as Kerry Storm added 74 yards on 12 carries and A.J. Phillips caught three passes for 46 yards.
The Wildcats scored off all three of their first-half possessions in taking a 22-0 halftime advantage. Covington-Douglas’ defense also limited Maud to 83 total yards, all on the ground, in the first two quarters as the Tigers managed just three first downs.
Covington-Douglas jumped out to an 8-0 lead off Sterling’s 1-yard plunge to cap an 11-play, 85-yard drive with 3:55 to go in the opening period. Storm’s 31-yard run on the previous play set up the TD. Sterling then passed to Storm for the 2-point conversion.
Another 1-yard touchdown run by Sterling with 10:36 to go before halftime made it 14-0 as the Wildcats took advantage of a short field, going 43 yards in seven plays after the Tigers failed to convert on a fourth down.
Sterling later hit Venard on a screen for a 62-yard TD with 2:06 remaining before the break. Gage Smith’s 2-point conversion run made it 22-0 at the break.
Maud finally got on the board after its defense held the Wildcats for the first time on the night to open the third quarter.
After a 33-yard Covington punt, the Tigers struck on the very next play as Robert Fellows ran 56 yards for Maud’s first of two scores on the night. Fellows finished with 123 yards on 18 carries.
Quarterback Shane Bailey, who netted 99 yards on 23 carries, ran in the 2-point conversion to slice the deficit to 22-8 with 10:16 left in the third.
But the Wildcats responded with a 9-play, 69-yard drive which ended on Sterling’s 5-yard run to make it 28-8.
Then in the fourth, Covington-Douglas rounded out its scoring with Smith’s 8-yard touchdown run with 8:05 to go.
The Tigers then got a 1-yard scoring run by Bailey with 1:39 left to cap a 14-play, 62-yard series.
“I’m proud of our kids. They were telling us we would be hard-pressed to win five games this year after losing three all-staters and only returning one offensive lineman,” said Harrell. “We had some kids step into those positions and do a super job.”
The game marked the career finale for six Maud seniors - Fellows, Talon Edwards, Seth Thomas, Dylan Thomas, Jordy Garren and John Campbell.
SHAWNEE, Okla. —
