Rye Cove scored a touchdown with 34 seconds left to edge Lord Botetourt in the season opener for both teams last Friday night. The Eagles pulled out a 12-9 win in a “Week Zero” game played at Emory & Henry University.
“That loss is on me,” said first year LB coach Nick Leftwich. “We weren’t disciplined and had too many self-inflicted wounds. We’ll fix it this week.”
The game started late due to a lightning delay. Then the Eagles struck first when they capped off a drive with a one yard run with 4:29 remaining until the half.
The Cavs cut the lead to 6-2 when LB’s Jordan Whitten forced the Eagle quarterback to ground the ball in the end zone for a safety. Botetourt then took the lead on an 18-yard run by Gus Freeny with 10:28 to go in the game.
Another lightning delay followed but the game was resumed with Botetourt holding a 9-6 lead. That evaporated when Rye Cove scored in the final minute for the killer score.
Feeny led LB with 44 yards rushing on six carries as the Cavalier offense was held to 126 total yards. The Cavaliers were hurt by 13 penalties resulting in 109 yards.
Photos by Katie Perry
“We just didn’t get the job done,” said Leftwich. “Last week was our first game and it should have been our second scrimmage, but I’m not using that as an excuse. The kids were angry about Saturday and that’s good. We’ll get better.”
The Cavaliers will host Rustburg for their home opener this week. The Red Devils are a Region 3C team from the Seminole District and they’re coming off a rough 2025 season. They finished 0-10 last year under first year coach Trey Ross, including a 28-14 loss to Lord Botetourt.
“They have some athletes,” said Leftwich. “They’re not big, but they have some speed. They run the option and we’ll have to prepare for that type of offense.”
The Lord Botetourt jayvees will play at Rustburg on Thursday, beginning at 6 p.m. The jayvees opened at home with Blacksburg last week and lost 7-0.
Look for a rundown of the 2026 Cavaliers in a special Fall Sports Preview section included in this week’s Fincastle Herald.
