In the first match of the year on Aug. 25, Faith Christian School of Roanoke defeated the local squad 5-1. In a closer game two days later, Faith Christian Academy of Hurt blanked the Crusaders, 3-0.

After winning back-to-back Group AA, Division 4, state titles in 2006 and ’07 and finishing as the runner-up to Broad Run last fall, Amherst is on the verge of dynasty status — if it’s not there already.

There’s no place like home. At least, that was the case for Amherst junior Casey Campbell in Monday’s conclusion of the sixth and final Seminole District regular-season golf match, played on his home course of Winton Country Club.

The sun is just starting to heat up as the Amherst Lancers wrap up an early morning practice nearly two weeks ago. The question is simple, addressed to two of the stars of a stingy Amherst defense that allowed only 10.5 points per game last year; what makes this defense so good?

The mood around the Amherst County High School Lady Lancers volleyball team practices is positive.

When a team’s only loss comes on a two-point conversion that caromed off a defender’s helmet and somehow found its way into the hands of a Brookville player to seal a one-point come-from-behind victory, the Amherst JV has good reason to expect more success this year.

After two straight championship seasons in 2006 and 2007, no one would have begrudged the Amherst Lancers a year off. But as the wins continued to pile up in 2008, the improbable began to look more and more probable.

Peter Rose once feared his football career was over. It appears James Madison University will give him another chance to play.

With a berth in the Dixie Girls Softball World Series in Sumter, S.C., on the line, the Amherst American Darlings fell one run short in last Wednesday’s state title game.

After more than a month of all practice and no competition, Amherst American Darlings manager John Mann feared his squad would show signs of the rust that inevitably builds up over a long layoff. His fears were validated in the opening round of the Virginia State Ponytails Tournament where the Darlings fell 15-1 in five innings to Fluvanna County.

The Madison Heights Dixie Youth O-Zone League (11- and 12-year-olds) team got a stellar performance from starting pitcher D.A. Christian and a three-run bomb from Jarred Bryant in Madison Heights’ four-run first inning en route to a 5-4 victory over Rustburg at the Brookville Ruritan athletic fields last week.

Two weeks before the District 2 Dixie Belles Softball Tournament began at Timberlake, the Amherst Nationals team made a commitment.

Amherst hosted the 2009 Amherst County Lancer Shootout 7-on-7 passing tournament and the Lancers advanced to the championship, where they fell to William Campbell 24-13.Amherst

Both the Amherst Nationals and the Amherst Americans made it to the championship for the District 2 Dixie Youth Darlings softball tournament that was held in Rustburg last weekend, but it was the Americans that claimed the spot in the state tournament with a 25-15 victory.

This past weekend marked the beginning of the Dixie Youth softball district tournaments and several Amherst County teams competed for the chance to play in upcoming state tournaments.

The Amherst girls’ indoor track team that won the Region III title may be losing one elite jumper named Hubbard –– that is, Lacear Hubbard –– but her younger sister, Kayla Hubbard, is showing promise at Monelison Middle School.

Four members of the Amherst County football team that finished as the Group AA Division 4 state runners-up signed letters of intent in the school’s library last week after the football team, the girls track team and the forensics team received recognition from members of the Amherst County Board of Supervisors and for their successful seasons.

Amherst shot putter Jericah Glover won the only state championship for this season’s outdoor Lancer track team with a 39-foot, 4.75-inch effort in Harrisonburg last Saturday.

For fans at Amherst’s first-round Region III softball game on Monday, Sydney Lewis’ pitching performance might have seemed surprising, but not to her coaches.

The Amherst Lancers baseball season ended Monday at the hands of the Heritage Pioneers.

Penalty kicks come only occasionally in a soccer game, and Amherst sophomore Captain Graham Carter was the lucky player who had the opportunity.

In a battle for third place in the Seminole District standings, Amherst’s boys soccer team was shut out for the second time this season by Heritage goalkeeper Austin Walker and suffered a 1-0 defeat Friday night at Heritage.

How does it feel to rally from behind three times before beating Seminole District rival Heritage on its home field, as Amherst did Friday night? “Wonderful,” Lancers coach Mike Padgett said.

The Amherst Lancers boy’s soccer team took on the Liberty Minutemen on Friday in a Seminole District match-up.

The Amherst County Lancers took on the undefeated Jefferson Forest Cavaliers in a Seminole District boy’s soccer match on April 28 at Sabre Stadium. The Cavaliers came out with a 1-0 victory over the Lancers.

On senior night, May 1, Amherst softball coach Larry Thomas handed out a rose along with a hug to his five seniors. In return, his girls gave him a 3-1 Seminole District win over Liberty.

Amherst senior LaCear Hubbard is as fast on the track as she is athletic in the field events.

The Amherst varsity girls soccer team traveled to Rustburg on April 23 and came back with a 3-2 Seminole District win.

Former Amherst Lancers baseball standout Steven Evans took the mound for Liberty University on Friday under the lights against visiting Big South Conference rival Winthrop with the chance to fan the Flames to the top of the Big South standings as Liberty trailed the Eagles coming into the three-game weekend series by half a game.

Sweet Briar College’s lacrosse team hung in with visiting Guilford College in first half last Thursday, but the Quakers scored four unanswered goals over the last five minutes of the half to take a 9-5 lead into the break and cruised to a 19-10 victory over the Vixens in an Old Dominion Athletic Conference match.