The Buckingham Knights varsity football team traveled to Chatham High School Friday night looking to rebound from a tough overtime loss against Appomattox last week, and came away with a 43-7 win over the Cavaliers.

The Knights continued their stellar defensive play in the first quarter, but Chatham slowed down the Buckingham offense early on as well. Buckingham lined up in a power formation that included a pair of fullbacks in front of Leon Ragland and they moved the ball down the field late in the first quarter, but would stall out deep in Chatham territory and turn the ball over.

The second quarter favored Buckingham as Hunter Edwards picked off a Victor Starling pass at the 39-yard line. The duo of Ragland and B.J. Gough in the spread formation in the backfield took turns picking up yardage. Ragland eventually scored on a 33-yard run to put the Knights on the board. Zach Baird added the extra point to give Buckingham a 7-0 lead with 10 minutes left in the second quarter.

An onside kick from Knights kicker John Caldwell was recovered by the Knights and they were quickly back on offense. B.J. Gough opened the series with a 25-yard quarterback keeper on first down. Ragland later added his second touchdown of the game on a three-yard carry. Edwards ran in the two-point conversion.

Harley Gough had a defensive stop on the next series to help force a Chatham three-and-out. B.J. Gough ran another keeper on the next Knights offensive series and picked up 39 yards. Ragland got the call later in the offensive series and scored from 10 yards away to put Buckingham ahead 22-0, following the Baird extra point.

Ragland then picked off a Chatham pass and returned it back to the 33-yard line of the Cavaliers. He would set himself up for his fourth touchdown of the second quarter and game with an 18-yard run and a 17-yard touchdown carry where he weaved back and forth between Chatham defenders for the score and a 29-0 lead. In the second half Chatham tried an empty backfield set to catch Buckingham off guard, but the Knights quickly diagnosed that and forced a Cavaliers punt. Buckingham ran a quarterback read-draw and B.J. Gough picked up 42 yards early in the drive.

However, they tried a pair of pass attempts and were stopped for the first time since the first quarter of the game. Buckingham’s offense then pounded the ball down the field and Ragland added his fifth touchdown of the game to give the Knights a 36-0 lead.

Chatham finally got on the scoreboard as they returned the Knights kickoff in for a 74-yard touchdown and closed the gap to 36-7 with just under two minutes left in the third quarter.

Buckingham took over at the eight-yard line and B.J. Gough completed the first Knights pass of the game at the start of the fourth quarter to get a 21-yard touchdown. Jervonte Morgan caught his first touchdown of the year and made the score 43-7 in favor of the Knights.

On the night, Leon Ragland had 28 carries for 244 yards and five touchdowns to lead Buckingham. B.J. Gough had 20 carries for 219 yards rushing. He completed one pass for a 21-yard touchdown.