FLOYD — On the ground, through the air, on special teams and, with 12 seconds left, on defense — Floyd County got it done in a variety of ways.
The Buffaloes jumped to a 37-0 halftime lead and cruised past Alleghany, 58-7, in a Three Rivers District football contest here Friday night.
Floyd held the Mountaineers to minus 35 yards of offense and took advantage of a number of miscues by the visitors.
“Just a lot of mistakes,” said Will Fields, in his first year as the Alleghany head coach. “We’re making a ton of mistakes. We’re kicking the ball around too much and giving people too many opportunities.
“It was the same thing last week,” Fields added. “We’ve got to hang on to the ball. We’ve got to execute a little bit better on offense. We’ve got to hold on to the ball to give us some more opportunities.”
Alleghany was guilty of three turnovers, and other mistakes snowballed quickly.
Five errant snaps led to a negative 56 yards and resulted directly into points twice, including a safety to open the scoring late in the first quarter.
The Mountaineer defense had stopped Floyd twice early in the game, forcing a punt and stopping the Buffaloes on downs inside the AHS 20.
“We can play pretty good defense when we want to,” Fields said.
The Buffs rushed for 236 yards, led by 76 from Trevor Miller and 65 more from Jared Nichols. Both scored two touchdowns, while senior quarterback Avery Chaffin ran for one score and threw for another.
Alleghany got on the board on the last play of the third quarter.
Matt Howell fumbled a kickoff at the 20, but recovered quickly, sprinting 80 yards down the middle of the field to the end zone. J.D. Groves tacked on the extra point kick.
It was Howell’s second career kickoff return touchdown. He housed an 85-yarder against Radford in 2019.
Waylon Campbell was the top rusher for the Mountaineers with 18 yards on five carries.
The victory was the first for the Buffaloes (1-2), who lost close decisions to TRD foes Carroll County and Giles in their opening two games.
Things don’t get any easier for Fields’ Mountaineers.
Alleghany’s home opener will be against Radford, in a game that has been moved from Saturday afternoon to Friday night at 7 p.m.
The Bobcats are coming off a 9-3 season in 2019, where they advanced to the second round of the regional playoffs.
Radford opened their season on Friday with a 46-8 win at James River. Friday’s game at Alleghany will be the first of a three-game in nine-day stretch for the ‘Cats. They host Giles next Monday and Glenvar on Saturday, March 20.
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