A total of four of the five Covington goals in the Trojan's 5-1 win over North Montgomery came off the foot of sophomore Savion Waddell.
LINDEN — Overcoming a 1-0 halftime deficit, the Covington boy’s soccer team ran away from North Montgomery with a 5-1 victory to complete the season sweep of teams from Montgomery County.
Evan Tanner found the back of the net for the Chargers (4-10-1) late in the first half, but the Trojan’s (11-5) Savion Waddell responded with a four-goal second half to give Covington the win. The sophomore scored three goals in a matter of five minutes midway through the second half.
“We will just call it a motivational speech,” Covington coach Ryan Sowers said about his halftime speech. “Often this year we’ve been coming out in the first half without intensity. I don’t like our heart, and I don’t like our effort. So in the second half, we showed when we play hard we can compete with anybody.”
In a year where many were counting the Trojans out, they closed out the regular season on Monday with 11 wins, making it several years in a row with at least double-digit wins.
“I think a lot of people look at us this year to be a total rebuild,” Sowers said. “I think this is our 6th or 7th season in a row with 10 wins. Which is exciting for a coaching staff, because we are still able to string together some wins and scrap.”
At times the Trojans play with four freshmen and two sophomores on the field at once, and Sowers has turned to his core of upperclassmen to help bridge the success from past teams to this season.
“Our upperclassmen have been on highly-competitive teams that push each other, and they’re trying as much as they know how to pass that on to the next group,” he said.
Senior Tanner Dreher, who kicks for the football team, wrestles, and stars for the Trojan’s baseball team is one of those leaders.
“He’s a guy that brings value on the field and off the field,” Sowers said. “The way he carries himself, and the way he leads the team into doing the right thing. It’s guys like him that have received that torch, and are trying to pass that torch along.”
For North Montgomery, the Chargers lost their goalie Jayden Rausch due to an injury in the second half, but coach Tristain Hall was overall pleased with the defensive effort.
“I saw them executing exactly what I asked them to do,” he said. “We needed to pressure every single ball, and we carried over what we did against Crawfordsville. Just continuously giving that consistent effort I’ve been asking for.”
The Chargers were also without offensive weapon and senior Colby Coon, which allowed Tanner to step up.
“Evan (Tanner) knows the game,” Hall said. “And that’s another extremely helpful thing to have with him Cooper (Bowman) and Baydin (Hall) that just gives us another firepower option.”
North Montgomery ends the season on Thursday at home against Delphi, while Covington has a week to prepare for Bethesda Christian, who they will face on Monday in the Class A Cascade Sectional opener.
“We are going to keep this next week focused on who we are,” Sowers said. “Even though our touches may not be as good as usual, and our passes are a little off, our heart, passion, and intensity is what’s going to keep pushing us forward. So I look forward to seeing that on Monday against Bethesda.”
