Buckingham County High School’s varsity football team took an important step Friday night, grabbing a big lead over visiting Nottoway High School and holding on to earn its first victory of the season, 46-33.

“It felt good,” Buckingham Head Coach Joshua Wallace said. “I’m proud of the guys. They played hard and finally got that first one.”

Friday’s win was also the first for Wallace as the Knights’ head coach, and he pointed to the improved execution and consistency of his players as the keys to making it happen.

“I think we played a lot better against the run this week, for sure,” he said. “We’ve just got to do a lot better with the pass.”

Buckingham almost let Nottoway back in the game late.

“It was 46-19, and they scored on big pass plays,” Wallace said.

During the course of the game, the Cougars scored on pass plays of eight, 51, 10 and 35 yards.

Meanwhile, the Knights did most of their damage on the ground, racking up 300 yards on only 40 carries.

“Rajheem Holman had a really good night for us,” Wallace said.

The senior running back recorded 16 carries for 197 yards. He scored on touchdown runs of 50, 35, 38 and 56 yards, and he also had an 84-yard kickoff return for a score.

Buckingham’s other touchdown came on a 26-yard run by sophomore Tyrese Ayers.

Junior Daniel Brickhill added six carries for 53 yards.

On defense, the Knights were led by sophomore Quantarious Stanton, who registered eight tackles, including two for a loss and two assists.

Buckingham is 1-3 overall but carries the confidence of being 1-0 in the James River District into its matchup Friday at 7 p.m. against host Central Lunenburg High School, another district foe.