Staunton High coach Jacob Phillips thought he’d seen the last of Lord Botetourt after James River and LB ended their football rivalry when Phillips was coaching the Knights. However, when Phillips took the job at Staunton High last spring he got two more dates with the Cavaliers, and the first one did not go well for him.
LB put up 49 points in the second quarter alone as the Cavaliers hammered the newly named “Storm,” 77-0, in Staunton last Friday. It was a game fans from both teams won’t soon forget, and the worst loss for the home team in 108 years, going back to when “Robert E. Lee” was still a very acceptable name for a high school in Virginia.
“Everything that could go wrong for them went wrong,” said LB coach Jamie Harless. “We were able to catch their defense in a lot of bad alignments.”
Dylan Wade scored five touchdowns for LB in the first half alone on runs of 68, 20, 38, 10 and 19 yards. LB also scored first half TDs on a 12-yard pass from James-Ryan Salvi to Gunner Givens, a 25-yard hookup from Salvi to Xavier Stephens and a return of a blocked punt by Mikey Rago.
With a 56-0 halftime lead the clock was set to run continuously in the second half, and Harless tried his best not to run the score up on the home team. The Cavaliers kicked off to Staunton to start the second half, even though LB had kicked off to start the game, and killed one series by taking three knees and punting.
“At the half I spoke with the officials and offered to reduce the quarters in the second half to eight minutes, but their coach didn’t want to do that,” said Harless.
LB scored three more times in the second half on a 15-yard interception return by Payton Haston and two long runs by backup players, a 44-yard run by Sammy Peery and a 78-yard run by Bryce Harrison.
“Sometimes you just end up with a game like that,” said Harless. “Robert E. Lee was playing for the state championship a few years ago, and historically they’ve had one of the better programs in the state. It was just one of those games.”
Wade, who has played well since filling in for Hunter Rice at tailback, had 204 yards on 10 carries. Harrison had 79 yards on four carries and Peery had 50 on two attempts. LB had 333 yards on 18 carries, an average of 18 and a half yards per attempt.
Salvi was seven for 11 passing for 116 yards, with three going to Kyle Arnholt for 34 yards. Givens had two receptions for 37.
With the win LB remained unbeaten at 5-0 as the Cavaliers completed their non-district schedule. They’ll be at William Byrd this Friday night.