Amherst surged to an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter and held off Jefferson Forest’s comeback to win 61-55 in Bedford on Monday. The win keeps Amherst (8-7, 5-4) at third place in Seminole District standings, ahead of fourth-place Forest (9-9, 5-5).

If the Lancers showing at the Mid-Area Track Classic on Jan 30 is any indication, it’s going to be an exciting postseason.

The Lancers shut down Rustburg’s leading scorer, Antoine Davis, to come away with a 50-37 win the Seminole District matchup Jan. 23.

Senior Anthony Losada is a member of the Lancer swim team. He swims the 100 backstroke and legs of the 200 and 400 freestyle relays. Losada also plays in the school band and competes with Academic Competition of Excellence (ACE) team. With all this Losada said, “To my family I’m just a schedule posted on the wall so they know where I’m at.”

Strong finishes in the freestyle events led the Lancer boys to a 63-33 victory against Liberty Jan. 8. In the tri-meet, Brookville beat both teams. Amherst lost 64-33 to the Bees.

With a small lead against Heritage entering the fourth quarter, the Lancers irritated coach Eddie Carter when Mario Vaughan set up Anthony Rose on a fast break for a failed alley oop. It was a characteristic occasional misstep.

Freshman Austin Holmes wrestles for the Lancers in the 152-pound weight class. His wins on Jan. 7 helped the Lancers (3-7) defeat district opponents Heritage and Liberty. Holmes pinned Liberty’s Chase Nelson in 2:27. He defeated Heritage’s Hoss Franklin 5-2. In the LCA Invitational Jan. 10-11, the Lancers placed 16th out of 24 schools.

Four minutes before tipoff, head coach Erin Begley climbed up the bleachers to her husband Jamie, who held their five-month-old son Ethan. She kissed the happy baby and helped Jamie take off his little jacket. Then back down to the court Begley went to coach the girls basketball game.

Junior Terrance Morse is a sprinter for the Lancer track team. He competes in the 55- and 60-meter dash and the 300-meter dash and sprint relays. Morse ran his first meet of the season Jan. 5, having missed the first meet in December with a mild knee injury.

When Grandma Kay gave Salem Cone, then 9, a Christmas Eve gift of iceskates, an outfit and skating lessons, Salem was so excited she slept in the violet dress that night.

Sophomore Allison Stansberry, of Nashville, Tenn., swims for the Sweet Briar Vixens.

The Red Devil’s experience and the play-making ability of Antoine Davis carried Rustburg to a 53-49 victory against Amherst at Rustburg Dec. 18.

Amherst head coach Brandon Stanbery’s demeanor cooled as he watched wrestler after wrestler get pinned by the Cavaliers. He could barely even holler instructions as the Lancers were shut out 81-0 by visiting Jefferson Forest Dec. 17.

The Lancers’ 63-39 loss in non-district action to Appomattox Dec. 10 came down to intangibles like enthusiasm, motivation and focus according to players and head coach Erin Begley.

For the third year running, boys basketball head coach Eddie Carter is behind his competitors by weeks. But as he looked over his team the afternoon of Dec. 12, he was genuinely upbeat.

Broad Run won its first state championship Saturday at Liberty University, beating back-to-back defending state champion Amherst County 13-0.

Boys in the Lancer wrestling room looked to be an ideal example of how to stay fit during the holiday gluttony.

Cecil Phillips passed the final minutes of the state championship loss shuffling his feet in the snow with arms crossed firmly across his chest.

When LaCear Hubbard was a freshman, coaches looked at her and teammates Candace Davis, Alyssa Knight and Shawna Kyle and told them they had amazing potential. That potential showed in a 2006 indoor state title for the girls team. It showed in school records and individual district, region and state wins.

The Lancer defense was not about to let Pulaski County deny them another trip to the state championship.

Lancer coaches Kim Kelly and David McDonald are pushing the swim team harder than ever this season with more yards in the pool and a goal of every swimmer racing at least once in every event.

Punt returners Mario Vaughan and Chris McDaniel made back-to-back returns in the second quarter to set up two touchdowns and give Amherst all the leverage it needed to win the Region III championship 40-10 against Jefferson Forest Friday.

Jefferson Forest’s football team rides a five-game winning streak into Friday night’s Division 4, Region III championship at Amherst.

With tryouts just a couple days behind them and the first game in less than a week, the Lancer girls basketball team is in a rush to get used to playing together.

The question hung over the field during the first half like the ominous fog that bore down on the players and blurred the sidelines: Could Amherst come from behind? Twice?

Amherst faces a familiar foe in Jefferson Forest for the Division 4, Region III championship game Nov. 21 at Lancer Stadium.

A tranquil starry sky belied a bitter wind as the first bobbing headlamps signaled runners crossing the James River into Amherst County.

The Lancers finished the regular season with 9-1 record. The only loss was 24-21 to Brookville in the first game of the season on Aug. 22. Since then, Amherst has outscored teams 371-72, which is a testament to full team execution.

For an offense that’s often pounding out a few yards at a time, the Lancers busted plenty of timely scoring plays in their 38-20 victory over Heritage at City Stadium Friday night.

The Monelison Trojans showed scoring power Oct. 30, scoring on every offensive possession in a 38-6 win against cross-county rivals, the Amherst Middle School Cougars.