Football Recap: Donald Buckley Leads a Balanced Attack to Beat Piedmont

vs

Previous 3 Games

09/26/25 - Away	40-26 W
09/23/23 - Home	8-36 L
10/16/15 - Away	0-48 L

The third road game was the charm for Arroyo, as they earned their first away victory of the season. They took down the Piedmont Highlanders 40-26 on Friday. For the Dons, this counts as revenge for the 36-8 win the Highlanders walked away with the last time they faced one another back in September of 2023.

Arroyo's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Donald Buckley, who rushed for 73 yards and a pair of touchdowns on only nine carries. The team also got some help courtesy of Jonah Shelton, who rushed for 58 yards and one TD.

Arroyo didn't let much get past them through the air: they limited Piedmont to a completion percentage of just 36.4%. The team can thank Joshua Dickerson for the heroic effort on defense: he. Arroyo wasn't nearly as limited: they posted one of 60%.

Arroyo didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Zakir Armstrong and Robert Mcgehee. Another thorn in Piedmont's side was Dickerson, who made six total tackles (3.0 for loss) and defended three passes.

When it comes to explaining why Piedmont lost, don't look at Xavier Henderson. Despite the final result, he rushed for 108 yards and three scores on only 13 carries, and also picked up 31 receiving yards. Henderson has been hot recently, having posted two or more rushing touchdowns the last three times he's played.

The win got Arroyo back to even at 2-2. As for Piedmont, they now have a losing record of 2-3.

Arroyo has already played their next matchup, a 48-6 victory against Davis Sr. on the 3rd. As for Piedmont, after each having a week off, they and Hayward will shake off the rust and duke it out at 7:00 p.m. on the 10th. The contest will give the Highlanders their first taste of in-conference action this season.