Mandeville ends regular season on a roll after defeating Covington for its 6th consecutive victory

When the call was signaled in from the Mandeville sideline, Skippers quarterback John Wenzel could only smile.

With his team clinging to a touchdown lead against Covington with less than five minutes remaining and facing third-and-15 from its 18, the prudent thing may have been to stay conservative, then punt and rely on the defense to preserve the victory.

Instead, Wenzel threw a deep pass on a sideline pattern to Chris Houlemard, who caught the ball at midfield, broke away from two Covington defenders and wasn't brought down until the Lions' 1-yard line.

Two plays later, Charles Jones scored, and Mandeville had the cushion it needed for a 35-21 District 7-5A victory Friday at Sid Theriot Stadium.

"We had been talking about using that play when we needed a big gain," Wenzel said, "It was wide open, and Chris made a great catch and run."

The victory was the sixth consecutive for Mandeville (7-3, 6-1) and probably earned the Skippers a home playoff game next week. Mandeville, which was No. 13 in the unofficial power rankings going into the game, will find out Sunday its playoff opponent and site.

Covington (4-6, 4-3) had to win to have any hopes of qualifying for the postseason.

"They (Mandeville) did the little things right, and we didn't," said Covington Coach Malter Scobel. "We had them in third down a bunch of times, and they found ways to make plays.

"That's a credit to their kids and their coaches. Our goal is to be one of the top programs in the district like St. Paul's and Mandeville, and that's what we're going to work for."

There was no quit in the Lions on Friday.

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