The Lord Botetourt football team will play their five-game Blue Ridge District schedule after having a bye this week, and they’re not likely to see a bigger opponent than they did last Friday. The Cavaliers fell for the first time when they lost to George Washington High in Danville, 34-31.
“That’s the biggest high school football team I’ve ever seen,” said LB coach Jamie Harless. “They had linemen that were 6’7”, 330 and 6’6”, 320 and everyone on their line was over 300 but one, and he was 6’5” and 260. They have two Division I recruits and neither one went both ways.”
With that said, the Cavaliers were right in the game.
“We should have beat them,” said Harless. “We had almost 500 yards but big plays beat us, and three times we were inside the 10 and didn’t score.”
After a scoreless first quarter the Cavs took an 8-6 lead on a safety and 40-yard pass play from Angel Rigney to Eric Irons. GW connected on two field goals then scored on a 73-yard run to close out the half and take a 12-8 lead.
Photos by Katie Perry
LB scored on another safety and Caleb Miller’s 28-yard field goal to regain the lead but the Eagles closed out the quarter with a touchdown. Miller kicked another field goal, from 24 yards, and on LB’s next possession the Cavaliers were in the red zone when the Eagles recovered a fumble and returned it 90 yards for a killer score. GW added a TD on a 10-yard run before LB made it close with two touchdown passes, a 14-yard connection from Quentin Jones to Garrett Lonker and a 50-yard strike from Rigney to Jones to account for the 34-31 final.
LB, a run-first team, had an uncharacteristic 286 yards passing. Rigney was nine for 19 for 222 yards and Jones was two for two for 64. Irons had 76 yards receiving, Jones had 75, Lonker had 52 and Rigney had one reception for 50 yards.
“I’m so proud of how hard our kids played, the crowd gave them a standing ovation after the game,” said Harless. “They showed a wheel-barrow full of guts out there against those big bodies. Playing GW is going to beneficial for us when we get into district play.”
That will begin Oct. 10 with a trip to Franklin County. The Cavaliers will practice four days this week then hit it hard next week for the final five games, all against district teams.
