Gap blanks Stonewall

MT. JACKSON — A coach once said that defense wins championships.

After Friday night’s 19-0 shutout, Buffalo Gap is one win away from clinching at least a first place tie in the Shenandoah District.

“We played alright tonight,” Gap coach Rob Maxwell said. “We definitely need to play better next week.”

The Bison started strong with an opening drive that any team would be envious of.

The black and gold pounded the ball down the field, scoring a touchdown in under four minutes.

Neither Gap nor Stonewall would be able to do anything the rest of the half as the teams went into the half, 7-0 on senior night.

The fourth quarter put the game out of reach for the Generals.

After using the second half of the third quarter to march down the field, Gap tacked onto the one score advantage with a 7-yard run up the middle by Phillip Smith

“We ran the ball pretty well,” Maxwell added. “We had a few drives stall out on us that we can’t have in the future, but the guys ran hard.”

The defense came to play on Stonewall’s first possession.

On 3rd-and-6, Johnathan Martin ran to the right side for two yards.

With three yards to go, the Generals’ leading rusher ran up the middle. Gap stuck him just before the first down marking, forcing a turnover by inches.

The Bison stampeded the ball up the field after the turnover, but on third-and-long, things were starting to look bleak that the Bison would put the game away.

Quarterback Trevor Campbell dropped back to pass, had no receivers open so scrambled out to his right. The Generals ran Campbell down, but not before the QB reached the first down marker, picking up 11 yards in the process.

“[Campbell] played really well tonight,” Maxwell stated. “He did a great job on that run and threw the ball well. We kept the passes short, but he did well.”

Two plays later, the game was iced.

Campbell lofted a pass into the end zone where Matt Gregory was waiting 32 yards from the line of scrimmage.

“He made some pass,” Maxwell said about his quarterback, who went 6-for-8 with 83 yards and a touchdown. “That pass to Gregory was nice and he did a good job catching it.”

The touchdown extended the lead to 19-0 while setting up a huge district matchup for Gap against rival Riverheads next Friday.