Dukes garner five nods, Eagles net four

The varsity public school football teams in the Heart of Virginia received a total of 16 All-James River District selections following the 2017 season, and Buckingham County High School accounted for nearly half of them, netting seven, including three on the first team.

Cumberland County High School (0-11) was represented by five selections, including one on the first team, and Prince Edward County High School (4-6) was represented by four, also including one on the first team.

Regarding his team’s representation, Knights Head Coach Josh Wallace said, “It was pretty good. (It) shows respect by the other programs and the other coaches, so that’s a good thing.”

The Knights started the season 1-5 but ended up with a 5-5 record after closing the year with a four-game winning streak.

Leading the Buckingham honorees was senior Brycen Newby, who made the all-district first team as an offensive lineman and also the second team as a defensive lineman.

“He was our best offensive lineman by far,” Wallace said. “We moved him wherever we needed him there. He’s a smart guy, and he plays hard.”

He was key to facilitating the Knights’ powerful run game.

Buckingham senior Brandon Moseley made the all-district first team as a defensive lineman.

“He just played real hard, got some attention of the other coaches,” Wallace said, noting that Moseley ended the season with 67 total tackles, including 14 tackles for loss, five sacks, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.

Knights senior Bryce Leake also made the first team as a linebacker.

“He was all-conference and all-region last year, so he just stood out and played hard, and his stats speak for themselves,” Wallace said.

Leake finished the year with 97 total tackles, including seven for loss, 2.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries and one pass deflection.

Making the second team along with Newby was sophomore running back Walter Edwards, junior defensive back Tyrese Ayres and junior Quantarius Stanton as an all-purpose defender.

Cumberland senior Keyshawn Diming made the all-district first team as a kick returner, and he made the second team as a defensive back.

According to stats listed on MaxPreps.com, in 10 regular-season games, he had 20 kickoff returns for 502 yards and two touchdowns.

“We certainly didn’t hope to return as many kicks as we did, but Keyshawn is just a great athlete,” said former Dukes Head Coach Edgar Knapp. “… I always expect a lot out of Keyshawn. He’s just a great player.”

Dukes making the all-district second team along with Diming included junior offensive lineman Christian Jackson, sophomore center Blake Barker and junior Ziahir Berry as an all-purpose offensive player.

Prince Edward junior Rah’Quan Payne made the all-district first team as a wide receiver, finishing the season with 24 receptions for 435 yards and seven touchdowns.

Eagles Head Coach James Ford said that with Payne’s performance in the second half of his season, he was not surprised to see the junior make the first team.

“The guy put on an absolute clinic at receiver,” Ford said.

After noting his team’s other skilled receivers this year, Ford added, “For him to be voted by the coaches to be the best one of that crew, that’s saying something, becuase we had probably one of the better receiving corps in the district.”

Eagles making the all-district second team included junior running back Rahme Marshall, senior defensive back Khalil Smith and senior kick returner Aneal Walker.