AMHERST, Va. – The 1st and 10 camp tour heads East for a check on the powerhouse Lancers of Amherst County. It's been an eventful summer but the team is poised to stick together.
The Lancers were without a coach until June when they hired Trevor Porter, but he resigned last week.Now the team will be led by interim head coach Jeff Crews.
Crews has been with the program for ten years, spending the last five as defensive coordinator. If coaching changes weren't enough, Amherst had a class of 22 seniors that are now gone. They are relatively young with the exception of a few skill players, such as running back Frank Ross. Ross ran for more than 2,000 yards in 2017. Crews says goal one is to restore a sense of stability.
"We're just trying to stay together as a group and move forward every day. You know, every day we come out here we're trying to get better that's kind of been our mindset since day one. And we're going to keep rolling, have a good group of coaches, kids have been awesome through this whole process, we know they faced a lot of adversity in the past few weeks and you know they're all ready to work and we're going to move forward," said Crews.
"Being able to lead this group means a whole lot to me and me and my team we want to go out and fight every Friday night," said Ross.
"I mean, we know we had to overcome but it all comes together and we have to fight together. Do what we do in the weight room then come out here and have a good practice everyday," said wide receiver Samari Brogdon.
Amherst has a tough schedule to start the season, beginning with three-time defending Class 4 champions Salem.