Defense powers Covington to semis

■ Trezevant’s comeback in second half comes up short

COVINGTON 23, TREZEVANT 18

Turns out Johnston White was the hero again for Covington on Friday night. Only this time, it was on defense as the host Chargers held on for a 23-18 win over a determined but error-prone Trezevant squad in the Class 4A quarterfinals.

White, held to 71 yards rushing and one second-quarter touchdown, came up with one interception off Bears’ sophomore Jordan Spencer in the final minutes, then came up with the tip that led to Demarcus Seaberry’s putaway pick with seconds to go.

“Just had to read the quarterback’s eyes. He was telling us where he wanted to throw. And now … we’re one win away,” said White, a senior.

The Chargers (13-0) will be at home Friday against Jackson Liberty (9- 4) looking for their first trip to the Blue Cross Bowl since 2003.

“We gave up too many big plays, and their defense caused us problems in the second half with their athleticism,” Covington coach Marty Wheeler said. “But our defense made big plays when we needed them … and this is the kind of game we’ll have to play from here on out.”

It looked like it would be an easy night for Covington at the break. Trezevant (10-3) fumbled the ball away twice in its own territory, and Covington marched down the short fields for touchdown runs of a yard by Jalen Henderson (59 yards) and 4 yards by White.

Just before halftime, T. A. Watson hooked up on his one good pass play, a perfect 52-yard strike to Carlos Williams that made it 21-0.

But the Bear defense shut the tap off, the offense went to the spread, opening room for Spencer and George Monson. Monson scored on a 10-yard run to end the Bears’ first drive of the third quarter.

Senior LeMarcus Stewart then struck twice, returning a punt 72 yards for one touchdown and catching a 22-yarder from Spencer with 6:10 left to play, closing the gap to 23-18.

The Covington defense, however, kept bouncing back with big plays of its own. Besides the two fumble recoveries early and two interceptions late, the defense also sacked Spencer five times, one for a safety that had made it 23-12.

“We gave ourselves a chance with the spread. But we had kids who were just not focused tonight, and Jordan … he’s just a sophomore, but he’s gotta make some of those plays,” Trezevant coach Teli White said. “We’ll just have to pick ourselves up and regroup.”