Could Amherst come from behind? Twice? They hadn’t been put in this position since the season-opening loss to Brookville, but the Lancers were able to put it together, come back, and then hold off a strong Blue Streak team to win the Region III semifinal game 28-21, Friday night at Stinger Stadium.

Two-time defending Group AA, Division 4 state champion Amherst opens Region III playoff action tonight against the same Harrisonburg team it beat 47-7 in last season’s semifinal.

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

AMHERST — Amherst proved to be the better study Friday night, scoring early and often in its 35-6 win over Jefferson Forest at home.

The Lancers (6-1, 2-1) produced on all but one possession while holding top running back Desmond Goode and the Cavaliers to four first downs and 81 yards of offense in the first half.

AMHERST — Staying low to the ground with a nose for the football, Amherst senior middle linebacker A.J. Parrish pursues opposing ball carriers with the energy and intensity of a heat-seeking missile.

That’s what makes him one of the best players at his position in the area, if not the state.

Kirby Anderson wasn’t expecting to get much playing time behind Anthony Rose at quarterback for Amherst’s football team this season. But he got the start Friday night against E.C. Glass and ran with it, engineering the Lancers’ Wing-T offense to near perfection in a 49-6 triumph.

Mario Vaughan rushed for 121 yards and two touchdowns, and Jamar Glover added 108 yards on the ground as Amherst County defeated George Washington 34-13 on Friday night.

One week after a turnover-riddled season-opening 24-21 setback to Brookville, which ended its 26-game winning streak, two-time defending Group AA, Division 4 state champion Amherst’s football team regrouped with a 42-6 victory at Charlottesville on Aug. 29. Tonight, the Lancers travel to former Western District rival GW-Danville, which advanced to the Northwest Region championship game last year.

AMHERST — Felony drug charges against a former Amherst County High School football star were certified to a grand jury Tuesday during a preliminary hearing in Amherst County General District Court.
Peter Rose, 18, was charged in May with two counts of selling drugs within 1,000 feet of a school. The charges came after a yearlong investigation by an undercover Amherst County sheriff’s deputy posing as a senior at the school.

Brookville was able to rise to the challenge of beating Amherst, 24-21, on its home turf Friday night before a huge partisan crowd at Lancers Stadium.

In a season opener with huge implications in the Seminole District race, Brookville proved it could win a big game in a hostile environment, Friday night at Amherst. The Bees’ 24-21 triumph, which ended two-time defending Group AA, Division 4, state champion Amherst’s 26-game winning streak and spoiled coach Cecil Phillips’ debut, pivoted on two big plays and two fourth-quarter, fourth-down defensive stops.
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HAMPTON — Amherst graduate Derrick McCoy played both ways in Friday night’s Virginia High School Coaches Association All-Star football game, starting for the West squad at outside linebacker and wide receiver.

After a month-long search for Scott Abell’s successor, and a whirlwind week of interviews, Amherst High School named Cecil Phillips as its new football coach, a move approved at Thursday night’s school board meeting.