The high school football season is officially here, at least for Lord Botetourt. The Cavaliers will play their first varsity game of the season this Saturday when LB plays Rye Cove at Emory & Henry’s Fred Selfe Stadium. Kick-off is set for 7 p.m.
The LB-Rye Cove game is not just the only game in town, it’s one of just five games in Virginia to open the season on the “zero week.” The other games in the state this weekend find Richlands at Virginia High, Rappahannock County at Greenbrier Christian, Twin Springs hosting Providence Academy of Tennessee, and Holston at the new Southern Gap High, which has combined Grundy, Hurley, Council, and Twin Valley student bodies. All except the Botetourt game will be played on Friday night.
Lord Botetourt will be the official “home” team for this game but it’s no place like home. The same two played on the zero date last year and LB won 49-12. Rye Cove is a Class 1 school in the Region 1D Cumberland District. After losing to LB in the opener last year the Eagles won 11 of their next 14 games and advanced to the VHSL Class 1 championship at Salem Stadium, losing to Rappahannock in the championship game, 49-14.
Friday will be the Lord Botetourt High head coaching debut for Nick Leftwich, who replaces Jamie Harless after 14 straight winning seasons. Harless departed to take the head coaching job at Union High School in Big Stone Gap, not far from where he grew up.
“I haven’t seen them on film yet, but I know they have some size,” Leftwich said of Rye Cove last weekend. “They’re a deep southwest team so you know they’re going to play smash-mouth football. They run a double wing and wing-T and spread it out a little.”
As far as playing at Emory & Henry, Leftwich has some history there. He was on the team at UVA-Wise when the team played there and he was also at Emory for a team camp when Nick was an assistant coach at Graham High School.
“It’s not Division I, but it’s a nice stadium,” said Leftwich.
As far as playing on the zero date, Nick isn’t crazy about it but he’s adapted. He’s changed the offensive scheme from what Harless ran and has had one less week to do so.
“We need to be dialed in early,” he said. “For most people this week is their second scrimmage so we’ve had to get ready a little quicker. We’ve figured out the bread and butter but we’ll still need to add the side dishes later on.”
This is the second year of the two-year schedule, and LB won’t be playing on the zero date when the new schedule comes out in 2027. Next year they’ll open with Amherst County on the traditional week one.
