Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 26, 1994 TAG: 9411280063
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: AMHERST LENGTH: Medium
If it had been a boxing match, the guy in the bow tie would have thrown his hands aloft to call a halt.
If it had been a siege, the garrison would have run up the white flag.
If it had been a ship, the women and children would have been ordered to the lifeboats first.
But it was a high school football game, and there was no stopping Amherst County, which splattered guest Salem 55-19 Friday night.
``That was a massacre,'' Spartans coach Willis White said. ``They are tough. They can play with anybody.''
So how good are these Lancers (12-0) who have rarely been challenged this year?
``They're the best we've seen,'' White said. ``When you're as quick and physical as they are, you have something. They're going to be hard to beat.''
Next up for the newly crowned Region III champs in the Group AA Division 4 semifinals a week hence is the winner of today's Richlands at Blacksburg match.
Whoever it is had better be ready.
``If you could draft players in high school football, this is the kind of team you'd have,'' Amherst County coach Mickey Crouch said of his players.
The Lancers were next to impossible to stop, as White readily admitted. Led by three running backs who gained more than 100 yards, Amherst County smashed its way to 551 rushing yards and 22 first downs.
Wing-T halfback Larry Hunter carried 18 times for 162 yards and three touchdowns, the first a 74-yarder on the game's third play. Alonzo Mathews, another halfback, produced two touchdowns among his 11 rushes for 159 yards. Mathews' scores covered 30 and 44 yards. Among wingback Camm Jackson's 135 yards was a 79-yard score.
The Lancers scored on all five of their second-half possessions against an exhausted Spartans defense. The last touchdown came on a 40-yard prance by sophomore Cedric Ellis, whose previous deployment was in the junior-varsity backfield.
``We're a young team,'' Crouch said. ``I know that's frightening, but it's true.''
The Lancers, who had seven shutouts and had allowed only 41 points coming in, were almost as tenacious defensively. Salem (7-5) was limited to 112 yards rushing, 77 of that coming in the second half when the outcome had long been assured.
With no threat of a ground game, quarterback Seth Moore threw so many passes - 30 - that they should have iced his arm down. He completed 12 for 93 yards and one touchdown, a 10-yarder to Aaron Coffey. Five of the completions for 43 yards went to split end Matt Hyatt.
``That quarterback is good,'' Crouch said. ``He's just a junior, right? Next year, he'll be as good as Mike Padgett [of Liberty High School], who's the best quarterback to come through the Seminole District in a long time.''
Moore marched Salem into position for its other points, which came on a 37-yard Lee Updike field goal in the first quarter and a 2-yard run by Rusty Howell in the fourth. Moore connected first with Mike Murphy then Coffey for a pair of 2-point conversions.
Moore could have had a better night than that.
``We didn't catch the ball well tonight,'' White said.
There wasn't anything the Lancers didn't do well, from tackling, to pass defending, to blocking, to running, to kicking. Amherst County's Mike Padgett (not to be confused with Liberty's quarterback) went 7-for-8 on PAT kicks, hitting the upright on the seventh one. He also drilled three unreturnable kickoffs into the end zone.
``They're better than we are,'' White said. ``They just whipped our tails.''
see microfilm for box score
by CNB