The William Byrd football team will try to snap a two-game losing streak
when the Terriers host Franklin County on Friday at Patterson Stadium. It will be
Byrd’s annual Soldier Tribute game, a popular event for the players and Terrier
fans.
The Soldier Tribute was initiated by coach Brad Lutz when he came to
Byrd from Broadway High School. The game was inspired by the life and
sacrifice of Army Spc. Brian “Bucky” Anderson, who was killed in Afghanistan
in June of 2010. At the time of Bucky’s death, Lutz was the head football coach at
Broadway High School.
“Broadway, much like Vinton, is a small, tight-knit community,” said
Lutz. “Bucky was a hometown legend because of his athletic career at Broadway
High School. He was a two-time state champion in wrestling, who actually
wrestled at the Big Orange, and an all-district football player. His death was a
tremendous loss for our community, so we started the tradition of the Soldier
Tribute Game to help his family and our community. While our players have
never met Bucky, they know his name and they know the significance of his
sacrifice. That is important to us.”
The Byrd players will wear a special uniform paying tribute to the Army’s
10 th Mountain Division, of which Anderson was a member. A portion of Byrd’s
fundraising goes toward the special uniforms and the Terrier players can earn
their uniform if they meet their gold card goal.
While the Soldier Tribute is always an important game for the team it’s a
big game for the Terriers after back-to-back losses to William Fleming and Lord
Botetourt dropped them from first to third in the Virginia High School League Region 3D standings. The top four teams earn first round home games in the
playoffs and Byrd wants to stay in that group.
Lord Botetourt is now atop the rankings after a 21-13 win over Byrd in
Daleville last Friday. With last Friday’s win the Cavaliers went from second to
first in the region rankings with a 6-1 record and a 23.7 rating while Byrd dropped
from first to third at 5-2 and 22.1. Abingdon moved up to second at 6-1 and 22.2.
The four through eight teams this week are Magna Vista, Christiansburg, Carroll
County, Northside and Bassett.
Last week’s game at Botetourt went down to the final play. Botetourt took
the early lead on a six yard TD run by Tristan Overbay and led 7-0 after the first
period. Byrd answered in the second quarter when Jerrett Shepherd scored on runs
of 37 and one yard. Connor Whitehead’s extra point attempt on the second TD hit
the post as Byrd took a 13-7 lead, but the Cavaliers scored on a TD pass to Seth
Reiter with 33 seconds until intermission and the conversion gave them a 14-13
lead at the half.
The second half was a defensive battle. Overbay bulled his way over from
the one yard line at 5:27 of the third period to increase LB’s lead to 21-13 but
after that Byrd’s defense answered every challenge. The Cavaliers were
attempting to run out the clock in the fourth quarter but Byrd stopped them on
downs with 3:37 to play and Byrd needing a TD and two-point conversion to tie.
The Terriers made it interesting. On the final drive they faced fourth down
situations twice but Cannin Lutz completed a pass to Ethan Haston for a first
down with 58 seconds on the clock, then found Tate Kotz over the middle on
another fourth down play and Kotz took the ball to the LB 11 with 28 seconds
remaining. However, the drive ended when LB’s Quinten Jones intercepted a pass
in the end zone to seal the win for the Cavaliers.
“Despite four turnovers and questionable penalties, our players worked
through that adversity to give us a chance to tie the game up with 20 seconds left
in the game,” said Lutz. “That kind of toughness is what we want to emphasize
and build in our program.”
Quarterback Lutz completed seven passes for 94 yards, including two to
Kotz for 49 yards and two to Haston. Shepherd rushed 12 times for 58 yards and
freshman Gray Mathews, who has played for both the jayvee and varsity teams
this season, stepped up with Jamez Toler out for the season. Gray rushed six times
for 74 yards.
On defense Greg Stiltner had 16 tackles and two quarterback pressures
while Blake Anderson also had 16 tackles. Jahdai English had a dozen tackles,
Thomas Purcell had 11 and Kotz had a big interception in the end zone to kill a
Botetourt scoring threat in the fourth quarter.
This week the Terriers will host Franklin County in big game. The Eagles
are a Class 5 team, meaning big points if the Byrdmen can pull off a win.
“Franklin County is another quality opponent from the Blue Ridge
District,” said Lutz. “They are the biggest team we have faced, and they have a
ton of athleticism and speed. Like William Fleming, they are a 5A school so a win
helps us gain more points for the playoff seeding.”
The Eagles are coached by JR Edwards, a William Byrd alum who played
quarterback for the Terriers under Jeff Highfill and spent time on the Byrd staff.
He also was head coach at Hidden Valley and served as an assistant at Salem
before taking the Eagles job. JR is in his 10 th year at Franklin County and they’re
off to just a 2-5 start, but they’re coming off a shutout of Staunton River last
week, 10-0.
The Byrd jayvees will head to Rocky Mount tonight to play. Byrd lost to
LB’s jayvees last week, 22-16, for their first loss of the season.
