Buckingham’s Walter Edwards slowly trudged slowly back to the Knights’ locker room Friday night. The Knights’ running back had earned the right to take his time navigating the small hill that led to the locker room — he’d carried the weight of Buckingham’s playoff hopes on his back for the last two hours in a 20-19 overtime victory over Page County.
“He’s our workhorse and probably one of the best players I’ve been able to coach — offensively, defensively he just gets the job done on both sides of the ball,” said Buckingham coach Seth Wilkerson.
With quarterback Tae Toney out with an injury suffered late in the first half, Edwards was essentially the lone option for the Knights on offense much of the second half despite fighting through a nagging injury of his own. When the game was on the line in overtime and everyone in the stadium knew he was going to get the ball, Edwards delivered.
He blasted his way into the endzone on the first play of overtime and along with a Buckingham defensive stand on a two-point conversion five plays later, it was enough for the No. 2-seeded Knights to hold off a feisty No. 7-seeded Page County in the Region 2B quarterfinals. The victory was the first playoff win for the entire Buckingham roster, with the program’s last postseason triumph coming five years ago.
“I haven’t won a playoff game my entire high school career and I just wanted to do it for me and my team,” Edwards said. “I don’t even know how to explain it, I love to see my team this happy. We’re a brotherhood and we just stick together.”
The Knights will now host No. 6 East Rockingham who knocked off Clarke County in the region semifinals next week.
After Edwards plowed in and Buckingham hit the extra point in overtime, Page used a 9-yard Mikey Cash run and then a plunge by Trey Knight to pull within a point. Following the old “go-for-two-on-the-road” adage, Page put the game on the line with a two-point try and Buckingham called a timeout when they first lined up with the intent to go for the win. That allowed Wilkerson to get the Knights in the right spot.
“I had a feeling what they were going to run and the guys just stepped up and made plays that’s the big thing,” Wilkerson said.
Page ran what the Knights anticipated, a short toss to Cash heading to the left side where they’d had a great deal of success throughout the game. That approach made things simple for freshman defensive back K.J. Williams who stepped up and made the critical stop, with a pack of Knights coming in to finish the job.
“They were running it the whole game so it was just key the back,” Williams said. “The back took you to every play — if the tight end blocked down fit outside, if the tight end blocked out, fit inside.”
Edwards finished with 162 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries with Toney rushing for 37 yards and a touchdown in the first half before going down with an injury that pressed backup Cam Taylor into action. Taylor handled it well, shaking off an interception on one of just two passing attempts on the night by the Knights to pick up a first down on a drive and keep the Knights’ offense moving by handing it off to Edwards.
“To come in in this environment, this kind of game and step in right there, hat’s off to him he stepped up and showed he can get the job done,” Wilkerson said.
Page jumped out to a 7-0 lead by recovering an onsides kick on the opening kickoff and driving 50 yards over 13 plays with Knight scoring from four yards out. Buckingham found an answer with Toney waltzing in untouched early in the second quarter to tie the game at 7-7. The Knights struggled with untimely penalties in the redzone twice in the first half which led to the deadlock at the break. Two personal fouls put the Knights behind the sticks and led to turnovers on downs during that stretch, squandering what had the potential to be a 21-7 lead going into the break.
Early in the third quarter, after a failed fake punt by Page, Edwards sprinted in from 16 yards out to push the lead to 13-7. Buckingham held on tight from there until Knight scored his second touchdown on a sneak early in the fourth quarter. A missed PAT prevented the Panthers from tying it up and eventually led to overtime as neither offense could punch it in over the remainder of the fourth.
The Knights got some big-time play defensively from cornerback Xavier Copeland, who one-on-one smothered Page’s handful of passing attempts with coverage on the boundary. Xavian Gough chipped in 26 yards on 10 carries on the night, running the dive repeatedly to keep Page honest on the edge, in turn opening up some creases for Edwards’ big night.
The victory was a special one for the Knights, the first playoff win of Wilkerson’s tenure as head coach and a chance for the seniors to experience postseason success for the first time after helping Wilkerson get things back on track.
“It’s unbelievable, I don’t know how to explain it,” Gough said. “We’re just pumped up, ready for the next game.”
The Knights host East Rockingham Friday at 7 p.m.
