varsity.roanoke.com

BUCHANAN — Forget that old Chile’s ribs jingle.

The best baby backs around just might be at Lord Botetourt High School.

Freshman Derell Stone broke off a 99-yard touchdown run in his prep debut, sophomore Evan Bourne churned for 112 yards in his first significant varsity action and Lord Botetourt wore down host James River for a 21-6 victory in front of a standing-room-only crowd Friday night.

Stone, whose older brother Darryl was a football star for the Daleville school two years ago, entered Friday with high expectations but plenty of nerves. The pressure only intensified when James River pinned the Cavaliers at their own 1-yard line with a perfect punt midway through the third quarter.

Botetourt led only 7-6 at that point. The coaching staff called for a simple isolation play up the middle, just hoping to gain some space between themselves and their end zone.

But the offensive line got a good push, fullback Ronnie Costa delivered a strong lead block and Stone made a single cut toward the left sideline.

Then the 6-foot-1, 176-pound tailback was off, outrunning everybody for his first career TD.

“He’s shown in practice that he was fast,” Botetourt quarterback Dalton Hargrove said. “But I didn’t think he was that fast. That’s crazy.”

As they did most of the evening, the Group A Knights sent multiple blitzers on that play, hoping to mitigate a size disadvantage against their Group AA county rivals. But the strategy backfired on Stone’s run when there was nobody left in the secondary who had a decent pursuit angle.

“That’s going to happen,” James River coach Philip King said. “When you try to get pressure and it doesn’t work, you’re going to give up big plays. … He just bounced it out and made a great run. We took a chance, and we came up short.”

Stone finished with 124 yards on seven carries. He was limited to one tote in the second half after he twisted his ankle.

After the game, Stone said the ankle was sore, but he expects to be ready to play next week against Salem.

With Stone sidelined, Bourne stepped in and gave the Cavaliers some gritty, between-the-tackles gains. The 5-5, 170-pound back up from JV finished with 112 yards on 18 carries, including a 20-yard TD run in the fourth quarter that capped the scoring.

“He’s a very solid inside runner,” Botetourt coach Tater Benson said. “We feel like both of those guys can carry the load at any time for us.”

Quarterback Jordan Talbott led the James River offense with 94 rushing yards and a touchdown. He also threw two deep passes that were dropped in the end zone.

James River junior Chris Ware, who emerged as one of Timesland’s most productive receivers last season, uncharacteristically saw a sure touchdown pass slip through his fingers in the second quarter.

“I should have caught that,” said Ware, who’d snagged a dazzling interception on defense earlier. “It was perfect. It just dropped out of my hands.”
Hargrove ran for 92 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries for Botetourt.

The Knights will try to rebound against Glenvar next week.

“I saw a lot of encouraging signs out of this game,” said King, citing the running game and the defensive effort. “We’ve just got to get better.”

Lord Botetourt    7    7    0    7—21
James River    6    0    0    0—6
JR — Talbott 10 run (kick failed)
LB — Hargrove 10 run (Phillips kick)
LB — Stone 99 run (Phillips kick)
LB — Bourne 20 run (Phillips kick)
    LB    JR
First downs    16    13
Yards rushing    356    152
Passes C-A-I    2-6-1    8-22-0
Yards passing    69    45
Penalties-yards    3-40    4-20
Fumbles-lost    2-1    0-0
Punts-average    4-28    6-31
Individual statistics
RUSHING — Lord Botetourt, Stone 7-124, Bourne 18-112, Hargrove 10-92, Martin 2-27, Richardson 2-8, Costa 1-(-1), Team 2-(-6); James River, Talbott 19-94, Garrett 9-38, I. Johnson 5-20, J. Johnson 1-0.
PASSING — Lord Botetourt, Hargrove 2-6-1-69; James River, Talbott 8-22-0-45.
RECEIVING — Lord Botetourt, Phillips 1-44, Quirin 1-15; James River, Garrett 3-19, Bowers 3-13, J.Johnson 1-8, Ware 1-5.