Buckingham Blasts Past Central in Rain-soaked Game

By Brian Nowlin, Staff Writer
The Central Chargers traveled to Buckingham on Friday night for a rain-soaked affair that saw each team hoping to establish themselves at the top of the James River District standings. Buckingham would be the team to come out on top as they took the win in a 70-27 final.
The game would start out on a strong note for Central as Josh Paynter completed a 61-yard touchdown pass to Malik Foster on the opening play from scrimmage. Ben Atkins added the extra point and Central led 7-0.
Buckingham would waste little time scoring as they marched down the field using their strong running game and got in the end zone on a Leon Ragland 20-yard touchdown run. John Edwards would add the two-point conversion and Buckingham took an 8-7 lead.
Buckingham would get the ball back quickly as they recovered the ball on the next kick off. With a short field, they wasted little time to score as Ragland raced in for a seven-yard touchdown.
The Knights got the ball back again after stopping the Central offense and this time Ragland would score his third touchdown of the game with a 60-yard run that put Buckingham up 21-7 with just over four minutes left in the first quarter.
Buckingham added two more scores, including Ragland scoring for the fourth time in the first half, before Central would get another TD on a 65-yard run up the middle by Keaun Baskerville to make the score 35-14.
BJ Gough would add one more Buckingham score before halftime as he raced in from 33 yards away to send the teams to the break with the Knights leading 42-14.
The second half would be more of the same as the powerful Buckingham running attack racked up more yardage and scores. Harley Gough would get a 75-yard fumble return on defense and Buckingham led 63-14 late in the third quarter.
CHS quarterback Josh Paynter would connect with Brandon Scott on a 64-yard touchdown pass and Baskerville added a late touchdown run, but Buckingham would cruise to an impressive 70-27 victory.