The varsity football teams of Buckingham County High School and Prince Edward County High School have been headed in separate directions in recent weeks, and in their showdown with each other Friday night, they stayed on course. With a 40-19 final score, the surging Knights improved to finish the season 5-5 after a 1-5 start, and the injury-plagued Eagles fell to end up 4-6 after a 4-1 start.

Neither team will play in the postseason as the Knights had already been eliminated, and the Eagles needed a win Friday to have a chance.

Buckingham Head Coach Josh Wallace expressed pride in the resilience his players demonstrated over the last four weeks of the season.

“It’s like I told them — we looked at adversity in the face, and we took it on, and we didn’t back down,” he said. “So, it’s awesome. (They) go from 2-8 last year to being 1-5 and could have folded the season, but they fought through, and they finished it up at 5-5 and didn’t have a losing record.”

“And if we would have made the playoffs,” he added, “we’re rolling right now, so we would have gave somebody a run for their money.”

To reach the playoffs, the Eagles need help from Greensville County and Smithfield high schools Friday, and they received it. Both teams won, but the Eagles needed to win too. Instead, their fifth loss in a row left them reflecting on a season that their head coach, James Ford, described as “up and down.”

“It’s hard to really put the season into words when you start off with such promise and end it the way we did,” he said. “… It hurts, but there was good that came out of it. A lot of young guys were able to play. Unfortunately, it was because of injury, but it set up for a good future for us that we know young guys can come in, step in and play. … And we just know that for us to accomplish our goals that we set as a program, we have to do the little things…”

Ford noted that the team’s focus in the offseason will be on finishing.

The Eagles were not able to finish like they wanted to Friday. The game was tied 7-7 after the first quarter, but Buckingham jumped out to a 21-13 lead by halftime and extended it to 34-19 after three quarters.

“(We’ve) been playing really good defense,” Wallace said. “That first half of this game was tough. It’s a rivalry game. And we responded the second half, they didn’t score an offensive touchdown, and we controlled the clock.”

In the first half, a fight broke out that Wallace said was instigated when two players were blocking, got tied up outside and wouldn’t let go, drawing a crowd. Two players from each team were ejected.

“We had a couple guys go out with that scrum in the first half, and they were our leaders on the defensive side of the ball,” Ford said. “… It really had us scrambling trying to find guys, and the guys that stepped up did very well. I’m proud of them. I love these guys. The guys worked hard, and … they fought to the end.”

Wallace praised a variety of his seniors for standout performances, including nose tackle Brandon Moseley.

“He ended up stepping up big time and playing hard on defense and went in at fullback when our other fullback got ejected for two personal fouls,” Wallace said. “He was the only one we had left and going both ways. Daniel Brickhill (was) just ripping off runs, outrunning Prince Edward, every play just running hard. So, those guys finished out strong on their senior year. (Nicholas) Hartwell played a good game on (defensive) end, and (Brycen) Newby had some good tackles in the middle. Jacob Marrin got out there at the end and made some plays outside.”

For the game, sophomore Walter Edwards recorded 15 carries for 163 yards, finishing the season with 1,007 yards rushing.

Junior Tyrese Ayres carried the ball 27 times for 145 yards and two touchdowns. He also threw a seven-yard touchdown pass to freshman Gerry Toney.

Brickhill gained 116 yards and touchdowns on 14 carries.

Toney finished with eight carries for 71 yards and a touchdown, to go with his touchdown reception.

For Prince Edward, junior Rahme Marshall accumulated 101 yards and two scores on 14 carries, senior Aneal Walker had a 75-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to go with two catches for 40 yards and senior Zion Lewis went 6-for-14 passing for 107 yards.

Junior Rah’Quan Payne led the Eagles on defense with 16 total tackles, all of them solo.

Sharing what Buckingham’s turnaround meant to him and his fellow seniors, Brickhill said, “We all grew up sitting in the stands watching the older guys play, and Buckingham always whipped up on everybody, always had a winning season, always in the playoffs, and I think we were sitting at 1-5 and just not happy with who we are and knew that’s not the legacy we wanted to leave in Buckingham. And we wanted to leave it the way we found it, and we wanted to give the community something to rally around, give the community something they could believe in. And ultimately, most of us guys have been playing together for 10 years since youth league, and it’s a love. And even when you’re sitting at 1-5, you can draw on each other.”