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Buckingham football falls in region quarterfinals

Photo by Jake Bowling

After spending a year away from football, the Buckingham football program stormed back into the playoffs on a three-game winning streak. Midway through the third quarter, it looked like the Knights would roll into the Region 2B semifinals too.

Buckingham had a 19-3 lead after Kymeir Lockett’s 31-yard touchdown, K.J. Williams could not be stopped, the Buckingham faithful were rocking and Strasburg, the four seed in Region 2B, seemingly had no answer.

 

In the blink of an eye, the Rams strung together an incredible series of plays that spun over the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth, and when the final horn sounded, Strasburg was headed to the semis with a 22-19 victory, sending Buckingham home following an impressive season after not playing football for over a year prior to this season.

 

Strasburg forced a quick three and out on Buckingham’s first possession, and nailed a field goal to give the Rams a 3-0 lead. The Knights took a promising drive into the red zone, but fumbled, foreshadowing another costly turnover that would haunt the Knights late in the game. Early in the second, K.J. Williams ripped off a 68-yard touchdown to give the Knights a 7-3 lead. Dalante Woodson then punched in another score after a monstrous sack on Strasburg’s next possession, but the PAT was blocked. Buckingham took a 13-3 lead into the break.

 

Strasburg started the second half with the ball, but the Knights stopped them again which set the stage for Lockett’s score. Buckingham went for two and did not convert for a 19-3 lead halfway through the third.

 

From there, Strasburg completely flipped the script.

 

The Rams strung together an impressive drive which ended in a fumble inside Buckingham’s 5. Strasburg proceeded to force a three and out, and blocked the punt, recovering the ball for a touchdown. The Rams converted on the two point try and cut the lead to 19-11 with under a minute left in the third.

 

The Rams then successfully converted an onside kick after much deliberation from the referees. Two plays later, the Rams went for a 49-yard rushing touchdown and tied the game up after their two point conversion was good again.

 

Buckingham fumbled inside their own 20 on the ensuing possession, and Strasburg tacked on a field goal to take the lead and never looked back.

 

K.J Williams rushed for well over 100 yards in the loss. The Knights forced multiple offsides which proved to be monumental in many drives, but couldn’t quite string together the go-ahead score in the last minutes of the game. Williams targeted Lockett on a deep pass with less than two minutes to go, and Lockett drew the pass interference call, putting Buckingham inside the 40. However, the drive stalled out and the Knights could not convert on fourth down, sending the Rams faithful into a frenzy.

 

Buckingham’s season ends at 6-3.

 

Strasburg will take on No. 1 Central Woodstock next week in the Region 2B Semifinals in a rematch of the Rams’ regular season finale.

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