The William Byrd football team will be in Daleville this Friday night for a
big game with Blue Ridge District rival Lord Botetourt. The winner will be next
week’s top ranked team in the Virginia High School League Region 3D rankings.
Byrd and Botetourt come into the game “one-two” in this week’s region
rankings. Both have 5-1 records but Byrd’s rating is 23.0 and LB is second at
22.0. Abingdon, at 6-1, is third at 21.5 and Carroll County rounds out the top four
at 21.0.
William Byrd lost for the first time last week when the Terriers fell to
undefeated William Fleming, 28-14. Lord Botetourt lost their first game of the
season to Class 4 E.C. Glass, 11-8 in overtime, but the Cavaliers have won their
last five.
The Botetourt-Byrd rivalry has been a good one over the years. Long-time
rivals in the Blue Ridge District, Byrd holds a 39-24-1 edge all-time but since
2018 Botetourt has won six of eight.
Both of those Byrd wins were last year, when the Terriers went 12-2 and
reached the Class 3 state semifinals. Byrd broke a six game losing streak to LB
with a 16-0 win in the regular season, then beat Botetourt in the region playoffs,
41-14. Both of those games were in Vinton, and this Friday’s game is important
because if the two meet again in the playoffs it could very well decide home field.
Byrd coach Brad Lutz is hoping the Terriers bounce back in a big way
after last week’s loss to Fleming. It was a big game played in front of a big crowd
at Patterson Stadium against a strong Class 5 Colonels’ team. It was the kind of
game high school football is all about, and this Friday will be another one.
“As a coaching staff, we are always looking to see how our players
respond to adversity,” said Lutz. “Our players and coaches were not satisfied with
our performance against William Fleming. We learned from that game and got
back to work this week. Our players brought a lot of energy and work ethic to
practice this week, and that is a great response to last week’s loss.”
Malachi Coleman, Fleming’s Syracuse bound tailback, put the Terriers in
an early hole with first quarter touchdown runs of 44 and 84 yards. The Colonels
missed an extra point kick on the first one and failed on a two-point try on the
second but still led 12-0 after the first period.
Byrd drew to within a touchdown in the second quarter when quarterback
Cannin Lutz hit Tate Kotz with a 31 yard TD pass and Connor Whitehead
converted the extra point. That cut the lead to 12-7 at the half and it was anyone’s
ballgame.
Fleming drew first blood after intermission when the Colonels blocked a
punt out of the end zone for a two-point safety. That not only added two points to
their total, making up for the missed extra points, but set up the Colonels in good
field position on the ensuing kick. Fleming drove for another score with Coleman
going over from the two, and the extra point put the visitors up 21-7.
That series proved to a critical point of the game. Fleming increased the
lead to 28-7 on an eight yard TD pass before the end of the quarter, putting the Terriers behind the eight ball. Lutz found Kotz again for a 24 yard score but it wasn’t enough as the Colonels held on for a big Blue Ridge District win.
Jamez Toler led Byrd in rushing with 62 yards on 20 carries before
leaving with an injury. He’s out for the season and that’s a tough break for Byrd,
as Jamez was the Terriers’ leading rusher and scorer.
Cannin Lutz had a good night with 17 completions on 26 attempts for 207
yards. Kotz had 62 yards receiving on three catches with two touchdowns. Jerrett
Shepherd had four catches for 52 yards, Ethan Haston had four for 33, Kam
McKee caught three balls for 29 yards and Jonathan Rosser had two receptions
for 13.
On defense Maurice Burnette continued to disrupt opposing offenses as he
had a tackle for a loss and two quarterback pressures to go with eight tackles.
Jahdai English also had eight tackles, Haston had seven and Blake Anderson and
Rosser had half a dozen each.
The game was the first in the BRD for Byrd and after one week of intra-
district play the race looks to be wide open. Lord Botetourt beat Staunton River,
21-0, and Northside is 4-2 overall after defeating Class 5 Franklin County, 35-7,
as the Vikings look to have their best team in years.
“The Blue Ridge District is very strong this season,” said Lutz. “Every
week is extremely important and will impact the playoff picture.”
The Byrd jayvees defeated Fleming last week, 13-12. The Terriers
hosted the Lord Botetourt jayvees Thursday at Patterson Stadium.
