BROOKVILLE - On a night when the Amherst County offense was sputtering, the defense and special teams bailed the Lancers out.

Senior Roddy Thomas scored on a 30-yard fumble return and had a 72-yard kickoff return to set up another touchdown as Amherst rallied to beat Brookville 28-17 Friday night at Stinger Stadium.

"Roddy Thomas had the best game of his life," said Amherst coach Mickey Crouch after the Lancers upped their mark to 9-1 and clinched the Seminole District title with a 6-0 record. "We have a good offense but they took away a lot of it and tonight we made our living on the defense."

The Bees (7-3), who like the Lancers had already clinched a playoff berth, surprised the No. 6 ranked Lancers with their offensive game plan in the first half.

Brookville, which had four turnovers that proved costly, had 230 total yards in the first half (Amherst had just 81) but the Bees led just 17-14 at the break.

The Bees went 74 yards in four plays to take a 7-0 lead less than four minutes into the game. A 57-yard burst up the middle by Russell Lomax set up Steven Kee's 15-yard TD run.

The opportunistic Lancers took advantage of a short Brookville punt and went 36 yards to tie the score at 7-7 early in the second quarter. Jason Cox's 1-yard run culminated the drive.

Brookville, seemingly baffling the Amherst defense with the running of Dejon Kennedy and the timely passing of Scott Nixon, retaliated with a 70-yard scoring drive that Kennedy topped off with a 1-yard run. Nixon's 30-yard pass to Lamar Kennedy set up the score.

The Bees appeared to have everything going their way after Levar Anthony intercepted a Chris Carpenter pass. They had a first-and-goal at the Amherst 5 but the Lancer defense stiffened and Brookville had to settle for a 23-yard Chris Cumberland field goal and a 17-7 lead with 1:46 left before intermission.

On the ensuing kickoff, Thomas found an opening and went 72 yards before being stopped at the Brookville 11. On the next play, Warren Braxton burst through for the TD and the Lancers trailed just 17-14.

"They had a good return on and they just outplayed us on that play," said Johnson.

The Lancers dodged two big bullets early in the third quarter.

Carpenter fumbled on fourth-and-2 at the Amherst 43 and Chris Steuck picked up the loose ball and appeared to score on a 38-yard fumble return. However, the Bees were flagged for clipping on the return.

Several plays later, Kennedy appeared to have crossed the goal line before he fumbled in the end zone. However, officials did not signal a TD and Corey Mays recovered the loose ball.

Perhaps, the real killer for the Bees came with 20 seconds left in the third period. Kennedy appeared to be stopped but before a whistle blew, Thomas stripped Kennedy of the ball and returned it 30 yards for the go-ahead touchdown.
Brookville coach Bobby Johnson called a time out to confer with referee Rip Floyd but was told that the play hadn't been whistled dead.

The Lancers applied the clincher with 10:19 left when Trae Toliver bolted up the middle and raced 67 yards for a touchdown and a 28-17 lead.

"They had a good play called there because we were sending linebackers," said Johnson whose Bees were held to 48 yards rushing the second half after the Lancers made some defensive adjustments. "We played well enough to win the football game - in fact I felt like we outplayed them but we mad a couple of mistakes and they capitalized on them."
Thomas said the Lancers got a half-time pep talk. "Coach told us to go out and turn it up a notch."

Toliver said, "It was all about heart and motivation. Coach told us we had to get our act together."