The Lord Botetourt football team will play host to George Washington of Danville this Friday and if George was still here he wouldn’t lie and say this will be an easy game. The Eagles are 3-0 to open the season and coming off an 11-2 2025 campaign.
Last year’s game was in Danville and it was one of just three regular season losses for LB, a 34-31 thriller. This year the Eagles have opened with wins over Reidsville, N.C., Amherst County and E.C. Glass and they’ve had two weeks to study the Cavs as they’re coming off a bye week.
“As usual, they have size and some real good athletes,” said Botetourt coach Nick Leftwich. “We need to lock in this week in practice and come out ready to play our best.”
Photos by Kymn Davidson-Hamley
The Cavs are coming off what may be their best game of the season thus far, a 27-0 shutout of the Blue Demons in Christiansburg last Friday. The Demons never came close to scoring against a fired-up Cavalier defense.
“I thought our defense played a great game,” said Leftwich. “It’s always nice to get a shutout.”
Callum McCoy led the LB defense with six solo tackles, including two for losses, and an assist. Jackson Crenshaw and Rylen Wright had four solos each while Cael Burton had three solos and an interception.
The Cavaliers needed all the defense they could get with just a 7-0 lead at the half. Gus Feeny scored a first half touchdown but the Cavs had a punt return called back by a penalty and it was still anyone’s game at the half.
“We had some missed opportunities, it could have easily been 28-0 at the half,” said Leftwich.
Botetourt put it away in the second half as Tanner Gore rushed for three touchdowns. Feeny finished with his first 100-yard rushing game of the season, hitting the number right on the nose on 19 carries. Quarterback Burton had 68 yards on seven carries and Gore finished with 30 yards on 10 attempts.
Burton was four for eight passing for 42 yards while Beau Lonker completed two passes for 30. Gore and Chris Paderick had two receptions each.
With the win LB improved to 2-2 on the season. This week’s game is the final non-district game for the Cavaliers and it’s also Hall of Fame Night. After this week the Cavs will have a bye before five straight Blue Ridge District games, beginning with a home game against Franklin County on October 2.
