Sent weekly directly to your inbox!
E.C. Glass wide receiver Vari Gilbert races to the end zone for a touchdown after catching a pass from quarterback George White as Heritage’s Deuce Crawford defends during last year’s Jug Bowl game at City Stadium.
E.C. Glass coach Jeff Woody (right) gives Heritage coach Brad Bradley a friendly tap on the head when the two greeted each other after the Pioneers won the Jug Bowl, 49-42, last September.
Heritage football coach Brad Bradley — flanked by Kenai Booker-Felder (left) and Donovan Jones — celebrates with the jug after the Pioneers beat E.C. Glass in the Jug Bowl, 49-42, in September at City Stadium.
Heritage players celebrate with the fans after defeating Glass, 49-42, to win another Jug Bowl last September.
By the time the game ended to raucous applause on a sizzling September afternoon last year, there were all sorts of reports: of fans who needed medical attention because of heat exhaustion, of others who used food delivery services to purchase fluids because concessions ran out, and of athletic trainers tending to players who had become overheated.
The conditions were not ideal. Lynchburg City Schools decided to move the game to a Saturday afternoon instead of the usual Friday night because of security concerns, which were not explained to the public. The game itself turned into an instant classic, another Jug Bowl battle that lived up to its billing.
Neither team was destined for a long stay in the playoffs, but on that day, the city championship felt more like a state championship. On that day, they traded punches like heavyweights. As Heritage and Glass prepare to meet in another Jug Bowl, set for 7 p.m. Friday, here's a look back at last year's events.
A range of emotions were on display in the days heading into the big game. For Glass running back Mike Thomas, the switch from the lights of Friday night were "a big, big bummer."
Heritage's Darius Brown shrugged off the 2 p.m. Saturday kickoff. "It doesn't matter," he said. "We're just here to play a game. Doesn't matter if it's Friday [or] Monday morning."
Hilltoppers coach Jeff Woody said the venue and the time didn't matter. He stood on the artificial turf at the school during the week, the lights of City Stadium waiting just up the road. "We could play on this practice field," he said. "We can go over to Heritage and play on their practice field and the intensity between the lines isn't gonna change."
Across town, Heritage coach Brad Bradley noted most of his players hadn't ever played a daytime game. It was the school's first under the sun since the 2019 playoffs. "We're gonna make it special," he said.
Bradley offered one other apropos statement the day before the game. "A lot of times," the coach said, "games like this come down to one or two plays."
By the time the steamy Saturday afternoon came to a close, those words would seem prophetic. The game would indeed come down to one play. One final swipe at the football.
2 p.m. The temperature topping out at 90 degrees, good enough to tie for the eighth hottest Sept. 18 in the city's recorded history. When it gets that hot, accompanied by the type of dogged humidity present on that day, the heat bounces off the artificial turf in waves and the turf radiates dozens of degrees hotter than the air temperature. Players in thick pads hydrated furiously, continuing a process they were to start the day prior.
Excitement was also in the air. Anyone who wondered whether folks would attend a Saturday afternoon high school football game en masse needed not worry. They showed up in droves to pack the stands.
Heritage struck first, on a 9-yard run by Rajan Booker, who would find the end zone twice on the day. Glass answered quickly. A lengthy drive ended in a 2-yard plunge by Mike Thomas. After one quarter: Heritage 7, Glass 7.
The the Pioneers opened the flood gates. Running back Zach Steele — who together with Booker formed the two-headed monster in the backfield — took over. The junior scored on runs of 2 and 6 yards as HHS torched Glass with its ground game, and quarterback Kam Burns ripped off a 48-yard touchdown run. Operating from deep in its own territory, Glass tried to stop the bleeding, but fumbled. Booker scooped it up and went 16 yards to cap a scoring barrage of 28 unanswered points.
Glass finally responded late in the second quarter when Vari Gilbert reeled in a 35-yard TD reception on a ball thrown by George White. It gave the Hilltoppers hope headed into the locker room, but there was work to be done. At the half: Heritage 35, E.C. Glass 14. Pioneers firmly in charge.
Things would not stay that way. While halftime festivities were underway, both teams frantically planned in their respective locker rooms. The result was a thrilling second half with mesmerizing moments, a headshaking comeback, at least one daring move, and a final, clever poke at the ball.
Headed into the third quarter, White had seen enough. The Glass quarterback was on his way toward a massive day. He would leave the field with 360 passing yards, throw the ball 41 times and complete 26 passes. The Hilltoppers' defense also came to life, anticipating Heritage's every move in the run game.
The result was a 21-point swing. White reeled off touchdown passes of 35, 7 and 30 yards that pulled Glass to within seven points, 35-28. Heritage looked shocked.
But the Pioneers weren't cowering. Zach Steele scored one of his three touchdowns on the day with a 2-yard plunge with less than 10 minutes remaining. Steele was a blue-collar worker in the trenches, rushing 30 times for 152 yards. "My offensive line," he said, "they made it easy." Heritage 42, Glass 28.
