2 weeks Ago
AMHERST — Shortly after reeling in what would become the game-winning touchdown for his Rustburg Red Devils early in the fourth quarter, tight end Trey Goff explained how the whole thing almost didn't happen. The first thought that raced through his mind after the grab, he said, had nothing to do with football. "I need a haircut," he described his thoughts after the touchdown.
"It was a little bit in the way. A little long and in the eyes when I caught it." It wasn't certain that the 11-yard touchdown pass from Jaydon Herndon he caught with 9:17 remaining in the fourth would hold up to get the win over Amherst, at the time, but Goff knew.
"I had trust in our defense, trust in our guys," Goff said. "We had it going. And we had a rhythm.
" That they did in the fourth, getting four stops of the dynamic Lancers offense after taking the lead. And Goff's hair-in-the-eyes touchdown was enough to deliver a 21-17 road victory to Rustburg. "I'm really proud of our defense," coach Dustin Russell said.
"Our defense has played well for a majority of the year now and we hadn't been able to generate any points offensively. Tonight we were able to get 21, so that's good to see." Russell's offense played from behind briefly, after the Lancers raced out to a 7-0 lead on their first drive.
Devonte Wade connected with Tres Liggon on Amherst's opening offensive drive for a chunk play, and then Wade finished the drive off with a 7-yard run a few plays later. Then the defense Russell praised got to work and gave the Red Devils good field position on three straight drives, and the offense capitalized on two. After forcing a turnover on downs in Amherst territory, Alex Dunn picked up a key 3rd and 6 to extend the Rustburg drive, and Ari Reid tied the game at 7 from 7-yards out.
A couple of drives later, the Red Devils forced a three-and-out and got the ball near midfield before Marshaun Rosser ripped off a 37-yard run to put Rustburg ahead 14-7. The senior running back led Rustburg Friday night with 19 carries for 61 yards and the touchdown. Rustburg didn't hold the lead for long, however.
Amherst possessed the ball for all but 11 seconds of the final 4:14 of the first half. As the clock ticked down on the Lancers, Wade kept the play alive before finding Antonio Parrish in the end zone for a 22-yard score to tie the game at 14. Wade finished the night 9 of 18 for 104 yards and one interception.
Parrish was the game's leading receiver with three catches for 45 yards. But that was the last time coach Chris Moore's Lancers would find the end zone all night. "They really neutralized our speed," Moore said.
"I thought they did a good job in the box. ..
. I probably could have done some better things offensively." Rustburg's Ja'Vante Smith played a big role in thwarting Amherst's electric offense, Moore said.
The Lancers turned the ball over four times on the night, and scored just three points in the second half, on a 44-yard field goal by Andrew Marsh on the opening drive out of the break to make it 17-14. On the next Lancers drive came the first of those three second-half turnovers. They put it on the turf, and linebacker Aden Staton swooped in to scoop it up and take it near midfield.
"Ja'Vante Smith got a good strip on it," he said, "I was surprised ...
I was just like, 'Oh, there it is,' and scooped it." His scoop set up the drive where the Red Devils would win the game, with the help of a key penalty. On a 4th-and-short, they coaxed the Lancers into jumping offsides with a hard count to extend the drive.
On 3rd and goal from the 11, Herndon dropped back on a boot leg to his left, and threw back over to the middle of the field to find Goff to make it 21-17. "We probably should throw the ball more to him because he's got great hands," Russell said about Goff, who had the one catch for 11 yards. Herndon was 4 of 7 for 36 yards, the other 25 yards going to Dixon.
Amherst had its chances, but the Red Devils rebuffed them four straight times. The Lancers got the ball back with about 5 minutes remaining, but Rosser stepped in front of a pass from Wade to get Rustburg the ball back. Another three-and-out later, and Amherst found itself with 2:15 remaining and a chance to win the game, only to throw another interception.
This time, Allen Word picked off a pass from Liggon, and took it back inside the 10-yardline. The Lancers got their hands on the ball with 17 seconds left needing to go 95 yards and had no magic. All Moore could talk about after the loss was missed chances.
"We had so many opportunities that we missed, and so that's very disappointing," he said. "I thought our defense played well enough to win, but we can't have those turnovers and the penalties." His challenge this week to his team was to put together four good quarters to get the big win in Seminole play, and help shore up their playoff chances.
They had moments, but not the whole thing. Now? "Next week is a great opportunity to rebound and put things together against Jefferson Forest," he said. "It's kind of a playoff game for us.
They're probably in, but it's a playoff game for us, so we're gonna approach it that way." Rustburg had a little bit of that mentality coming into the Amherst game. It was riding a three-game skid against JF, LCA and Heritage, but stopped the slide in a big way, against a "juggernaut," Russell said.
"You've just got to keep the big picture in mind and keep pushing forward," Russell said. "All week long we talked about sticking together no matter what. They did that tonight.
" Staton said coach preached this week, "just get one." They'll look to carry that into a date with Liberty-Bedford next Friday. "We needed one.
We needed one and so we took that to heart and went out there and got this one," he said. Rustburg;7;7;0;7;—;21 Amherst;7;7;3;0;—;17 A — Devonte Wade 7 run (Andrew Marsh kick) R — Ari Reid 7 run (Parker Giles kick) R — Marshaun Rosser 37 run (Giles kick) A — Antonio Parrish 22 pass from Wade (Marsh kick) A — Marsh 44 field goal R — Trey Goff 11 pass from Herndon (Giles kick) Rushing — Rustburg: Marshaun Rosser 19-61; Ari Reid 11-25; Ashton Dixon 5-21; Eric Pannell 5-16; Alex Dunn 1-11; Jaydon Herndon 1-3. Amherst: Devonte Wade 17-70; AJ Thomas 10-52; Nic'Khale Fleshman 4-(minus 7); Antonio Parrish 3-(minus 11).
Passing — Rustburg: Herndon 4-7-0 (36). Amherst: Wade 9-18-1 (104); Liggon 0-1-1 (0). Receiving — Rustburg: Dixon 3-25; Trey Goff 1-11.
Amherst: Parrish 3-45; Liggon 3-42; Trayton Dooley 2-17. Records: Rustburg 5-3. Amherst 4-4.
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