Lancers use volatile attack to shatter Glass

AMHERST —Kirby Anderson wasn’t expecting to get much playing time behind Anthony Rose at quarterback for Am-herst’s football team this season. But when Rose sprained his ankle in the Lancers’ 34-13 win at GW-Danville last week, Anderson was ready.

Though Rose was close to 100 percent for Friday night’s homecoming game against future Seminole District rival E.C. Glass, Anderson got the start and ran with it, engineering the Lancers’ Wing-T offense to near perfection in a 49-6 triumph.

“Our defense has been playing great all year and our offense is finally starting to click,” Anderson said. “The team’s really coming together. We were already a tight-knit team. We just needed to play as a team and do what we do.”

A week after putting the ball on the ground six times at GW, the Lancers didn’t fumble the ball one time and capitalized on three lost fumbles by the Hilltoppers, scoring touchdowns all five of their first-half possessions.

“We had to cut down our turnovers so we could capitalize on those by the other team,” Anderson said.

After returning the opening kickoff to its 46, Glass fumbled on its first play from scrimmage after a hit by middle line-backer A.J. Parrish, Amherst’s defensive player of the game in what was dubbed the Banks of the James Bowl.

Anderson later finished a nine-play scoring drive by ranging from the 8-yard-line to his left side and outsprinting the Hill-toppers’ pursuit to the left corner of the end zone.

“We really had trouble handling their speed in basically all phases of the game,” Glass coach Richard Trent said. “They’re a very explosive football team and we just ran into a buzzsaw early.”

Rose started at outside linebacker on defense and played some at receiver and wing back. He caught one of Anderson’s four completed passes for 17 yards, with a facemasking penalty moving the ball to the Hilltoppers’ 12. That set up first of two touchdown runs by Mario Vaughn, the Lancers’ offensive player of the game, which extended their to 28-0 late in the first half.

“He’s dangerous any time the ball’s in his hands,” Amherst coach Cecil Phillips said of Rose. “It makes teams prepare for a couple of different packages. Now they’re going to have to start defend us with the passing game and that’s going to help open up the running game for us.”

Chris McDaniel’s 90-yard punt return capped the first-half scoring.

The Lancers also got a 45-yard touchdown run by Jamal Glover in the first half and a 2-yard run by twin brother Jamar Glover, set up by his 72-yard run up the middle in the second half.

“I can’t explain how fast they are and they’re as strong as anything,” Anderson said of the Glover brothers. “Chris (McDaniel), he might be the fastest one we’ve got on the team.”

Glass also played without its regular quarterback, Joey Flores, who was injured in the first half of last week’s loss to Jef-ferson Forest.

Trent platooned Derek Gale and James Gaines in his place and both experienced success passing the ball, with Gale connecting on a 24-yard touchdown pass to Justin Henry in the final minute to spoil the Lancers’ shutout bid.