Three minutes later, Glass found a weakness in the Heritage defense when White hit Marty Kittrell with a 27-yard TD pass. Glass now trailed by one score, 42-35, with 6:38 left. Glass then forced a turnover thanks to an interception, and with 1:41 remaining, what looked to be the game-defining play unfolded. Pinned to their own 2-yard line, the Hilltoppers watched as Woody called out a daring play: the old hook and ladder.
White took the snap. He passed to Gilbert. And Gilbert lateraled the ball to Taeon Mosby, who was off to the races for a 98-yard touchdown. Heritage 42, Glass 42.
Woody acknowledged the play was a gutsy one. "Not very smart to run the hook-and-lateral when you're at the 2-yard line," he said, "but that joker worked."
For Mosby, the moment was surreal. "It felt like a movie," he said.
The Hollywood theatrics weren't yet complete. Heritage needed only 19 seconds to assert its dominance one more time, as Burns hit a wide-open Brown with a 79-yard touchdown pass for the lead.
Clock ticking, Glass had one more chance. A long pass from White to Mosby put the 'Toppers within striking distance. But as Glass tried to run the ball in the final minute, Heritage's Donovan Jones swiped at it, poked it away and pounced on the loose ball. All the Pioneers had to do was kneel out the clock. Final: Heritage 49, Glass 42. The jug stayed in Pioneer Country for the fourth straight year.
Jones was all smiles after the game. "I just reached for it," he said. "Saw the ball on the [ground] and I jumped on it." He had proven Bradley right. Sometimes it does come down to one play.
In sports, few things are as sweet as a victory over your rival. So Heritage ran, danced and celebrated with the little brown jug, holding it high in the air.
"We just outlasted them," Bradley said in his postgame interview. Both teams moved to 3-1. Records, though, often don't mean much when the two teams meet. The only thing that mattered to the Pioneers was that they were city champs, at least until next year.
A smiling Booker explained how he believed his team had survived Glass' most potent punches.
"It was just who wanted it more," he said. "Us staying together, picking each other up, making sure we've got our heads up, making sure we're executing like we need to, that's what won us the game."
Amid the celebrations, Glass and Heritage players turned to one another. They embraced. A couple of months later, during the playoffs, Brookville running back Tayshaun Butler talked about opponents he faced. He was friends with most of them, he said. "And if we're not friends before we play, we're friends after." That's how things felt on the gridiron at City Stadium, where players hugged, coaches shook hands, and congratulations were heard all around. Rivals for 48 minutes, no matter how intense. Often friends afterward. Play in an intense game like this one and you're bound to come away with respect for your opponent.
"We put on a show," Woody said as fans cleared out of the stadium. "... Both [teams] giving it everything they had. Both coaching staffs giving it everything they had."
White set a single-game Hilltoppers record for passing yards. Gilbert had 89 receiving yards, Eli Wood 81. Mosby finished with 103 rushing yards. For Heritage, Burns passed for a whopping 209 yards. Hubbard and Brown each had more than 70 receiving yards, and Steele had done significant damage against the Hilltoppers' defense. Glass and Heritage had combined for nearly 1,000 yards of total offense. Even the kickers were electric; neither of the seniors, Karson Adcock and Aidan Palys, missed all day.
For both teams, it was the highlight of the season. Glass would bow out in the first round of the Region 4D playoffs. Heritage would lose in the second round in Region 3C. Neither lived up to its potential in the postseason. But for one day in September, both were at their best. And their best was one for the books.
"This," Bradley said, his voice a little hoarse, the sweat rolling from his brow, "is what the Jug Bowl is all about."
Sent weekly directly to your inbox!
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
George White represents the third generation of Whites that have contributed to the Glass football program, following his uncle and father, as well as his grandfather.
Previews of this week's high school football games.
Terrell Washington explained in the season opener and this year, he, Rajan Booker, Zach Steele and Diallo Graves have made a point to become a sort of glue for Heritage — which takes on E.C. Glass (3-0) in the Jug Bowl at 7 p.m. Friday.
There’s plenty of work to be done for both teams, should they see their paths end at those ultimate pinnacles in December. But for now, a different trophy occupies their thoughts. One much more unassuming.
Heritage, E.C. Glass, Brookville, Liberty Christian and Rustburg picked up dominating victories.
Results from the day's events and a look at Wednesday's schedule.
Results from the day's high school events and a look at Friday's schedule.
Results from Monday's high school events and a look at Tuesday's schedule.
E.C. Glass wide receiver Vari Gilbert races to the end zone for a touchdown after catching a pass from quarterback George White as Heritage’s Deuce Crawford defends during last year’s Jug Bowl game at City Stadium.
E.C. Glass coach Jeff Woody (right) gives Heritage coach Brad Bradley a friendly tap on the head when the two greeted each other after the Pioneers won the Jug Bowl, 49-42, last September.
Heritage football coach Brad Bradley — flanked by Kenai Booker-Felder (left) and Donovan Jones — celebrates with the jug after the Pioneers beat E.C. Glass in the Jug Bowl, 49-42, in September at City Stadium.
Heritage players celebrate with the fans after defeating Glass, 49-42, to win another Jug Bowl last September.
Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.