Gap’s ready for more

SWOOPE
Buffalo Gap is aware of the task ahead.

On Friday, the Bison (11-0) will face their biggest challenge of the season — William Campbell (10-1) on the road in the Region B, Division 1 championship game. The victor moves onto the state playoffs, while the fallen trades in its helmets for basketball shorts.

Last week in the Region B, Division 1 semifinals the Generals lit up the scoreboard against Riverheads 64-6 to advance. When Buffalo Gap beat the Gladiators in the regular season, it did so by a narrow 21-14 margin. William Campbell has outscored its opponents 466-69 and has had five wins over teams with a record better than 500. Only three of Gap’s 11 wins have come against teams with winning records.

“It’s a big excitement,” said Buffalo Gap’s Ian Rosenfeld. “We know the atmosphere and it’s going to be a whole different world.”

The odds were stacked against the Bison last season, as well when the Generals traveled to Swoope for the Region B, Division 1 title on Nov. 23. Buffalo Gap’s Travis Morris completed a 20-yard touchdown pass to Josh Wenger to pull the Bison within one point of the favored Generals. Less than 30 seconds remained on the clock and the Bison’s season hung on the next play.

“I didn’t make the call,” Bison coach Rob Maxwell said that night. “The kids did. I saw their disappointment when I went to kick and I just couldn’t go through with it.”

The Bison went for the two-point conversion.

Gap’s power runner, Pickle Nuckols took the ball. He was hit at the one-yard line but willed his way into the end zone to secure a 29-28 win and send the Bison into the Group A, Division 1 playoffs.

“I just had to get it,” Nuckols told The News Virginian after the game. “I was going on adrenaline. All I could think about was just ‘get the job done.’ I guess those extra squats in the weight room was the key.”

The Bison expect the same type of game on Friday.

“They are the best team we have seen this year by a long shot,” Rosenfeld said.

Despite some key losses from last year’s team, most of the current Bison were in attendance during last year’s match up with William Campbell.

“One benefit is they have been down this road,” Maxwell said. “They know it’s going to take 48 minutes. They know they are going to have to play a perfect football game. That’s the advantage of having a good returning group.”

In the last decade, the Region B championship game has produced the eventual state champion. Five of the last eight Group A, Division 1 champions have come from Region B. The last three champions were also Region B champions.

“It’s almost like the two toughest teams in the state squaring off for the Region B championship,” said Gap’s Dexter Malcolm.