COVINGTON, Ind. —  An opportunistic Covington football team took advantage of some North Vermillion mistakes to pick up their second win on the season. The Trojans defeated the Falcons by the score of 40-20.

North Vermillion fumbled the opening kickoff and Covington recovered on the Falcon 35.

Four plays later, senior quarterback Nick Paris threw to senior running back Brice Peyton for an 11-yard touchdown to go up 7-0 with less than two minutes gone in the game.

After forcing a 3-and-out by the Falcons, Covington scored again, this time with the key play being a 55-yard run by Peyton. Midway through the first quarter, the Trojans led 14-0.

North Vermillion responded quickly, taking only six plays to score with junior quarterback Dalton McCool hitting freshman wide receiver Brayden Woodard for 86 yards on a sideline route.

The Falcons tied the game late in the second quarter when McCool threw to senior wideout Jacob Harrison for a 91-yard touchdown.

“We made some big plays, but we also made some mistakes,” said Covington coach Phil Cunningham. “We executed well to start the game, but then we gave up the two scores on blown coverages.”

The Trojans got the ball to start the second half and used a 13-play drive to go up 20-14.

For Cunningham, it was a game where he said his team came out ready to play early. Even after giving up the tying score right before the half, he said the Trojans came out and took control after intermission.

“I really like the way we came back out and played hard after giving up two scores on mistakes. We handled the adversity well and I’m proud of that.”

After Covington score, the Falcons then got off one play, fumbled and Covington took over on the North Vermillion 19.

From there, Paris hit sophomore wide receiver Alex Frechette for the touchdown that made it 27-14. Three plays later, Frechette would pick off a desperation Falcon pass and return it to the opponent’s 38.

Peyton carried those final 38 yards on the next snap to make what had been a close contest into a 33-14 game.

Things began to settle down as the defense for both teams rose up to shut down their opponent. Yet it was a play after a stop that led to the next score.

North Vermillion had a drive stall out just before midfield and punted. The ball looked as if it would roll around and die, but instead Peyton picked up the ball and scooted through opponents and teammates alike to reach the end zone to make the score 40-14.

“That was a really heads up play,” said Cunningham. “It’s the kind of play you love to see somebody make.”

For North Vermillion coach Ernie Simpson, it was one of several miscues on kicking plays.

“We made too many mistakes, especially in the kicking game,” said Simpson. “We did some good things, but we just gave up too many big plays.”

Simpson liked how his team played the first half to tie the game at 14-all, but said the play by his team in the second half was “disappointing.”

Just the opposite was how Cunningham described the play of his seniors, saying that they are supposed to be playing their best games when they are in that final season of their career.

He pointed out the play of Justin Wheeler whose stats of 16 tackles, one sack and a tackle for loss only begin to do justice to his play.

“He had a great game tonight,” said Cunningham. “Just the kind of game you want out of a senior. And next to him, Cody Leaver also did well in the middle.”

He concluded by saying, that he did not like the mistakes that gave up the early scores, but that overall he like the enthusiasm with which his team played and was looking forward to facing Fountain Central next Friday.