The Lord Botetourt football team is going to the state semifinal for the third time in five years after beating Northside for the sixth time in the past three years. The Cavaliers beat the Vikings, 31-23, last Friday night in Daleville to win the Region 3D championship.
“It was a good win,” said LB coach Jamie Harless. “I got a little heartburn from it but we did what we needed to do.”
At halftime this looked like it was going to be a Botetourt romp. The Cavaliers led 21-0 at intermission on a nine-yard run by James-Ryan Salvi and two touchdown runs by Hunter Rice, one of eight yards and one of three. Botetourt scored on the first two possessions, driving the field and then punching a second one in after recovering a Northside fumble.
However, the Vikings made it interesting in the second half. After Terran Baker’s 30-yard field goal made it 24-0, the Vikings answered with a 30-yard TD run by quarterback Sidney Webb. A two-point conversion was successful, cutting the lead to 24-8.
Northside recovered an ensuing onside kick and four plays later Webb threw a 44-yard touchdown pass. Another two-point conversion made it 24-16 and all of a sudden it was a one possession game.
Harless managed to settle the troops, and the Cavaliers went on a time consuming drive that culminated in a one yard TD run by Rice, his third score of the game. Baker’s kick made it 31-16 with just three and a half minutes to play.
Northside scored one more time, but the Cavaliers were able to kill out the clock and preserve their second win over Northside this season in what has become somewhat of a rivalry. Even though Botetourt has won six of the last seven, most of the games have been close.
“This was the end of a saga,” said Harless. “Our defense played well when it had to.”
Rice was the lead mule once again with 211 yards rushing on 37 carries. Salvi was five for nine passing for 60 yards while Rice had one half-back pass intercepted.
Kyle Arnholt had four catches for LB for 49 yards while Xavier Stephens had the other catch for 11. The LB defense held Northside’s Christian Fisher to 49 yards rushing and minus two yards on one reception. Fisher had 219 total yards in the first meeting between the two.
The win kept LB undefeated after 13 games with another rematch looming large this Saturday, as the Cavaliers host Heritage at 1:30 p.m. in Daleville. Heritage beat LB at this same point of the post-season last year, 42-39.
