LYNCHBURG, Va. – In a battle of contrasting styles, the Heritage Pioneers defeated Christiansburg 43-0 in the VHSL Class 3 state semifinals — the team’s fifth shutout win of the season. The Pioneers brought an abundance of speed, while The Demons brought power in the form of huge offensive and defensive lines.
Heritage advances to the Class 3 state final for the first time since 2018 — when the Pioneers knocked off the Phoebus Phantoms for state title gold.
The Pioneers wasted no time jumping out to a lead in this one. Heritage took advantage of a muffed punt early in the first quarter, with quarterback Jaicere Bateman going up top for a 47-yard strike to Tavion Clark and an 84-yard connection to Markus White to put the Blue Demons in a quick 14-0 hole.
“Yes, I felt like we could take advantage of some things on the edge. I thought we did a great job number nine for us is pretty special all right he put on a show today and I think we got a great receiving core but man — take nothing away from our offensive line,” Heritage Head Coach Brad Bradley said.
Christiansburg’s power running attack never really got cranked up, and Heritage added two more touchdowns — a 1-yard TD dive from Bateman, and a Bateman to Emeere Kelso 11-yard strike along with a field goal to effectively put the game out of reach at 30-0 at the break.
Rajan Booker-Fielder added a pair of second-half touchdown runs to bring the final to 43-0.
“The boys up front man I give them all the credit you know they got some big guys upfront, but Diablo came to the sidelines. He said hey they’re getting tired I said let’s take advantage of it and after that, we just ran with it,” Heritage senior back Rajan Booker-Felder said.
The Pioneers move to 12-2 and will play for the Class 3 title in Lynchburg next week (Liberty University). Christiansburg’s season ends at 10-4.