Amherst fends off Heritage attack in season finale

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.

Just after Heritage tied the game at 7 with James Womack’s 6-yard pass to Antoine Eubanks, the Lancers used one play to send speedy Jamar Glover through the Pioneer seams for a 71-yard touchdown.

Then Lancer Mario Vaughan opened the second quarter with a 50-yard touchdown to go up 21-7.

But quarterback Anthony Rose’s touchdown was the crowd pleaser. With 32 seconds remaining in the half, Heritage fumbled the snap, and lineman Charles Eubanks recovered it for Amherst on the Pioneers’ 35.

Rose completed a 19-yard pass over the middle to tight end Taylor Grubbs. After an incomplete pass and a short gain by A.J. Parrish, Rose had 8.2 seconds for a final play.

Pulling up for a pass, Rose found no one open, and swung wide to run it in himself, making a spectacular diving leap over a defender into the end zone.

“They got some big plays on us,” said Pioneers coach Chris Jones. “We weren’t able to move the ball and keep their offense off the field. Our defense wore down.”

The Pioneers were in the game through the first quarter. Montez Hamlett set up their first touchdown by popping through the Lancer middle and running 34 yards. In that series, Womack completed an 18-yard pass to Lawrence Blake. After the touchdown, Lancer coach Cecil Phillips adjusted his defense to close the holes.

“We just really had to make sure our defensive tackles were getting flat enough coming down the line of scrimmage,” he said. “And we needed to make sure while our tackles were going in, our outside linebackers were sealing the gap. They hurt us a bit on the outside veer.”

Amherst handed the ball back to the Pioneers twice in the second quarter on fumbles, including one on a 40-yard punt return. Still, the Pioneers couldn’t capitalize.

“That’s been the story of our season,” Jones said.

In the second half, Amherst scored on a 38-yard field goal by freshman kicker Tyler Dawson, who also hit all five of his extra point attempts. Grubbs caught a 30-yard pass from Rose for the Lancers’ final touchdown late in the third quarter.

The Pioneers (3-10) closed their final game of the season by nicking the Lancers’ lead. Hamlett ran in a 41-yard touchdown, and Doug Harris stripped Lancer Damien Chilton for a 45-yard touchdown.

The Lancers (9-1, 5-1) locked up the No. 1 seed and a bye next Friday going into the Region III playoffs.