Lord Botetourt standout Hunter Rice returned to the gridiron last Friday after missing five and a half games with an ankle injury suffered in the season opener at Brookville. He played only defense as the Cavaliers defeated Staunton River in Daleville, 42-7, last Friday.
Rice did not wear his usual number 10 last Friday, opting instead to switch to uniform number 4. That’s the number of teammate Evan Eller, who is out for the season with a knee injury. Rice decided to switch to Evan’s number to honor his teammate and will keep it for the rest of the season.
If you didn’t recognize Rice by the long hair flowing from the back of his helmet, he made his presence known on the defensive side of the ball once the game started. River scored an early touchdown for a 7-0 lead but from that point it was all Lord Botetourt as the Cavaliers’ defense smothered the Eagles and the offense put 42 unanswered points on the board.
“We started out sloppy but we finished strong,” said LB coach Jamie Harless. “We only gave up 80 total yards.”
LB’s scoring began with a 47-yard hookup between James-Ryan Salvi and his favorite target, Kyle Arnholt. Kyle finished with nine catches, including three for touchdowns.
Botetourt led 20-7 by the half as Nick Pitzer and Dylan Wade added touchdown runs of four and one yards. Arnholt caught two TDs in the second half, both from 17 yards out, and Wade scored on a seven-yard run. Dylan finished with 85 yards rushing on 15 carries, but Harless wasn’t all that happy with the running game last week.
“I wasn’t at all happy with the line play,” he said. “They made a lot of mistakes, and it’s something we’re going to work hard on this week. That’s on me. The head coach has to do a better job.”
With the win LB remained undefeated at 7-0 with a trip to Franklin County this week.
