by: Brian Hoffman
BROOKVILLE BRINGS BACK MEMORIES OF 2007 GAME
The William Byrd football team will have their work cut out for them this Friday
when they host Brookville, looking for their first win of the season. The Bees
are off to a hot start and Byrd has already been stung twice to start the 2011
season, including a 20-6 loss to Hidden Valley at Patterson Stadium last Friday.
Byrd has had some memorable games with Brookville in the past, but none more
than the 56-35 win in Vinton in 2007. The Bees came to town with highly touted
quarterback prospect Logan Thomas and the game still stands as the most combined
points, 91, in a Byrd football game since Byrd beat Rockbridge by the very same
score in 2000.
For those of you who don’t remember, Byrd took an early 21-0 lead in that game.
It was 28-14 at the half and 42-21 when Byrd scored with 2:31 remaining in the
third quarter, only to have Brookville run the kickoff back to cut the lead to
42-28.
Byrd finished with over 500 yards of total offense in that game, including 204
rushing yards for Brent Hubbard and 221 combined passing and rushing yards by
Landon Johnson. Thomas, who is now starting at quarterback for Virginia Tech,
put on a memorable show in defeat for the Bees.
Byrd coach Jeff Highfill would love to see another game like that Friday night.
However, in two weeks his Terriers have scored just 20 points and the offensive
line is banged up and struggling. Also, Byrd is 1-5 against Brookville in the
series that started in 2005, including a 55-0 loss in Lynchburg last year.
Meanwhile the Bees have started off 2-0 with a 35-18 win over Martinsville and a
55-0 pounding of Turner Ashby last week.
“They might be the number one team in the state,” said Byrd coach Jeff Highfill.
“They’re very talented and they run an array of formations. In fact, sometimes
we wonder why they run so many formations when they have the talent to just run
over you. But right now our concern isn’t Brookville, our concern is us.”
For the second straight week Byrd struggled on offense in last week’s loss to
Hidden Valley at Bogle Field. The Terriers welcomed Brandon Harless back to a
shakey offensive line, but he reinjured his knee and is expected to be out
through the bye week on September 23.
Still, there was some improvement. In the first week Byrd rushed for 53 yards,
and last week against Hidden Valley the Terriers had 150. Simeonn Horstmann had
76 yards on 21 carries, Jake Barton had 56 on nine, and Darryl Preston rushed
for 22 yards.
“It’s not all the line, the line was better this week,” said Highfill. “We had
four turnovers in the first half. Every time we get something going we shoot
ourselves in the foot.”
Byrd’s defense has played relatively well, but the offense keeps giving the
opponent the ball in good field position. Hidden Valley’s drive of 56 yards last
week was the longest in two games against Byrd, covering seven scores. The
Titans other two drives were 18 and 37 yards, both after fumbles. Timmy Meador
led Byrd with 20 tackles, Horstmann had a dozen and Zach Hill had nine.
“It’s frustrating,” said Highfill. “We’re missing six starting positions right
now, but we still should be playing better than this. We’re very inconsistent.”
Byrd avoided a shutout when Barton scored with just eight seconds left in the
game. The win for Hidden Valley snapped a 12 game losing streak for the Titans.
This week’s opponent, Brookville, will be a much bigger challenge.
“Our kids are playing hard,” said Highfill. “It’s not for lack of effort. We’ll
get better, we just have to keep working.”