Liberty Christian ground game too much for Amherst County in 62-10 win Friday night
LCA High School, Lynchburg VA – Crunch’s game of the week took us to the campus of Liberty Christian Academy where the Bulldogs took on the Amherst County Lancers in the second game played at LCA’s new home field. Both teams entered the game with 2-0 records looking to pick up their first win in Seminole District play.
The Bulldogs impressed in their first two games knocking off perennial 4A powerhouse Salem and notching a lopsided win over the Franklin County Eagles. Amherst County had a big win of their own in week 1, taking down GW Danville and they were looking to avenge last year’s 34-0 loss to the Bulldogs. However, LCA made it known early that they were not entertaining any thoughts of a Lancer upset by exploding for 45 points in the first half due to a remarkable showing by junior running back sensation Gideon Davidson.
Davidson scored his first TD on an 8-yd run 84 seconds into the game, then followed that up with a 32-yarder after the Bulldog defense forced Amherst to punt on their opening drive. The Lancers got on the board on their second drive courtesy of a 30-yd FG by Lancer kicker 26 Jonathan Stonelake to make the score 14-3 with 1:16 left in the first quarter. After that, Davidson took the handoff on the first play of LCA’s next possession and scampered 80 yards for another score.
The Clemson Tiger commit tallied 4 carries for 130 yards and 3 TDs at the end of the first quarter, but was far from finished. He continued his hot hand with 3 more TDs in the second quarter on run of 45, 70 and 6 yards. His gaudy halftime statistics were 12 carries for 275 yards and 6 TDs, and that is what he finished the game with as he didn’t carry the ball in the second half. The Bulldog offense did not slow down in the second half without Davidson though, as they have plenty of talent to go around, and they scored on every possession in the game except their last as they ran out the clock to claim a 62-10 victory and moved to 3-0 on the young season. Amherst County drops to 2-1.
The game started with a 34 yard kickoff return by Davidson to give the Bulldogs good field position on their 44 yard line. He followed that up with a 10 yard run, and on the next play LCA QB 9, Jeb Moon connected with TE 89 JC Beverly for a 19 yard gain. Moon would finish the game a perfect 4/4, throwing for 89 yards. WR 7 Austin Rose picked up another 19 yards on a reverse and RB 8 Davidson carried the rock for the final 8 yards to put the Bulldogs on the board quick in the first quarter. Amherst County WR/DB 2 Omar McPherson took the ensuing LCA kickoff 33 yards and nearly missed a bigger return for the Lancers.
The VMI bound McPherson had 3 kickoff returns on the night and averaged 30.3 yards per return. The Lancers were able to pick up one first down on the hard running of Sophomore QB 3 Tres Liggon who carried the ball 10 times for 52 yards on the evening. A false start penalty on 4th down, kept the Lancers from going for it and they punted it away. The Bulldogs’ Jeb Moon completed 2 passes to start their next drive, an 8-yarder to Davidson and a beautiful 44 yard bomb to WR/FS 11 Dalton Nesselrotte down to the Lancer 32 yard line.
It was from there that Davidson cut to his left and headed down the LCA sideline to increase the Bulldog lead to 14-0. After another 33 yard kickoff return by Amhert Co.’s McPherson, QB 3 Liggon hit WR/DB 7 Devonte Wade for a 9 yard pickup and then two plays later the duo connected on a 33 yard pass completion where Wade took a hard hit but still held on. The drive stalled there, but that is when kicker 26 Stonelake was true on his 26 yard FG and put the Lancers on the board and it looked like the battle was on. Stonelake’s kickoff to the end zone placed the ball on the Bulldog 20, and it was on the first play of their drive when Davidson scorched the defense with his 80 run that seemed to take the wind out of the Lancers sail and put the Bulldogs up 21-3.
After their score, LCA kicked and recovered an onside kick on Amherst’s 33 yard line. RB/FS 1 Jayden Cowart picked up 17 yards on first down, but the drive stalled with a 4th and 4 on the Lancer 10. K 12 Ryan Pettit came on and drilled a 27 yard FG to stretch the lead to 24-3. After an Amherst 3-and-out, the same cast of characters were at it again for LCA on their next drive. Davidson picked up 13 yards on first down, Jeb Moon found Nesselrotte for 15 yards, Cowart pounded the line for a 10 yard gain and then Davidson broke it for 45 yards and the score for the 31-3 lead. Just as the Bulldog offense flexed their muscles in the first half, the defense did the same. They controlled the line of scrimmage and made it difficult for Amherst’s QB 3 Liggon or RB 35 NicKhale Fleshman to get many yards on the ground.
