During the fourth quarter, Buckingham offensive lineman Herbert Thompson went down with a leg injury of some kind and the Knights’ coaching staff brought in starting defender Jackson Bryant to replace him.
Bryant, an established veteran who was a key member of the 2010 Region B playoff squad, entered the field of play and while just standing near Thompson, who was being worked on by a trainer, went down with a leg cramp of his own.
It was that kind of night for Buckingham.
“We got shell-shocked early,” said Buckingham coach Craig Gill. “They manhandled us up front — we couldn’t block them. And then we couldn’t tackle either.”
Amelia County, now under the guidance of new head Brad Bradley, flexed its muscles in the squad’s James River District opener with a 36-7 win over the Knights. The Raiders piled up 325 rushing yards in the game that was rescheduled from Friday because of inclement weather, with most of the yardage on the zone read out of a four-wide receiver, no-huddle spread set that gave Buckingham’s defense fits all night.
The Knights struggled to contain Amelia from the opening drive, with the Raiders’ offensive line led by Ben Bragg paving the way. Amelia took just four plays to score, with running back Donte Bournes breaking free on a 33-yard run to give the Raiders a 6-0 lead.
“I thought up front our offensive line did a tremendous job and it all starts up front,” Bradley said. “Most of them played last year and we played six tonight. We rotated them in and out.”
Bournes rushed for 106 yards on 16 carries in the victory while quarterback A.J. Royal went for 114 yards on 25 carries. The two-headed attack was all the Raiders needed to control possession on the clock on several sustained drives that wore down Buckingham’s defense.
“I’ve got the ball in my hands making plays and my team around me making plays so I love it,” Royal said. “The offense has really come together.”
Royal scored from three yards out and scored a two-point conversion later in the first quarter to put Amelia out in front 14-0. Curtis Williams got loose on a punt return just before the half and raced 55 yards for a touchdown and Bournes added a two-point conversion for the Raiders to make it a 22-0 lead at halftime.
The Knights’ offense couldn’t get going because a trio of Amelia defensive linemen, Johnta’ Henderson, Jalen Jones and DeMar Wingo were in the Buckingham backfield on what felt like every play, disrupting the entire rhythm of the Knights’ offense. Henderson was particularly unblockable. Despite Buckingham quarterback Tarian Ayers’ best efforts, he took a beating throughout the night.
“DeMar Wingo played a tremendous game and I haven’t seen the film, but No. 52 Johnta Henderson, I think he was all over the place,” Bradley said. “We threw them three different defenses — we threw them a defense they haven’t seen all year long. We’re not usually a 3-4 type team, but we did a good job with it. We had to give them some heat.”
Things didn’t get much better for Buckingham in the second half as Bradley’s system continued to chug along. Bradley won a pair of state titles at William Campbell back in 2002 and 2005 with a similar attack and has clearly had a huge impact on Amelia in his first season. He serves as the athletic director and football coach for the Raiders after coming over from Group AAA Patrick Henry.
Buckingham finally got on the scoreboard with Kenneth Johnson’s 58-yard touchdown run in the third quarter that provided an answer to Amelia’s touchdown on the opening drive of the second half. Johnson broke free up the middle to pick up the score. But the Knights couldn’t build on the momentum despite forcing a turnover-on-downs on the ensuing possession because the offense started sputtering again.
“In a way, this might wake us up,” Gill said. “The last two games were kind of easy for us. Things happened and we just kind of got on a roll. I told the boys I’ll take the blame because it’s up to me to get them ready to play and maybe I didn’t do a good enough job this week.”
Amelia, who edged out Gretna a couple of weeks back, now battles Randolph Henry while the Knights will take on Nottoway, a new addition to the James River District.
