Covington coach previews big playoff football game

Covington, Virginia – Covington High School football coach Steve Dressler expects a great game Friday night, when his Cougars host the Bath County Chargers in a second-round playoff game. The Cougars finished a 7-3 regular season and defeated Parry McCluer, 28-12, in their first-round contest last Friday.

The coach says its a great rivalry between the teams and provides some historical background.

“The rivalry has really built up over the past 10 years,” he said. “When Covington first jumped into the Pioneer District, they were pretty dominant and had some strong, tradition battles with Parry McCluer. Then it seemed to revolve around Bath County and Covington and then kind of Covington-James River. Now it’s gone back to Bath County and Covington. It’s some great rivalry and it’s some great competition and every time you line up on the field on that Friday night against them, you can just feel the excitement in the air. So, it’s a great rivalry between us.”

Dressler says both teams have their particular strengths, but are pretty evenly matched.

“Well, you know, we match up pretty evenly,” he said. “They have a lot of strength up front. They’ve got a real tough guy in the trenches. They have a Mitchell Stinespring – I mean a real hardnose down lineman on offensive and defensive side of the ball. He’s a real tough kid.

“We feel like we have a little bit more speed than they do. It may kind of balance out. Is the power game going to take over for them to where they might eat up the clock, or are we going to be able to bounce the ball outside on them and score on them?”

The coach talks about some of his key players, who helped get the Cougars two home playoff games.

“Troy Helton, our quarterback – he’s ran for over 1,700 yards and, of course, he’s a threat passing because he’s passed for over 600 yards. He has 19 touchdowns running, but he also has 11 touchdowns throwing. So, he’s a threat either way.

“Lucas Via’s done well for us all year. He has been going both ways. At offensive guard, he pulls a lot for our traps for Troy Hilton and he also does a very good job at defensive end.

“Jackson Hinkle’s been on both sides of the ball here lately. He had a big game against Bath County the last time that we played them.

“For the last two ball games, our offensive and defensive lines have really taken control and I really want those guys to kind of stand out for us, hopefully, on Friday night.”

Coach Dressler says the outcome of most games is decided by the big guys on the offensive and defensive lines.

“Most of the time, the game is won or lost, most of the time, in the trenches,” he said. “It’s just a matter of who can fire off the ball and who can explode through the gaps and holes quicker.”

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday night at Covington High School. The game will be broadcast live across the entire Allegheny Mountain Radio Network.

Story By

Heather Niday

Heather is our Program Director and Traffic Manager. She started with Allegheny Mountain Radio as a volunteer deejay. She then joined the AMR staff in February of 2007. Heather grew up in the Richmond, Virginia, area and now lives in Arbovale, West Virginia with her husband Chuck. Heather is a wonderful flute player, and choir director for Arbovale UMC. You can hear Heather along with Chuck on Tuesday nights from 6 to 8pm as they host two hours of jazz on Something Different.

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