Lancers dominate Red Devils

Amherst jumped on the Red Devils in the opening minutes, scoring on their first possession when big gains by Jamar Glover and A.J. Parrish led to quarterback Anthony Rose running in a 7-yard touchdown en route to a 41-8 district win on Oct. 3.

The Lancers’ defense turned around and set up the next touchdown, as Parrish recovered a Rustburg fumble on the Red Devils’ 48 yard line. Rose completed a 12-yard pass to tight end Taylor Grubbs and Mario Vaughan made the gains, capping the 6-play series with a 10-yard touchdown.

“It just came to me tonight,” Rose said. “People were open. I was hitting them.”

Freshman kicker Tyler Dawson made both first quarter extra points to put Amherst up 14-0 going into the second quarter. Then Rustburg got its only touchdown of the game.

In scoring position on the Red Devils’ 15, Rose fumbled the ball in the backfield and Rustburg’s Matt Harris scooped and scored an 80-yard touchdown. Javon Campbell ran in the two-point conversion.

The Lancers answered this blooper on the next possession. Glover, the leading rusher of the game with 99 yards, skirted by the Red Devils for a 19-yard touchdown.

With Kirby Anderson at quarterback, the Lancers put one more one the board before halftime when Vaughan ran in a 17-yard touchdown.

“They’re very physical,” said Rustburg coach Jon Berlin. “They run the ball very well. That’s what they do, they’re a big play team.”

Berlin, in his first-year at Rustburg, was the defensive coordinator under Amherst coach Scott Abell until the 2007 season. He implemented the old Amherst offense, a triple-option running game, at Rustburg. Understanding this offense helped the Lancer defense tremendously, said senior linebacker Tyrease Brown.

“I knew where the play was going most of the time,” said Brown, who had two sacks on the night. “We keyed on two players (Campbell, a running back, and quarterback Tevon Cobbs) the whole time. We knew if we shut them down that would shut down their offense.”

The Lancer defense continued blitzing in the third quarter, forcing Rustburg to punt three possessions in a row by making tackles in the backfield. Brown, Parrish, Rose and Timmy Johnson all had tackles behind the line of scrimmage.

Meanwhile, the Lancer offense put the game further out of reach. On a first and goal at the five, Rose went down in the backfield. The next play, he kept the ball again, this time following Vaughan into the end zone. Rose called alternating the blocking with Vaughan a “family affair,” as the two are first cousins.

“We’ve got so many weapons. Everything we do has got to be together,” Rose said.

“Everything was perfect,” Vaughan said. “When he scored (early) that just made them pay attention to him and let me score.”

Rose, Vaughan and Phillips gave credit for the big offensive night to the offensive line’s performance.

“I was really pleased with the offensive line for being able to block the amount of pressure they were bringing,” Phillips said. “Our power off tackle play was big for us because they were bringing a lot of pressure. We had to seal it down inside, and then the running backs had to hit the seam.”

As the third quarter ended, Vaughan returned a punt to the 6-yard line. Anderson ran in the quick touchdown, and Dawson kicked his fifth extra point. He had one blocked in the second quarter. Dawson also attempted a 36-yard field goal in the fourth quarter. It was on target but short.

The win puts the Lancers at 5-1 overall and 1-1 in Seminole action. On Oct. 10, Jefferson Forest comes to Amherst for a 7:30 game. Forest (4-2) is coming off a 19-7 loss to Brookville, the only team to beat Amherst this season.