William Fleming remained undefeated in football with a 35-17 win over Lord Botetourt in Roanoke last Friday, but the Colonels knew they were in a game. LB trailed by just four points in the fourth quarter before host Fleming pulled away.
“I thought we won the physicality war,” said LB coach Jamie Harless. “I thought our kids showed the most composure and character under some difficult circumstances.”
LB drew first blood when Dean Webb kicked a 38-yard field goal with 3:58 to go in the first quarter. However, Fleming came firing back when Syracuse commit Malachi Coleman raced 63 yards for a score with just under two minutes left in the first period.
Botetourt put on a second long drive that carried well into the second quarter. The Cavaliers had the ball at the Fleming one but a fumble carried into the end zone and K-Ron Ferguson of the Colonels picked it up and raced 101 yards for a tide-turning score. Despite protests from the LB side it was ruled Cavalier quarterback Angel Rigney did not crack the plane of the goal line before fumbling the ball, a critical call in the game.
It was now midway through the second quarter and LB had dominated the time of possession but trailed 14-3. Fleming then tacked on another score 33 seconds before the half for a 21-3 lead at intermission.
Photos by Brian Hoffman
The Cavaliers fought back in the second half. After a scoreless third quarter a 13-yard TD pass from Garrett Lonker to Seth Reiter cut the lead to 21-10 with 11:17 still to go. Botetourt’s defense stiffened and Tristan Overbay’s one yard run made it a one-score game at 21-17 with 7:20 still remaining, and Botetourt had all the momentum on their side.
At that point the Colonels turned it over to Coleman. The talented tailback carried eight straight times on the ensuing possession, culminating in a three-yard run with 3:54 to go, making it a two-possession game again. That was the killer score, although Fleming tacked on a late TD in a game that was closer than the 18 point final margin indicated.
Overbay had another big night with 202 yards rushing on 28 carries. Rigney had 67 yards on five attempts and Quinten Jones had 51 yards on 18 tries as LB rolled up 324 yards on the ground.
Lonker completed four passes for 45 yards. Reiter had two receptions for 24 yards and Rigney had a 37 yard reception.
With the loss LB fell to 6-2 on the season and dropped from first to second in the VHSL Region 3D rankings. Abingdon now has the top spot at 7-1 with a 24.37 rating while LB is close behind at 24.25.
This Friday the Cavaliers will travel to Northside to take on the Vikings. Northside is 4-4 but the Vikings have lost four of their last five and haven’t beaten Lord Botetourt since 2018. The Cavaliers have won 11 of the last 12 meetings.
“They’re athletic and they’ll give you a lot of looks,” said Harless. “We have a lot to work on in one week.”
