BERRYVILLE — It became hard to count exactly how many times Buckingham’s defense came up with a big stop on fourth down to cut short a Clarke County drive and preserve the Knights’ 7-0 road victory in the Region B, Division 2 semifinals.
But the last one of many may have been the Knights’ best. After Clarke drove down to the Buckingham 37, Tariq Bartee got the stop started with by stuffing Clarke’s Davey Hardesty for a loss to force a third and 11. Then Lashawn Hearns came up with a big-time knockdown on a throw over the middle, and to finish it off, on fourth down, Kenneth Johnson leapt backwards and broke up a diving catch by a Clarke wideout with a combination of his helmet and shoulder on the ball.
Three plays and a 50-yard Maurice Taylor run on third and 20 later, the Knights had the one-touchdown win–a berth in the Region B final.
“I’m just so proud of our defense — we’re undersized, we’re small (and) we dress 27 boys,” said Buckingham coach Craig Gill. “The defensive coaches had a great plan. We just wanted to be able to slow them down a little bit.”
The Knights got a terrific effort from their linebacking corps of Taylor, Bartee and Michael Layman, and with Clarke’s offense that’s dominated by single-wing principles, the reason for those linebackers’ success was pretty simple according to Layman.
“If the guard pulls, he’ll take you the play and if the guard steps down, you step in the hole,” Layman said. “Just hard, smashmouth football, that’s what I like.”
The Knights stuck to that method all night, keying on the guards with an attacking style that led to stuff after stuff on key plays. Clarke managed to move the ball for long stretches, including a 16-play, 55-yard drive to open the second half that Buckingham ended on their own 10 when Clarke quarterback Eric Stewart’s pass fell incomplete on fourth and two.
The Knights’ lone scoring drive came after one of those fourth down stops in the first half. Clarke drove to the Buckingham nine, but Grant Shaw came up a yard short on fourth and two. Buckingham cranked things into gear on the ensuing drive, marching 92 yards on 13 plays with a two-yard touchdown by Taylor capping the drive. In the middle of the drive, Tarian Ayers got into a groove, completing three-straight passes of 15, 18 and 16 yards, spreading the ball to Caleb White, Cam Johnson and Taylor on the trio of completed passes.
The Knights appeared poised to score again on their next drive, but a fumble on the exchange between Ayers and Taylor allowed Ellis Chapman to come up with the recovery. Clarke broke back with a drive of their own that included 50-yard jaunt by Hardesty, but a sack by Bartee on third and goal at the eight forced Clarke to kick a field goal from 32 yards out that they missed with under a minute to play in the second quarter. Buckingham kneeled to send the game to halftime after that.
“We just had to step up,” Bartee said. “All week in practice we stepped up and that’s what happened.”
Gill, Buckingham’s long time leader, seemed as excited as the players, celebrating after the handshake with several fist pumps.
“I’m just proud of the young men, we bowed our backs in the second half,” Gill said. “They had two great drives on us and we were able to make the fourth down stops — and that was big.”
Those big stops also made the drive home down Interstate 81 a much more exciting prospect.
“Oh yeah, all smiles,” said Buckingham defender Jackson Bryant.
