Photo by Brian Hoffman
The Lord Botetourt football team had a good week to have a bye last Friday as the Cavs stayed dry while most other teams in the Roanoke Valley played in a driving rain.
“It was good to have a break,” said LB coach Jamie Harless. “We practiced every day but one, but we backed off a little bit.”
While the Cavs were idle, the first Virginia High School League rankings were released and LB is the top-ranked team in Region 3D. Botetourt has a ranking of 22.8 to lead second place Christiansburg at 21.4. Bassett is third at 20.4 and Cave Spring is currently fourth at 20.3.
Botetourt returns to action this Friday with the first of five straight Blue Ridge District games to open the second half of the season. LB will host William Byrd at 7 p.m. Friday night in Daleville and the Cavalier staff was on hand to see the Terriers defeat Cave Spring, 35-0, at Bogle Stadium last Friday in the rain.
It was a difficult night for the Knights after assistant coach Chris Askew passed away early in the week. Askew and Harless were teammates in college on the Emory & Henry football team and Chris was a well-known personality in the area football community.
“With everything that happened last week they (Cave Spring) were really out of it,” said Harless.
Regardless, it was a big win for William Byrd as the Terriers improved to 2-3 on the year. They opened the season with a 42-6 win over Liberty then lost three in a row to Hidden Valley, 39-36, Christiansburg, 41-0, and Bassett, 42-21, before bouncing back to beat Cave Spring after their bye week.
“They have some good football players,” said Harless. “Their quarterback is a good athlete and they’ve changed their system a little bit.”
William Byrd holds a 37-23-1 advantage in the overall series with Lord Botetourt, but the Cavaliers have won the last five meetings, including a 26-12 win in Vinton last year. Harless is 4-0 against Byrd coach Brad Lutz, who took over after long-time Byrd coach Jeff Highfill retired following the 2018 season.
The Cavaliers return from the break with a 4-1 record and riding a four-game winning streak. The jayvees will play in Vinton on Thursday night.