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The varsity football game between Cumberland County High School and Amelia County High School that had been set for Saturday, March 13, was notably canceled, but the Dukes were back in action this past weekend.

They traveled Saturday, March 20, to face host Randolph-Henry High School for its season opener and homecoming game, and the Virginia High School League (VHSL) Class 2 Statesmen prevailed 42-0.

Cumberland Head Coach Kori Gilliam said youth and inexperience showed greatly from his team, but at the same time, there were outstanding defensive performances from junior Kyler Gilliam, senior Muzzammil Fulani and senior Vincent Harris Jr.

“Also, the addition of freshman cornerback Thomas Randolph is a big boost to the defensive backfield,” Coach Gilliam said.

The Dukes, a VHSL Class 1 team, used the two weeks leading up to this game to heal up from the hard-fought effort in their March 6 season opener at Central Lunenburg High School. Most Cumberland players competed on both offense and defense in that contest because the team is few in number this season. Both health and numbers were factors in the Amelia game not happening.

“We had to cancel due to number of injuries with limited number of players,” Coach Gilliam said.

Cumberland (0-2) is scheduled to return to the gridiron Friday, March 26, at 7 p.m. when it hosts Nottoway High School (1-0), which recorded a season-opening 27-22 road victory over Central Lunenburg on March 12.