The hits just keep coming for Buckingham County High School’s varsity football team. The injury-ravaged Knights lost another key player Friday night and struggled mightily on their way to a 20-0 loss to visiting Randolph-Henry High School.

“It’s just been rough,” Buckingham Head Coach Joshua Wallace said. “We were literally on our fifth-string quarterback tonight.”

The Knights entered the game having prepared with senior team captain Jarvis Bowles behind center. But he went down with an injury early in the second quarter and did not return, which forced senior Juwan Dibble to move into the quarterback position.

Wallace said Dibble is the fourth-string quarterback “who had gotten about three reps in practice all year. And then he started cramping up, and then we put Ky’Aire (Chambers) out there.”

The coach noted that part of being a team is that the next man has to stand up, but he acknowledged it’s been particularly hard on those having to take the quarterback position.

“It’s not really fair to them because they’re standing up, but they haven’t had to stand in that spot before, but what can you do?” he said. “So, I’m thankful for those guys for doing that.”

Buckingham struggled all night on offense no matter who was in the backfield, producing no first downs and negative total yardage. One of its biggest gains of the night came on special teams when senior Daquarious Holman returned a punt 35 yards.

On defense, the Knights had some notable moments in which they stuffed the Statesmen run game, but Randolph-Henry broke through at various points in the game. It scored on an 18-yard run in the first quarter, a 9-yard run in the second and a 6-yard run in the fourth.

Despite the zero on the scoreboard under their team name and the difficult season, the Knights showed heart, highlighted by Chambers, a senior, playing with passion late in the fourth quarter.

Sophomore Quantarious Stanton led the Buckingham defense with 10 tackles and two sacks, while senior Joshua Banks recorded eight tackles, including three for a loss.

Knights junior lineman Brycen Newby was back in action Friday for the first time since suffering a serious injury with teammates Javon Jones and Brandon Moseley in an Oct. 7 game against host Goochland High School.

“It’s always a joy to see your players out there, especially when they come back from injury, such a freak injury like that,” Wallace said. “It makes you feel good, because seeing them out there happy makes you happy.”

Buckingham (1-8) closes out its season Friday when it visits Prince Edward County High School (5-4) at 7 p.m.