William Byrd marching into inaugural state semifinal with excitement, not nerves

The biggest game in the history of the William Byrd High School football program, all 96 years of it, is two days away.

Members of this year’s team may be anxious about the contest, but according to head coach Brad Lutz, it isn’t nervousness. It’s the opposite.

“This school has never played in a state semifinal before, so there are obviously going to be some new opportunities for us, but I don’t think the moment is going to be too big for them, and I think they’re just excited for the opportunity to play,” Lutz said. “When you’re playing in December, practicing on Thanksgiving and you’re checking those boxes, I think it’s built more excitement than it has nerves.”

The Terriers have reached new, unprecedented heights this fall, eclipsing 11 wins in a season for the first time, winning back-to-back playoff games and capturing their maiden region championship, a game in which they rolled into Ridgeway and left with an astonishing 31-7 victory over No. 1 seed and previously unbeaten Magna Vista.

It was emblematic of just how potent Byrd is this season, and how quickly the program has flipped from a winless campaign just two years ago.

“Every win we’ve had, it really hasn’t fulfilled us really. We’re hungry, we’re starving,” senior linebacker John Kiker said. “We went 0-9 two years ago, so we’re hungry, we want more wins and we want to keep going.”

The Terriers’ next challenge awaits them in Lynchburg in the form of undefeated Liberty Christian Academy, and the stage is the Bulldogs’ newly opened 4,000-seat stadium. The winner of Saturday’s contest advances to the Class 3 state championship game, a place Byrd has never been, at Liberty University.

The big stage won’t faze them, Lutz said, as several previous big stages this season have stood in their way and they’ve conquered them, whether it was a close win over Class 5’s Franklin County, an overtime victory against William Fleming or a rematch with perennial contender Lord Botetourt in the playoffs.

Even in a Week 3 battle against Christiansburg, the defending region champion, Byrd put up a fight and lost by just four points. It hasn’t lost since.

“I feel like we’ve faced adversity well,” senior running back Brayden Andrews said. “We lost a really close one to Christiansburg, and we didn’t let that stop us at all. We just kept on pushing, kept on creating more momentum in facing adversity.”

The Terriers’ regular season slate has battle-tested them, Lutz said, to face an LCA squad that has beaten opponents by an average of 46-8 and poured in 63 points in the Region 3C championship last week.

“I really feel like our administration, our athletic director, have done a really good job of building a schedule that prepares us for Saturday,” Lutz said. “Obviously LCA is one of the better teams in the state, but we’ve played some really good ones that will hopefully prepare us for that game.”

The Bulldogs offense runs through Clemson commit Gideon Davidson and his 185.6 rushing yards and 3.2 touchdowns per game. Unlike LCA, Byrd is more dynamic in its offense, utilizing multiple players, including quarterback Israel Hairston and running backs Andrews and Walter Barrows, who can carry the ball, coupled with Hairston’s ability to make big plays with his arm.

On the other side, Lutz said he sees similarities between his and his opponents’ defense and their ability to stop the run. The contest will ultimately boil down to errors.

“Any game of that magnitude is really going to come down to who makes the least amount of mistakes,” he said. “Executing the game plan in all three phases is going to be the key to success. It’s going to be a really good football game.”

Kickoff is slated for 2 p.m. Saturday.

Contact Matt Case at

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