Covenant Eagles beat Greenbrier Gators 44-0

With 476 yards of total offense, no interceptions thrown and a bevy of spirited folks in attendance — the Eagles’ opener could certainly be looked at as a success.

Plus, the meter wasn’t running with those lights on anyway.

“It feels good,” first-year head coach Seth Wilson said about his opening victory, “but way too many mistakes. I don’t want to get ahead of myself — it’s a process here. I just want us to keep taking steps forward each and every game.”

When it comes to offense, there was plenty to be had for the Eagles early and often in this one. With Wilson and company calling the pistol formation offense, the Gators (0-1) were simply up against too much firepower.

“It kind of spreads the defense a little,” freshman Jonas Sanker said about the offense, “makes them respect the pass a lot more.”

Five offensive plays produced two touchdowns five minutes into the game.

Respect earned.

Take away inopportune penalties erasing both a kick return score and a streaking pitch touchdown, both by Sanker, and the score would’ve been pushed up to 28 with hardly any time gone in the first quarter.

“A lot of the penalties we had — a lot of the mistakes we had — were brand new to us because we are giving way too much effort,” Wilson added. “We’re trying too hard, trying to make every block and that was really awesome to see. They came out and they played confident, and that just makes me feel good about the process — it’s working.”

From here, as if you couldn’t tell, it was a Sanker-exclusive showcase for the majority of the game.

The other Sanker playing for Covenant — Nick — received a pitch off the right flank and took it to the house for a 65-yard touchdown. That made it 21-0.

Then it was the other Sanker’s turn in the order. He couldn’t complete the touchdown on the drive, settling for kicking the field goal for his team to make it 24-0. Sanker made up for it on a 41-yard option handoff touchdown on the next possession by the Eagles, tallying the score up to 30-0.

“It lets everyone know everybody else that we’re not a one-dimensional team,” Wilson said about his multiple looks on offense. “We have several weapons they’re going to have to take from us every single week.”

Jonas Sanker’s missed PAT after his last touchdown confirmed he is not superhuman. We’re still trying to see about Nick.

“My brother is a great athlete; probably one of the smartest football players I have ever seen,” Jonas Sanker said. “He makes great reads; he’s really good at finishing blocks. He probably has the best attitude on the team, and one of the best leaders, too.”

Another Covenant score after another four-and-out by Greenbrier upped the lead to 37-0 at half.

Oh, Jonas Sanker (241 total yards, 3 TDs, 2 interceptions) picked off Greenbrier on its longest pass attempt of the game to end the first half, then began the second half with another pick.

But the Sanker storm relatively ceased throughout the span of the second half. Besides an 88-yard screen touchdown thrown from quarterback John Huemme (215 yards, 3 total TDs) to Jonas Sanker brought to the house in the third quarter, it was quiet.

But when a touchdown of that variety is looked at as mundane, it shows what kind of game Covenant played its home opener.

“Everybody was able to do their job, which led up to being able to do mine,” Sanker said. “Going hard. It’s not on me; it’s all on my blockers. They did their jobs and it looked good on me. All those touchdowns don’t mean anything until my blockers get some of that respect, because it was all them, not me.”