Lord Botetourt runs over James River

BUCHANAN — James River came into Friday’s season opener against rival Lord Botetourt with a plan.

“Defensively, our scheme was to have them running sideways,” Knights coach Philip King said. “East and west. We had them doing that.”

The problem was, even when Lord Botetourt was going horizontal, the Cavaliers found a way to get vertical. By beating the smaller James River defenders to the edge, the Cavaliers amassed more than 400 rushing yards en route to a 43-0 rout.

By the time the bands of the friendly rivals took the field for a joint rendition of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin, ” senior Cavaliers quarterback Nick Webb had made believers out of everyone in Botetourt County with eight carries for 127 yards and two touchdowns.

Webb tacked on a 39-yard run on Lord Botetourt’s first possession of the second half before checking out. His replacement, sophomore Bradley Lythgoe, picked up where he left off and rolled up 151 yards of his own, including touchdown runs of 64 and 25 yards.

The Cavaliers finished with 416 rushing yards on 43 carries and attempted just two passes — an incompletion and an interception.

“We can throw the ball,” Lord Botetourt coach Jamie Harless said, scratching his head. “Really, we can. But we didn’t want to get into that mode of trying to throw the football.”

James River put itself in a hole quickly when quarterback Sherman Austin was intercepted on the game’s second play from scrimmage. After Jacob Rivenbark returned the pick to the Knights’ 11, running back Chris Thompson bounced off right tackle for an easy touchdown and an 8-0 lead just 53 seconds into the game.

Concerned with swarming the 6-0, 210-pound Thompson, the Knights defense was susceptible to Webb on keepers. When Webb began to gouge the Knights, the James River offense began to press. A 22-second sequence in the second quarter put the game out of reach.

On James River’s first play after Webb scored on a 12-yard keeper, linebacker Grant Leonard picked off Austin and returned it 32 yards for another score and a 30-0 lead.

Jack Schulz led James River with 33 rushing yards on nine carries. James River was held to 92 total yards of offense.

“They have got the right skill people in the right spots,” King said. “And we just didn’t execute. We made mistakes and they made us pay for it.”

Lord Botetourt 16 14 0 13—43

James River 0 0 0 0— 0

LB — Thompson 11 run (Thompson run)

LB — Webb 26 run (Thompson run)

LB — Webb 12 run (run failed)

LB — Staples 33 interception return (Thompson run)

LB — Lythgoe 63 run (kick failed)

LB — Lythgoe 25 run (Mayers kick)

LB JR

First downs 19 5

Yards rushing 416 41

Passes C-A-I 0-2-1 7-13-2

Yards passing 0 51

Penalties-yards 10-100 1-5

Fumbles-lost 1-1 2-1

Punts-average 1-24 5-35

Individual statistics

RUSHING — Lord Botetourt, Thompson 10-44, Webb 9-166, Rader 1-5, Lythgoe 16-151, Oyler 7-50. James River, Austin 10-(-1), Aylor 3-5, Jack Shulz 9-33, Sink 2-0, Wright 2-4.

PASSING — Lord Botetort, Webb 0-2-1-0. James River, Austin 7-13-2-51

RECEIVING — James River, Chilcott 3-22, Clemmer 1-14, Patrick Schulz 3-15.

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