GOOCHLAND – Eighteen inches. Not even the length of this newspaper. That's how close the Buckingham County High School football team came to a victory over Goochland High School and a likely three-way share of the James River District Championship.

That's how far the Knights were from victory in a 28-27 overtime loss to the Bulldogs on Friday night.

Buckingham came up that short on a game-winning two-point conversion attempt that was set up by a touchdown run by Kyree Koonce up the middle that pulled BCHS to within one point.

A facemask penalty on the run was assessed on the PAT attempt, which moved the ball from the three-yard-line to the one-and-a-half. The Knights fell a half-yard short.

“We saw the ball on the one-and-a-half, and never hesitated,” said BCHS head coach Craig Gill. “We elected to go for the win. We believe we should be able to get a yard-and-a-half.”

Kenneth Johnson's run up the middle was stuffed by a stacked Goochland line, which handed the Bulldogs the victory and the JRD title.

“We would do the same thing again if given the opportunity,” Gill said of electing to go for the victory, instead of attempting a game-tying kick. “Goochland made a great play. If we do it again, we probably make the great play.”

What became a battle of two very strong defenses startedout totally differently. Goochland standout quarterback Jordan Jefferson burst through for a 42-yard touchdown just a little over two minutes into the first quarter.

Buckingham answered on a Koonce 69-yard touchdown run less than a minute later.

From there, neither defense allowed much in the way of big plays. Goochland used a time-consuming drive in the second quarter that was stopped inside the BCHS ten yard line just before the half.

The Knights took a 13-7 lead midway through the third quarter on a 27-yard run by Koonce. Goochland answered with 3:58 left in the period on a five-yard run by David Dyer to take a 14-13 lead, but Johnson put the Knights back in front with a one-yard touchdown run that was set up by a 20 yard run by Koonce to the shadow of the goal line. Koonce converted the two point conversion to give BCHS a 21-14 lead.

Buckingham had several chances to claim the victory in the fourth quarter. The Knights forced a stop to the ensuing Goochland drive, and moved back down the field to the GHS 10 yard line with a little over nine minutes to play. With the game-clinching touchdown 30 feet away, the Knights fumbled gave GHS another chance to tie the game.

The Bulldogs moved back down the field on a drive that included a shoestring catch on a fourth-and-16 fourth down conversion. With 32.2 seconds left, Mitchell Brice tied the game on a five-yard touchdown run.

Jefferson scored on Goochland's opening possession in overtime, which set up the game's ending.

“We had a few things that maybe didn't go our way on that drive, but we had several chances to make a play and we didn't,” said Gill. “Goochland came up with a big drive, and an even bigger stop at the end.”

Koonce led the Knights offensively with 200 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries, while Johnson had 66 yards on 17 touches and a touchdown.

Defensively, Tariq Bartee had 17 tackles, while Johnson had 15 stops, a tackle for a loss and a fumble recovery. Austin Seay had 8.5 tackles, with four coming for a loss.

“We shot ourselves in the foot, but it wasn't through a lack of effort,” said Gill. “They boys played a great game. We just came up a little short.”

Buckingham will wrap up its regular-season schedule with a home game against Bluestone on Friday night at 7 p.m.

“It will be senior night for us, but we don't want it to be their last home game. We need to win this one in order to get one or maybe two home games in the playoffs. If we lose this one, we'll still be in, but we'll be on the road. So, we'll definitely have some motivation.”