Photos by Leigh Downey
The James River football team got the season off to a rough start with a 41-3 loss to the Bison in Buffalo Gap last Friday. The Knights couldn’t solve the single-wing offense the home team employed.
“Rough night in Swoope,” said River coach Tim Jennings. “They run that single wing and they ran it much better than what we saw on film. And they were so much more physical than we were. We’re going to have to play much more physical football.”
The Bison led 25-3 at the half as the only points River put on the board was a field goal by sophomore Knox Taylor. That came after the Knights recovered a fumble on the Buffalo Gap three with a little over half the first quarter gone. River failed to punch it in but Taylor kicked a 20-yard field goal to cut the lead to 6-3 at the time.
That would be River’s last points of the game, although Gavin Binns had two long touchdowns called back by penalties, a 64-yard run and a 55-yard reception. Binns ended up rushing for 37 yards on 11 carries.
“We just didn’t execute our game plan,” said Jennings. “Whatever we did, they had an answer for. They were substantially better than last year.”
Ryder Ward led River’s receivers with four catches for 30 yards. Quarterback Pierce Woodyard rushed seven times for 22 yards.
Buffalo Gap also had a big advantage in time of possession. They recovered two on-sides kicks.
“We weren’t able to track time of possession, but they easily held a three-to-one advantage,” said Jennings.
Defensively, Jayden Alston led the Knights with five solo tackles and 10 assists.
River will try to pick up their first win this Friday when they go back on the road to play Randolph Henry in Charlotte Court House. River beat the Statesmen in Springwood last year, 34-16, and RHHS lost their opener to Nelson County last week.
“We need to play a lot more physical this week,” said Jennings.
