Buckingham County clearly knows exactly who they want to go to when the chips are down.
When it’s crunch time, it’s K.J. Williams time for the Knights.
“I’m glad I’ve got him,” said Buckingham coach Seth Wilkerson. “He’s a playmaker. He’s a special player.”
Williams put the Knights’ offense on his back — and made several key defensive plays — Monday night in a clash with Central Lunenburg that Buckingham won in overtime 20-14. Williams fought and clawed his way across the goal line for a touchdown after the Knights stuffed Central on the first possession of overtime to finish off the win on senior night.
After pushing forward for six yards on first down in overtime, Williams, a junior, started to head toward the middle again before breaking to his left where three Central defenders met him near the goalline. He drug one of those defenders a couple of yards and then twisted his body to push past the other two and cross into the endzone.
“They packed the hole, outside was open and so I used my speed to get to the outside,” Williams said.
Williams finished with 241 yards on 24 touches including the two touchdowns, a monster performance for the junior ball-carrier who moved exclusively to quarterback in the second half when Buckingham went to their trademark Knight set.
To get there, the Knights had to persevere past a series of fumbles in the first half. That included one particularly wild one where Williams rushed down to the two, but then on first and goal the ball squirted into the backfield and was just laying on the turf before Central’s Nyjae Carter scooped it up and raced 98 yards the other way for a touchdown.
That was the difference maker at the half, with the Knights trailing 7-0 at the break. But Buckingham wasted little time cutting into that deficit, opening the second half with a 59-yard, five-play drive capped by Dalante Woodson 1-yard touchdown run. The Knights trailed just 7-6, and that’s when the defense started coming up with stops. Central marched into the redzone on a 15-play drive but the defense stepped up, stuffing, with help from a measurement, the Chargers on fourth and short with the defensive line getting a huge push before a gang of Knights provided the stop.
“This group has come a long way from where we started, not having last year, it was like starting over almost at the beginning of the year,” Wilkerson said. “But they’ve really come together and improved each week.”
Buckingham had to punt shortly thereafter on a three and out, but the defense stepped up again, stuffing Central on the doorstep of the redzone this time. Tucker Motley, Dontrell Gough and Griffin Haines were in on several of those stops and the defense also got big plays from Williams and Kymeir Lockett in the secondary.
“Coach Wilkerson does a really good job of getting us prepared,” Motley said. “We’ve got kids that come in from other schools and they say they don’t prepare half as well as we do. That has a lot to do with it, just knowing what’s going on.”
After that second stop in the fourth quarter, the offense immediately cashed in. Williams broke right through the middle of the Central defense and sprinted 64 yards for a touchdown and after he popped in for the 2-point conversion, a 14-7 lead.
The Knights’ work in the front seven eventually forced Central to take to the air to find the equalizer as they drove 68 yards before Connor Mattox hit Dasjohn Hurt for a 21-yard touchdown and a 14-14 tie. Buckingham responded with a solid drive over the final 3:15, but time ran out as the drive stalled in the redzone, forcing overtime.
That’s when Williams stepped up, capping his huge night with the critical touchdown in overtime.
“Really every night is a special night for him, he’s just a freak athlete, he’s so quick and fast,” Motley said.
Williams really started to break through as the offensive line took over for the Knights too, and that has clearly become a critical component for Buckingham.
“We think that’s one of our strengths, a lot of big, strong guys that have been in the weight room,” Wilkerson said. “That’s who we lean on.”
The Knights wrap up the regular season at Cumberland Friday before entering the Region 2B playoffs.
