Lord Botetourt will play host to William Byrd in football this Friday night and the winner will be next week’s top ranked team in the Virginia High School League Region 3D rankings. Game time is 7 p.m. at LB and it will be “Hall of Fame Night.”
Byrd and Botetourt come into the game “one-two” in this week’s region rankings. Both have 5-1 records but Byrd’s rating is 23.0 and LB is second at 22.0. Abingdon, at 6-1, is third at 21.5 and Carroll County rounds out the top four at 21.0.
William Byrd lost for the first time last week when the Terriers fell to undefeated William Fleming, 28-14. The Terriers also lost their standout running back, Jamez Toler, with a broken ankle but LB coach Jamie Harless knows the Byrdmen still have plenty of talent.
“Byrd still has a lot of pieces left,” said Harless. “They’re well-coached and they’re a very good football team.”
Photos by Jim & Regina Devinney
The Botetourt-Byrd rivalry has been a good one over the years. Long-time rivals in the Blue Ridge District, Byrd holds a 39-24-1 edge all-time, but since 2018 Botetourt has won six of eight.
Both of those losses were last year, when the Terriers went 12-2 and reached the Class 3 state semifinals. Byrd broke a six-game losing streak to LB with a 16-0 win in the regular season, then beat Botetourt in the region playoffs, 41-14. Both of those games were in Vinton.
This Friday’s game is important, because if the two meet again in the playoffs it could very well decide home field.
“Home field is a big deal,” said Harless. “This is an important game for us. Byrd presents a lot of challenges.”
The Cavaliers are currently on a five-game winning streak and have shut out their last two opponents. Last Friday night in Moneta the Cavaliers scored all their points in the second half of a 21-0 win over host Staunton River.
Tristan Overbay scored all three touchdowns on runs of nine, 30 and 65 yards for the Cavaliers and finished with 202 yards rushing on 19 carries. Quinten Jones had 69 yards on 16 carries and Angel Rigney had 27 yards on eight attempts.
“Our kids played hard,” said Harless. “They gritted it out, I’m really proud of them.”
