Although the scoreboard reflected a 38-28 Lancaster loss to Essex October 27, there were a lot of take-away victories for the Red Devils, who haven’t beaten the Tappahannock team in varsity football since 1998. It was the first time in seven years Lancaster held the Trojans under 50 points.
From 2015-22—with no games in 2020—Essex outscored the Devils, 433-63.
“They gave me their word that they wouldn’t give up and they’d play until the end, and they lived up to their word,” said LHS coach Landon Gouveia. “I’m extremely proud of them. They really are starting to believe they can win and believe in this offense.”
After giving up a 70-plus-yard scoring run to Jaden Holmes on the first play of the game, it would have been easy for the Devils to hang their heads, get down and assume another Essex blowout was in the making. But that’s not what Lancaster did.
Jaquarrias Morris had a 4-yard TD run that pulled Lancaster within two midway through the first quarter before Essex found the end zone twice more to carry a 22-8 lead into the second quarter.
Daveon Smith, who carried the ball 23 times for 167 yards, scored the first of his two touchdowns on a 25-yard run to open the second quarter and Morris had….
