by Lisa Hinton-Valdrighi
Riding the momentum from the best football season in recent memory, Lancaster High School fields one of its largest varsity teams ever with 43 players suited out to open the 2024-25 season tomorrow, August 30, at Charles City.
The Red Devils come off a 7-5 record in 2023 with a trip to the Region 1A semifinals where they lost to Class 1 state runner-up Essex. Coach Landon Gouveia and crew lost a consistent offensive weapon in graduated quarter Daveon Smith, a first team all-region offensive and defensive player who rushed for 1,358 yards on 174 carries for a 135.8 yards per game average. That’s a whole lot of offense to lose but Gouveia is optimistic he’s got talent across the board to replace it.
“Losing all our seniors from last year is absolutely a big loss,” he said. “They laid the foundations for this program. However, Demarcus [Howard] and Zaden Veney got lots of time last year and made some huge plays for us.
“What I do think is we can be more balanced this year and not have to rely on one guy,” said Gouveia.
Taking over the critical role of quarterback in the single wing offense is junior Porter Pittman, who kicked and punted last year.
“It’s a ginormous leap for a kicker-punter to be leading our team, but we have a lot of confidence….
