The Lord Botetourt Cavaliers saw their football season come to an end with a disappointing loss to Christiansburg Friday. The Blue Demons took a 34-7 win over the host Cavaliers in the Region 3D championship game in Daleville.
LB came into the game as the top seed in the region and having won 11 games in a row. However, the third-seeded Blue Demons played an inspired game and upset the team that knocked them out of last year’s playoffs.
“It was a very disappointing loss,” said LB coach Jamie Harless. “I felt like we were the better team, and I still believe that, but it was obvious from the start that they were more focused than we were.”
Christiansburg opened the scoring when Curtis Altizer ran 53 yards for a first quarter touchdown. The Demons were up 21-0 at the half as their Swiss army knife quarterback, Tanner Evans, capped off drives with two shorts runs for second quarter TDs.
Photos by Jim & Regina Devinney
Botetourt cut the lead to 21-7 when the Cavaliers scored on a one yard run by Jakari Nicely in the third quarter, but Christiansburg answered with two fourth quarter scores to put it away. Evans ran for a 20-yard score, then connected with Jay-Ron Thompson for a three-yard TD pass to send the home fans rushing for the exits.
“They just did a great job of getting their kids ready, and we didn’t,” said Harless. “You can put that on me.”
Christiansburg held Nicely to just 23 yards rushing on 21 carries. Tristan Overbay had 28 yards on five attempts as the Cavaliers had just 51 yards rushing for the game, by far their lowest output of the season.
Nicely was 10 for 15 passing for 116 yards. Cade Lang had four receptions for 29 yards, Tucker Brookman had two for 57 and Overbay had three catches for 17 yards.
With the loss the Cavaliers finished the season with an 11-2 record. They lost their first game to E.C. Glass and their last game to Christiansburg with 11 wins in between. Both losses came to teams that are in state semifinal games this week, and both are at Lynchburg City Stadium. Heritage will host Christiansburg at noon and Glass will host Kettle Run in the Class 4 semifinals at 5 p.m.