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BLUEFIELD — The Bluefield Beavers lost their football game Thursday night, and lost their starting quarterback and prime receiver.

But they retained the will — with a gutsy night from senior Jake Lilly — to come back from a 17-0 halftime hole and climb within striking distance at the end.

Charlotte Country Day School, an undefeated North Carolina powerhouse, took a 23-15 victory, and handed Bluefield (3-1) its first defeat of the season.

Junior quarterback Levi Beckett sustained a broken right clavicle, or collarbone, after running the ball 30 yards to midfield in the second quarter.

Receiver-running back Marcus Patterson left the game with a concussion nine plays later. He had been taking some snaps during practices this year as backup QB. Lilly, the starting running back, took over calling the signals from an empty backfield.

Lilly ran 29 times for 160 yards, after having three yards rushing in the first half. He completed one of his three passes in relief, for three yards.

“The line stepped up and gave me some holes,” Lilly said, “and I tried to do the best I could for my team.”

“Charlotte Country Day is probably the best team we’ll face all year,” the tired all-purpose back said amid congratulations from the Bluefield fans after the game.

Bluefield head coach Fred Simon said, “In the first half, I think, we got out-physicaled. In the second half, I think, we grew up. I think we played better, and I think we got physical.”

Simon said that Lilly “gave it everything he had. He showed a lot of heart tonight, and I’m proud of him.”

The Buccaneers from Charlotte (4-0) started hot, picking on blown coverage on the third play of the game for a 48-yard touchdown pass from Morgan Roberts to Connor Dunaway, just 79 seconds into the contest.

Patterson gave the home fans home on Bluefield’s first possession, fighting for 12 yards and a first down, but the Beavers were forced into the first of seven punts.

The Bucs tried for a fourth-down conversion on their next possession, only to be stymied when Lilly knifed in to stop Chris Shembo for no gain.

The visitors capped an eight-play drive with a strong 20-yard field goal by senior Ben Rhyne on the third play of the second quarter. Rhyne added two more field goals in the game, from 37 and 30 yards.

After a Bluefield three-and-out, and a penalty for a horsecollar tackle, Roberts nailed wideout Tate Bloomer on a crossing route for a 16-yard score. Rhyne’s kick increased the lead to 17-0.

Beckett’s injury came with 8:05 remaining in the second period on the longest play from scrimmage in the first half. The junior scrambled from the pocket, cutting first to his right and then slicing across the field to the Beavers sideline, where he was tackled hard at midfield at the end of his 30-yard run.

He gained 40 yards overall and was 1-for-2 passing before the injury.

Patterson ran the ball six times for 19 yards but was hurt on a big hit by Shembo with about four minutes left before the half.

But the Beavers did not quit.

To start the second half, Bluefield kept the ball for 9:31, running off 17 plays to go 80 yards. Lilly took care of the last 20 yards, cutting off a hole at right guard and high-stepping through defenders into the end zone.

Charlotte was limited to four more possessions, getting field goals from two of them.

“We bent, but we did not break, there in the second half,” Simon said. “I was proud of that. The first half, we were kind of shell-shocked a little bit, and gave up some big plays early. Against a good football team, you can’t do that.”

With 1:29 left in the game, a 49-yard punt by Rhyne rolled to the Bluefield 21. On the next snap, Lilly tucked the ball and cut back and forth through the defense for 70 yards, to the Charlotte 9.

He scored on a one-yard plunge behind the power of a revitalized line with 39 seconds left.

Byron Steptoe ran across the two-point conversion and the Beavers were within a score of tying the game at 23-15.

But the Buccaneers recovered Bluefield’s on-side kick attempt and ran out the time.

Simon said, “Daggone it, I’d have liked to have had that on-side kick, just for a chance ... to get it into overtime. It’d have been great.”

Steptoe gained 35 yards on five second-half carries for Bluefield.

Shembo had 13 carries for 89 yards to lead Charlotte’s rushing game. Roberts completed 12 of 19 passes for the Bucs.

Bob Witman, in his 20th year as head coach of the Buccaneers, said, “There’s no quit in these young men from Bluefield. You’ve got to give credit to them and their coaches. They played their butts off. ... They won the second half, clearly.”

“We had some miscues in the second half offensively. We moved the ball but had to settle for two field goals. That was an issue. We won, but it wasn’t clean, at all.”

“We got beat, up front, all the night.”

The Beavers dropped a 35-14 decision last season in the first meeting of the two schools, then won six straight games to lock up another Class AA playoff spot.

At gametime on Thursday, Bluefield was the top team in the class, according to the SSAC ratings, after beating a pair of Class AAA teams, Princeton and Greenbrier East.

Bluefield will be idle for the rest of the month, returning to action at Gate City, Va., on Oct. 2.

Based on gametime information, Simon said Beckett will be out of action for “awhile.” He predicted that after a week off, Patterson may be able to play again.

Simon said, “We’re set to overcome, with what we’ve got. ... We don’t want to harm these kids.”

— Contact Tom Bone at

tbone@bdtonline.com

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