A lot has been written about the Buckingham County football team’s high-powered offense this season. However, on Friday night against Martinsville, the Knights’ defense took center stage.
Buckingham scored 28 points off turnovers en route to a 47-7 victory over the visiting Bulldogs in the 2A West Region first round.
The win marked the team’s 10th straight since a season-opening loss to Appomattox.
The defense, which came up with a pair of interceptions and two fumble recoveries, helped spark a 21-point third quarter as the Knights rolled past Martinsville.
“We just knew we had to come out in the second half and play hard and get turnovers and we had to get touchdowns every time we touched the ball,” said senior defensive end Michael Mabry. “And that’s what we did — we executed on offense and defense. The fumbles and interceptions helped our offense get going and keep going throughout the rest of the game.”
Buckingham took a 14-0 lead late in the second quarter as B.J. Gough and Leon Ragland found some room to run. After three consecutive penalties, the Knights were faced with fourth-and-19 at the Bulldogs’ 25-yard line, but managed to convert the first down as Gough found Ragland, who made a diving catch for a 20-yard reception. That set up a five-yard TD run by Ragland with 2:12 to play in the quarter.
Buckingham’s defense made a stand on Martinsville’s ensuing drive, highlighted by Patrick Carr’s sack on Aaron Martin for a 15-yard loss. Daquarious Holman, Hunter Edwards and Sean Ayres also provided solid coverage in the secondary as the Knights forced the visitors to punt.
That momentum carried over to the second half as Buckingham forced a three-and-out on the Bulldogs’ opening drive.
The Knights made their way down the field behind the explosive duo of Gough and Ragland. Gough, who toted the ball 20 times for a game-high 178 yards, found a hole and followed his blockers for an 18-yard gain to get things going. Ragland, who fought for yardage for much of the night, eventually made his way in the end zone for a four-yard run.
On the kickoff, Daquarious Holman recovered the ball, which set up another Ragland TD, a nine-yard run.
“The defense is the key of our team, defense is the one that gets it going,” Ragland said. “We’re so confident that we know we’re going to stop somebody.”
On Martinsville’s following drive, Ragland gave his team a boost on defense as he came up with an interception.
The senior standout, who had been limited by the Bulldogs’ defense to runs of under 10 yards much of the night, finally broke free, sprinting 73 yards for the score and his fifth touchdown of the game. Edwards ran in for the two-point conversion to give Buckingham a 35-0 advantage.
“They’ve got great team speed, they’re real athletic and hard to block and we knew that,” Buckingham veteran coach Craig Gill said. “We just kept pounding and pounding and finally we broke some. If you key on Leon, B.J. will hurt you and vice versa. Leon ended up turning it up in the second half and the defense did what they had to do.”
Following a fumble recovery by Mabry, the Knights tacked on a fourth-quarter TD by Rajheem Holman, the first of two touchdowns by the junior.
Martinsville’s lone score came on a 56-yard pass play from Martin to Cam Bradley.
Ragland, who has rushed for 1,896 yards this season, finished with 150 yards on 19 carries, 101 of which came in the second half. Gough, who also eclipsed the 1,000-yard rushing mark this year, ran for 116 yards in the first half and finished with 178 on the night. Rajheem Holman finished with 73 yards on five carries.
Buckingham, the No. 5 seed, will travel to fourth-seeded Richlands for its Region 2A West quarterfinal game next week.
