Halifax County High School Head Football Coach Grayson Throckmorton looked as if the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders.

All of the hard work the Comets players and coaching staff had put in over the spring and summer months learning and teaching the new offensive and defensive schemes that are being implemented for this season finally saw some reward.

The Comets broke on top early and topped Buckingham County High School 34-14 Friday night at Tuck Dillard Memorial Stadium in the annual Virginia High School League Benefit Game.

"It's a huge relief because you don't know how they (the players) are going to perform under the first game-like situation," Throckmorton explained.

"In practice, after you've been beating on each other and you're getting frustrated and make mistakes, as a coach you're always worried to death about how you're going to respond. I thought we responded really well."

The Comets jumped on top in their first possession of the game with quarterback Ryan Moore scoring on a 10-yard run with 6:02 left in the first quarter to cap a seven-play, 44-yard drive. Ben Harris added the extra point to put the Comets up 7-0.

Comets senior running back Jamal Brandon scored the first of his two touchdowns in the game on a 64-yard run with 6:49 left in the first half on his team's fourth possession of the half. Harris' kick put the Comets up 14-0.

Darrius Bowman scored on a 33-yard run with 6:37 left in the third quarter on the Comets' second possession of the second half, and Harris added the extra point to extend the Comets' lead to 21-0.

Buckingham County High School followed with its first touchdown of the game, a score that came on a 10-yard run by Walter Edwards with 4:09 left in the third quarter. The Comets immediately answered with Brandon breaking free for a 61-yard scoring run with 2:59 left in the third quarter. A kick by Harris made the score 28-7.

The Knights scored their final touchdown on a 1-yard run by Gerry Toney with 4:21 left in the game to make it a two- touchdown Comets spread at 28-14.

Halifax County High School capped the game with Corey Brandon intercepting a pass from Toney and returning it 85 yards for a touchdown as time expired on the clock. That score gave the Comets the final 20-point margin.

Not only did the Comets score five touchdowns in the game, they played well on the defensive side of the ball as well. The Comets intercepted three Buckingham County High School passes, with Amir Spencer, Brandon Davis and Corey Brandon doing the honors, with Brandon returning his pick for a touchdown.

While there was a lot of good to be seen, there were also some miscues.

The Comets turned the ball over three times, twice on interceptions and once on a lost fumble. Also, the Comets were bitten by several penalties, two of which negated touchdowns, and one resulted in a long run by Jamal Brandon being called back.

Brandon had a 13-yard touchdown run nullified due to a penalty and a punt return for a touchdown by Kenneth Davis was called back due to a penalty.

"The only thing I was very disappointed in about tonight is that in my style of offense and what we do, turning the ball over three times and having 11 penalties is not going to get it done because you have big runs and so forth get called back," Throckmorton.

"Our goal is to hold onto the ball and cut our mistakes down and our penalties down. If we do that, we will be a little more efficient."

The Comets will get their final pre-season test Thursday night when they host Colonial Heights High School in a scrimmage at Halifax County High School.

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Comets top Buckingham County HS 34-14 in VHSL Benefit Game - YourGV.com