LYNCHBURG – Two first quarter plays from Heritage High School-Lynchburg incinerated Christiansburg’s football game plan. Pioneers quarterback Jaicere ‘Hov’ Bateman and his flying circus of receivers and a sleeper hold defense did the rest.

The Pioneers flattened the Blue Demons 43-0 at City Stadium in a Saturday Class 3 semifinal matinee that was all but over by the end of the initial period, a running second half clock notwithstanding.

With that Heritage earns the privilege of an all-but-home game in a championship match with Phoebus, which annihilated Brentsville District 58-14 in the other semi, noon Dec. 10 across town at Liberty University.

Big and powerful Christiansburg (10-4) was a confident squad coming in in the wake of its manhandling of Lord Botetourt in the Region 3D final the previous week. The Demons played with assurance in their first defensive and offensive series, stopping Heritage on three plays then gaining a pair of first downs before stalling near midfield.

Both sequences ended with disastrous results.

After the three-and-out, speedy big play threat Jay-Ron Thompson fumbled the punt away to the Pioneers. First snap, Bateman lofted a perfectly- thrown 43-yard scoring strike to Tavion Clark. Marcus Gafford’s conversion kick put the Pioneers up by a touchdown with 10 minutes 18 seconds still to play in the first quarter.

Christiansburg’s plan it was to shorten the game with a power running attack and keep the potent Heritage offense off the field. The response to the initial score revealed solid execution of said plan until the advance ran out of gas and Curtis Altizer’s punt left the Pioneers starting from their own 14.

One play later, Bateman rifled another beauty to Markus White who was well behind the defense and not to be caught on a 84-yard scoring scoot. With that, the Pioneers (12-2) were up 14-0 with a little more than 4 minutes left in the quarter.

“Anytime you go down 14-0 that’s going to take the wind out of your kids’ sails,” Demons Coach Alex Wilkens said. “The muffed punt was really huge. We got the three-and-out and were going to get the ball midfield-ish. Our kids needed that for a little momentum. We really felt like we had the right offensive game plan to execute.

“We move down the field and score and it’s a whole new ballgame.”

Heritage Coach Brad Bradley, who has a state title at Heritage in 2018 and a couple more before that at William Campbell, believed it was critical to establish control early.

“We had to have a fast start,” he said. “Last week against LCA, we drove all the way down to the 15 and sputtered out and didn’t score. Then we followed that with a bad snap. This week, we put Christiansburg and their offense in a different situation than if they’re playing ahead.”

Although quarterback Tanner Evans is a strong-armed thrower and Thompson is a big play threat, the Demons do not have a strong enough aerial game to rally from substantial deficits. The way the Pioneers were playing defense, a two-TD lead was more than substantial. Christiansburg never got much going offensively aside from modest drives to start either half.

Swarming to the football every play, defenders such as lineman Terrell Washington, safeties and brothers Markus and Marquise White, and middle linebacker Markaz Wood stymied the Demons from start to finish.

Christiansburg was limited to 134 net yards including just 96 yards rushing and seven first downs.

“They did a great job on their run fits,.” Wilkens said. “They’re very disciplined on defense. They were physical. We weren’t able to generate enough plays.”

“My hat’s off to my defensive coordinator Jay Phares and the defense,” Bradley said. “They don’t get all the recognition they deserve.”

The Pioneers are noted for big play offense and they had plenty of that. It all started with Bateman, a 6-foot-2, 196-pound senior who was used as a backup last year after transferring from E.C. Glass. Bateman went 17-for-23 for 315 yards, three TDs, and no interceptions. He had 363 yards total offense.

“I’m usually pretty accurate passing but I can always do better,” Bateman said.

Favorite target was Clark, who finished with seven catches for 139 yards.

“He was great,” Clark said of his quarterback, “very accurate.”

Bateman added an 11-yard TD pass to Emeere Kelso that made it 27-0 with 3:55 left in the half. Kelso had for more catches and ended with 58 yards. Markus White averaged 36 yards on three receptions.

Rajan Booker-Felder led the 121-yard Heritage rushing attack with 50 yards on nine carries. The tailback scored his team’s last two TDs on short plunges.

Heritage netted 436 yards to go with 24 first downs.

To punctuate the dominance, Heritage had not so much as one penalty or turnover.

“We have 11 turnovers in 14 games,” Bradley said. “When we are successful, we do not turn the ball over.”

That’s a formula that travels well even when the Pioneers are not going far.

Like next week.

Christiansburg 0-0-0-0 – 0

Heritage 14-16-0-13 – 43

H- Clark 43 pass from Bateman (Gafford kick)

H – White 84 pass from Bateman (Gafford kick)

H – Bateman 1 run (Gafford kick)

H _ Kelso 11 pass from Bateman (kick failed)

H –Gafford FG 22

H – Booker-Felder 5 run (kick failed)

H – Booker-Felder 1 run (Gafford kick)

TEAM STATISTICS

Christiansburg Heritage

First Downs 7 24

Rushes-Yards 20-96 28-121

Yards Passing 38 315

Completions-Attempts-Interceptions 4-8-0 17-23-0

Fumbles-Loss 2-1 0-0

Penalties 6-38 0-0

Punts-Average 4-29.7 1-31

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – Christiansburg, Evans 10-54, Long 9-27, Altizer 5-15, Je.Thompson 1-2. Heritage, Booker-Felder 9-50, Bateman 13-48, Armistead 2-12, Alexander 4-11.

PASSING – Christiansburg, Evans 4-8-0-38. Bateman 17-23-0-312.

RECEIVING – Christiansburg, Ja. Thompson, 3-22, Blount 1-16. Heritage, Clark 7-139, Kelso 5-58, Mark.White 3-108, Washington 1-9, Marq.White 1-1.