The James River football season got off to a rousing start last Friday night, but the end of the highlights came early. River dropped a 30-7 game to Buffalo Gap in Springwood in the season opener for both teams.
The Knights took a lead before many spectators found their seats. Ben Bailey took a handoff on a reverse and ran the opening kickoff back 78 yards for a season-opening touchdown. James Voight kicked the extra point and the Knights were off and running.
Unfortunately, that was the extent of the scoring for James River. The Knights could manage just 84 yards of offense, an average of 2.2 yards per play, for the rest of the game and couldn’t score on a couple red zone opportunities.
“We were 0 for nine on third downs,” said coach Tim Jennings. “We had some opportunities and couldn’t score. Good teams have to score in the red zone.”
River was only down 14-7 at the half, but the Bison broke it open on a 57-yard TD jaunt by Bryce Hildebrand in the third quarter. A two-point conversion put Gap up 22-7 and River’s offense was sputtering.
“I thought we played well in the first quarter, but I felt like the heat got to us,” said Jennings. “We had chronic cramping, and we don’t have a lot of depth. But the kids played hard, I have no problem with the effort. They were just more physical than we were.”
Statistically, River’s rushing attack never got off the ground as the Knights rushed 26 times and had a total of one yard. Most of that was a result of sacks, as quarterback Zeal Hammons was credited with nine carries for minus 40 yards. Colin Cook had 11 yards rushing on nine carries, Conner Church had six on seven and Levi Rock carried once for 24 yards.
Defensively, Logan Campbell led the Knights with 11 total tackles. John Austin and Cook had eight each and Church and Benson had seven each. Cook and Austin each had two tackles for losses and Austin had a fumble recovery. Cook and Toliver had sacks and George forced a fumble.
The Knights will now have two weeks to get their ducks in a row as River’s bye comes early this year. The Knights won’t play again until their home opener with Parry McCluer on September 10.
“The bye couldn’t come at a better time,” said Jennings. “Normally, it’s not ideal to have it this early, but we had a couple injuries and we have some things we need to work on.
