Pine-Eagle ends season

Neither happened as Cove rallied in the second half to end Pine-Eagle’s season with a 40-34 win.

“It was a hard fought game. The effort was their. The kids played a heck of a game,” said Pine-Eagle coach Blake Dennis.

“But that’s the way the chips fell for us this year.”

Trailing by six points late in the fourth quarter, the Spartans appeared to recover an onside kick.

“It looked like we had it but the refs didn’t give it to us,” Dennis said. “They talked it over but then ruled it was Cove’s ball. That was with about two minutes left. Cove then just ran out the clock.”

Pine-Eagle changed things up offensively against the Leopards, running a “wildcat” offense that involves lots of motion.

The new offense helped the Spartans mount a 12-0 lead after one period. Running back Kyle Dennis scored one touchdown and threw to quarterback Jake Traw for another.

Then, after Cove tied the game at 12-12 in the second period, Dennis found Traw on another TD pass.

Cove again tied the game, but Traw thren connected with freshman Kipp Miller for another TD to give Pine-Eagle a 26-18 halftime lead.

Cove then scored the next 22 points to build a 40-26 edge. Dennis then conncted for a third TD with Traw to set up the final two minutes.

Dennis finished with 230 yards on 27 carries, to give him 1,483 yards on the season. He was 4-of-12 passing for 132 yards. Defensively, Dennis had 13 solo tackles and six assists.

Spencer Waterland added seven solos, nine assists and a fumble recovery. Miller had eight solos and nine assists, Justice Walker five solos and five assists, and Richie Gonzales two solos, seven assists, two fumble recoveries and a sack.

Pine-Eagle    12    14    0    8    — 34

Cove    0    18    16    6    — 40

(Cove individual scoring unavailable)

P — Dennis 38 run (PAT failed)

P — Traw 49 pass from Dennis (PAT failed)

P — Traw 27 pass from Dennis (PAT failed)

P — Miller 7 pass from Traw (Miller pass from Traw)

P — Traw 20 pass from Dennis (Gonzales pass from Dennis)

Individual statistics

Rushing — Dennis 27-230, Traw 9-31, Miller 1-5.

Passing — Dennis 4-12-1-132, Traw 4-10-1-59.

Receiving — Traw 4-132, Dennis 3-52, Miller 1-7.