The Lord Botetourt football team is hoping the third time is a charm as the Cavaliers travel to Williamsburg Saturday to play Lafayette High for the Class 3 state championship. Game time is 2 p.m. at Wanner Stadium as the Cavaliers play in the state championship for the third time in the past six years.
It will be a battle of unbeatens as Lafayette comes in at 8-0 and the Cavaliers are 9-0 after defeating Liberty Christian Academy, 24-22, in a state semifinal game in Daleville last Saturday. Lafayette played host to Independence High and took a 17-13 win in the other semifinal.
The Rams have a rich football history. They’ve been in the playoffs every year since 2010 and this is their fifth trip to the state championship game. They’re 1-3 in prior championship games, defeating Pulaski County in 2001, 41-28, and losing to Salem in 1998, Heritage in 2002 and Magna Vista in 2014, one year before Lord Botetourt lost to Magna Vista in the 2015 Class 3 final.
This will be Botetourt’s third trip to the championship, all under coach Jamie Harless. The Cavaliers, who have a streak of nine straight years in the playoffs, lost to Hopewell in last year’s championship game, 35-7.
Lafayette has played six of its eight games at home this year, and the only two close games were in the past two weeks. They beat Phoebus in the Region 3A final, 29-18, and last week’s game with Independence went down to the wire. Prior to that Lafayette had outscored six opponents by a total of 240 to 32.
“They have a good football team, as you’d expect at this point,” said Harless. “They have some real good athletes. They run the wing-T on offense and come right at you. They’re hard-nosed on defense. They come down hill and come and get you.”
Harless notes that the Cavaliers will have a size advantage against Lafayette, as they do against most any opponent. As for speed, it’s a wash even without Kyle Arnholt available for LB.
Arnholt, Botetourt’s all-purpose standout receiver, defender and kick returner, was lost for the season after injuring his knee in a regional game with Christiansburg. Another LB standout, Hunter Rice, was banged up in that same game and missed the regional final with Abingdon, but returned to play defense and a limited amount of time on offense last week against LCA. Harless expects Rice to be ready to go Saturday.
“He’s fine,” said Harless. “He could carry the ball 20 to 25 times.”
Hunter scored a first-half touchdown against LCA last week as Botetourt held on for a 24-22 win in what turned out to be a wild finish. The Cavaliers scored first on a 43-yard field goal by Bryson Harvey and that was shaping up to be big as it was still 3-0 late in the first half.
Botetourt drove the ball down the field late in the half and went up 10-0 when Rice scored on a four-yard run with just 39 seconds to go until intermission. LB squibbed kicked and LCA tried a pass on first down, but it was intercepted by defensive back Jakari Nicely on the LCA 46. Most expected LB to take a knee at that point, but on the next play KJ Bratton broke the line and went the distance for another score, putting the Cavaliers up 17-0 at the half.
When Bratton scored on a 74-yard run early in the second half the game appeared to be over, but that wasn’t the case. Liberty scored a TD to make it 24-6, then blocked a punt in the end zone to close the gap to 24-8. A fourth quarter score cut the lead to 24-16 with a two-point conversion and they were on their heels.
LCA was stopped on the next series, but the Bulldogs’ punt pinned LB inside the five, where the Cavaliers fumbled it away. LCA scored on a three-yard run to pull to within two at 24-22, but a pass for a two-point try was batted down by Sammy Peery in the end zone and LB hung on.
“That was a great football game,” said Harless. “Our defense was the difference. Holding them without a first down until nine minutes left in the third quarter was huge.”
Offensively, Bratton had a big day with 212 yards and two scores on 24 carries. LB came out in a closed formation, snapping the ball directly to Bratton for much of the first half and throughout the game.
“We went old school,” said Harless. “We went back to the early 1900s, foot to foot.”
Rice had nine carries for 70 yards while playing defense for the entire game. Dylan Wade had 10 carries for 20 yards and Botetourt threw just one pass in the game, a one yard completion to Rice.
Saturday’s game at Williamsburg will have limited tickets available, with most of them going to the players and cheerleaders involved.
Botetourt is now 22-1 in the past two seasons and the Cavaliers will be trying to complete an undefeated season, something that eluded them with the loss to Hopewell in 2019. The Cavs have not finished unbeaten since the third year of the school in 1961.