LCA’s strong defensive play forced the Lancers’ punt team to take the field again on another 3-and-out drive but K/P 26 Stonelake found a lane on the outside and picked up a first down on the fake punt call. The momentum was short lived though as an illegal motion penalty forced them to punt the ball away later in the drive. On the change of possession, LCA’s Davidson pulled another fast scoring strike on the first play from scrimmage, this time taking the ball for 70 yards and the touchdown to extend the score to 38-3. The Bulldogs then got a take away on the next Lancer drive when FS 14 Griffin Tilley intercepted Lancer QB Liggon’s pass and returned the ball 15 yards to the Amherst Co. 15 yard line with 1:21 seconds left in the 2nd quarter. LCA RB 8 Davidson found the end zone from 6 yards out sending both teams into halftime with his 6th TD and LCA was up 45-3.Amherst County received the second half kickoff but was bit by the fumble bug in the 3rd quarter. Bulldog RB/FS 1 Jayden Cowart recovered the first fumble and LCA capitalized on the turnover when RB/CB 2 Justis Belford ran it in from 4 yards out with 4 minutes left in the 3rd to make the score 52-3. RB/FS 1 Cowart was in the right place at the right time on the Lancers’ next possession too, as he recovered another fumble on Amherst’s 33 yard line. Cowart, who finished the night with 59 yards on 11 carries, stayed on the field and carried the ball 3 straight times to set up a 4th and 4 on the Lancers’ 27 yard line. LCA decided to try a long FG which Kicker Ryan Pettit made from 44 yards away at the start of the 4th quarter. The LCA public address announcer said that Pettit’s kick set a record for the longest LCA FG to date. Pettit finished the night making all 8 PAT attempts and he was 2/2 with 27 and 44 yard field goals made. His kick made the score 55-3. However, there was no quit in the Lancers and on their next drive they were able to put six points on the board. QB 3 Liggon found a hole up the middle and picked up 26 yards on a play in which he was injured and left the game. In his absence WR/DB 7 Wade broke free for a 30 yard TD score and after K/P Stonelake’s extra point the Bulldogs lead was 55-10.
The Bulldog’s closed out the game with an 8 minute, 75 yard scoring drive which saw FB/LB 30 Josh Hopkins and RB/OLB 24 Eli Castaneda share the running duties. Hopkins picked up 10 yards and Castaneda tallied 55 yards on the drive while QB 5 Deyo James completed his only pass on the night to TE 18 Reagan Burgess for 10 yards. Castaneda’s 28 yard TD run and K Pettit’s extra point made the final score LCA 62 Amherst County 10. – T Mac
SCORING
1st Qtr:
LCA– Gideon Davidson 8-yd TD run, Ryan Pettit PAT (10:36)
LCA – Gideon Davidson 32-yd TD run, Ryan Pettit PAT (5:28)
Amherst Co – Jon Stonelake 30-yd field goal (1:16)
LCA – Gideon Davidson 80-yd TD run, Ryan Pettit PAT (1:00)
2nd Qtr:
LCA – Ryan Pettit 27-yd field goal (10:55)
LCA – Gideon Davidson 45-yd TD run, Ryan Pettit PAT (5:46)
LCA – Gideon Davidson 70-yd TD run, Ryan Pettit PAT (1:37)
LCA – Gideon Davidson 6-yd TD run, Ryan Pettit PAT (0:37)
3rd Qtr:
LCA – Justin Belford 4-yd TD run, Ryan Pettit PAT (4:00)
4th Qtr:
LCA – Ryan Pettit 44-yd field goal (11:39)
Amherst Co – Devonte Wade 30-yd TD run, Jon Stonelake PAT (9:14)
LCA – Elijah Castaneda 28-yd TD run, Ryan Pettit PAT (1:51)
OFFENSE
Rushing: LCA– Gideon Davidson 12-275, 6TD, Austin Rose 1-19, Jayden Cowart 11-59, JD Murphy 1-3, Justis Belford 4-19, 2TD, Josh Hopkins 3-10, Eli Castaneda 6-55, 1TD Amherst Co– Nic’Khale Fleshman 9-19, Gary Liggon III 10-52, Jonathan Stonelake 1-6, Devonte Wade 5-44, TD, Tyrique Thomas 3-6, Johnathan Goins Jr 1-3
Passing: LCA– Jeb Moon 4/4,89, James Deyo 1/1, 10 Amherst Co – Gary Liggon III 4/10,44, INT
Receiving: LCA – JC Beverly 1-19, Gideon Davidson 1-11, Dalton Nesselrotte 2-59, Reagan Burgess 1-10 Amherst Co – Devonte Wade 3-43, Nic’Khale Fleshman 1-1
Punting: LCA – None Amherst Co– Jonathan Stonelake 3/38 yds
Kicking: LCA – Ryan Pettit 8/8 PATS, 2/2 FGs 27 yd, 44 yd
Amherst Co – Jonathan Stonelake 1/1 PAT, 30yd FG