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Lord Botetourt builds early lead, holds off Western Albemarle

Photo by Ashley Thornton

Lord Botetourt’s offense is known for chewing up clock and controlling the ball in order to win games.

 

The Cavaliers did plenty of that Friday night in Crozet, getting three touchdowns on the ground from Hunter Rice. But it was two long touchdown passes that ended up giving the Cavs the momentum they needed in a 35-16 road win over Western Albemarle.

 

It was the first loss of the year for Western following a bye week and a 17-6 win over Broadway to open the season two weeks ago. It took less than a minute for Lord Botetourt, which jumped out to a 21-0 lead, to eclipse Broadway’s scoring total on the Warrior defense.

 

On the third play from scrimmage, James-Ryan Salvi hit Jake Dewease for  69-yard bomb and an early 7-0 lead, punching Western in the gut right off the bat. On their second possession after a Western three-and-out, Rice capped a long drive by scoring from five yards out to double the lead after one quarter.

 

Rice hit paydirt again in the second, this time from 13 yards out for the three-touchdown advantage before Western came alive on offense with a vicious ground attack of its own.

 

“We played like we always do,” Rice said. “We played physically, backups stepped up when people got hurt, everyone played a great game. It’s great to know we have multiple guys who can step up.”

 

Following a Lord Botetourt fumble, Austin Shifflett scampered 13 yards to put Western on the board with five minutes to go before halftime. They could get no closer than 14 points going into the break, but Shifflett struck again with 7:48 to go in the third with a 60-yard dash that sent the Crozet crowd into a frenzy, bringing the Warriors within a touchdown at 21-14.

 

“I think each team went through waves of physically feeling good,” Botetourt coach Jamie Harless said. “You could see [Western] start to lose a little bit of their energy, but these kids and Coach Redmond are a first-class unit.”

 

Botetourt snatched control right back.

 

After the teams exchanged punts, the Cavaliers set up on their own 33-yard line, and all conventional wisdom pointed to a steady dose of Rice on the ground. Instead they took to the air and Salvi hit Braeden Farrell from 67 yards out to silence the Warrior supporters with 1:40 left in the third.

 

“In every football game there are five, six plays that change everything, and you never know when they’re going to happen,” Western coach Ed Redmond said. “Nobody knows when they come, so you’ve got to compete on every play. [Botetourt] made big plays, we made some big plays. I’m proud of our guys, but we have to work on seizing our opportunities when we’re given them.”

 

Western was forced to punt on their next drive, but a beauty by Carter Shifflett pinned the Cavs at their own one-yard line. Western’s defense forced a punt and the snap went out of the end zone, pulling the Warriors to within 27-16 with nine minutes remaining, but the offense stalled and Rice, after leaving the game briefly due to cramps, re-entered with three minutes left and put the game out of reach with his final TD of the game, a 30-yard dash behind the Cavs’ hulking tackle, Virginia Tech commit Jesse Hanson.

 

“We just decided to run behind a 6-5, 300-pound Division I tackle,” Harless said. “We need to get behind him while we’ve still got him.”

 

Western returns to action next Friday at home against Charlottesville. Lord Botetourt will host Rockbridge County.  

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