The William Byrd football team remained undefeated and avenged their
only loss of the 2023 regular season when they shut out Christiansburg last Friday
night. The 33-0 win at Patterson Stadium was the home opener for the Terriers as
they improved to 3-0 on the season.
This Friday the Terriers will be home again to take on Bassett in Byrd’s
Homecoming game. The Bengals are 2-1 with a 41-14 season opening loss to
Franklin County followed by two big offensive showings, downing Patrick
County, 51-0, and Dan River last Friday, 51-20.
“Bassett is a very talented team that has a lot of team speed and can make
explosive plays in all three phases of the game,” said Byrd coach Brad Lutz. “I
have a lot of respect for Coach (Brandon) Johnson and his staff, and I know they
will be well prepared for our game and play really well.”
There could be a lot of points scored Friday. . .or not. The Terriers have
scored 149 points in their first three games and Bassett has scored 116 points.
However, the Terriers have only allowed eight points all year and are working on
a string of 10 straight shutout quarters going back to the second quarter of
opening night.
The Terriers were fired up for their home opener last Friday and the
defense set the tone with physical play. Justyn Rosenboom and Jonathan Rosser
led the team with 10 tackles each and Rosser also had a sack and a fumble
recovery. Ethan Haston had eight tackles, Blake Anderson had seven, Jerrett
Shepherd had six and Jahdai English had five tackles and a huge interception that
resulted from Greg Stiltner pressuring the quarterback in the second quarter.
Stiltner had five tackles and three quarterback pressures while Maurice Burnette
made a home in the Blue Demon backfield with a sack, two tackles for losses and
four quarterback pressures.
“Defensively, our coaches are very pleased with the improvements and
energy that our players are showing each week,” said coach Lutz.
The Terriers jumped on Christiansburg early, as quarterback Cannin Lutz
threw two TD passes in the first quarter, a 10 yarder to Thomas Purcell and a 13
yarder to Kam McKee. Byrd also got two points from a safety.
Jamez Toler broke off an 88 yard run in the second quarter to put Byrd up
21-0 at the half. Toler scored again on a seven yard run in the third quarter and
Shepherd put some icing on the cake with a 21 yard TD run in the fourth. The
only thing the Terriers didn’t do well was on two point conversion attempts, as
they failed to pick up the deuce three straight times following their last three
touchdowns.
“Offensively we are producing points, but we are still making a few
mistakes that are preventing us from playing to our potential,” said Lutz. “That
has been a huge emphasis in practice.”
Toler had another big game running the ball with 200 yards on 15 carries.
Shepherd had 100 yards on eight carries as Byrd’s top two ballcarriers combined
for 300 yards.
Cannin Lutz completed eight of 16 passing attempts for 105 yards with
TDs to Purcell and McKee. Tate Kotz had two catches for 34 yards and Toler had
two for 22 stripes.
The Terriers had a big crowd for the game on a beautiful Vinton night. It
was their first home appearance after two scrimmages and two games on enemy
turf.
“After four straight weeks on the road it was great to be back in front of
our home crowd,” said Lutz. “Our players and coaches are always thankful for the
huge crowds for our home games and the continued support from our community.
The environment that our fans create at home gives our players a lot of confidence
on the field.”
This week another big crowd is expected for Homecoming. Some coaches
find that to be a distraction but Lutz doesn’t buy it.
“I don’t believe that Homecoming has ever been a distraction,” he said.
“When our players are at practice or playing in the game, they know that our goal
is winning a football game. They know how important this game is, so I’ve never
been concerned about any potential distractions.”
