Roanoke, Va. – The Region 3D final will be a rematch of the game that decided the Blue Ridge District title. 9-3 Northside will travel to 12-0 Lord Botetourt for the right to advance to the VHSL Class 3 state semifinals.
This will be the fifth meeting between the two schools over the past two seasons. The Vikings feel like they have improved four weeks ago, when they fell to LB by a score of 14-7. The Vikings outgained the Cavaliers in that game but struggled to finish multiple drives in the red zone. Vikings coach Scott Fisher says the gameplan will be similiar, but hopefully the execution will be better.
"We have a game plan going into it, it’s really no different from week to week. Number one objective is to stop the run, they have an extremely talented running back. I don’t think we can stop him we just want to limit him as much as we can he’s very talented and has a very good offensive line to run behind, " Fisher said.
“We most definitely should have won, we should have converted in the red zone. They had a couple of big plays and we have to cut that out,” Vikings linebacker Keenan Bishop said.
Lord Botetourt sports a healthy running back in Hunter Rice. The Cavaliers star was sidelined for a large portion of the regular season with a broken ankle, but has slowly been working back into form. Last week he rambled for 300 yards and four touchdowns in the Cavaliers win over Hidden Valley. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. from Daleville.