The gridiron Battle of Route 60 came on a Tuesday night due to Tropical Storm Michael’s impact on the schedule, but Buckingham County High School’s varsity football team earned an early lead over visiting Cumberland County High School on the way to a 39-8 victory.

The Knights led 36-0 at halftime.

“I think we played hard,” Buckingham Head Coach Seth Wilkerson said. “We were able to get everybody in the game and come out of the game injury-free and with a win, so that was two main things we were trying to do.”

Both teams had just played Friday, and the Dukes had a couple of players out for disciplinary reasons.

Cumberland Head Coach Jamaal Artis noted that defensively, “we came out a little sluggish, a little slow. They jumped on us really quick. After the first quarter, though, I think we played much better. We had a lot of kids playing with intensity. We played a lot of our younger kids, because we knew we had two games in four days …”

Leading the Knights on offense was junior running back Walter Edwards, who had four carries for 98 yards and two touchdowns. Sophomore Xavier Copeland had five carries for 61 yards and two touchdowns, and freshman running back Dalante Woodson recorded seven carries for 77 yards and a touchdown.

“Wesley Snoddy was 4-for-4 on extra points and 1-for-1 on field goals,” Wilkerson said, referring to his sophomore kicker. “He made a 33-yard field goal.”

Tackling leaders on defense for Buckingham included junior linebacker Brayden Edwards, sophomore defensive back Demetrius Davis, sophomore linebacker Mekkha Carmon and junior linebacker Daniel Stanton.

The Dukes scored their first points in the third quarter when senior fullback K.J. Copeland reached the end zone on a nine-yard run.

Cumberland also scored on a safety in the same quarter, with freshman linebacker Brandon Diming and senior free safety Ziahir Berry making the tackle.

As of this writing, the Dukes (0-8) were set to host Bluestone High School on Friday at 7 p.m., while the Knights (4-4) were set to host Randolph-Henry High School on Thursday at the same time.