by Lisa Hinton-Valdrighi
There was an excitement and energy at the Friday, September 18, home opener at the new Lancaster High School stadium like none I’d seen in 37 years of covering high school football.
A steady and early stream of cars rolled off Irvington Road into the new school complex. The line at the metal detectors lengthened as the 7 p.m. kick-off neared. Anticipation had been building for weeks, even months, as the community watched the impressive stadium take shape with its bright green and red artificial turf surrounded by an all-weather track with a massive animated scoreboard at one end zone and a hill for casual seating at the other.
Opening night did not disappoint. From the pre-game aerial show to the flashing stadium lights after each home-team score, it was the historical night both Lancaster County Public Schools staff and the community had anticipated.
And the exclamation point adding to the collective pride over the new stadium was a Red Devils win, a commanding 30-14 victory over Middlesex as the team improved to 3-1.
“The evening as a whole was amazing,” said LHS coach Landon Gouveia. “The community and everyone involved made it a memorable experience.”
Pre-game ceremonies included the Lancaster Elementary School chorus singing the national anthem with the LHS JROTC presenting the colors.
A moment of silence calmed the record 1,100 spectators in memory of J’seric Jones, a 2026 LHS graduate and former player who died two weeks ago in a car crash. His #72 jersey was draped over the sideline bench.
The Lancaster High School Marching Red Devils Band played the fight song, and high overhead a small plane flew over.
Three small spots dotted the sky against heavy clouds and they soon came into focus. The first of the three 3rd Dimension Production skydivers floated onto the field with the game ball and the second swooped in perfectly timed to kick it. The historic moment was unfolding exactly as it was planned.
The band and the cheerleaders kept the fans engaged by performing through the game and at halftime, when Lancaster had already taken a 24-0 lead behind three rushing touchdowns of 7, 5 and 45 yards from Jhamar Davis and a 27-yard pass from Khalian Howard to Brooks Parker. The animated scoreboard also kept fans motivated with flashing messages of “Get Louder” to “D Fence” when Middlesex had possession.
Lancaster gained 346 yards on the ground and 27 in the air, while holding Middlesex to 173 total yards.
Davis, despite coming out late in the first half with an injury, led the LHS ground game with 141 yards on 14 carries. Jamarius Monroe, who scored on a four-yard carry midway through the third to lift Lancaster to a 30-0 lead, finished with 73 yards on nine totes. Howard had 55 yards on eight carries and Darius Chun-Long had 34 rushing yards and Kamerun Davis 31. Darius Newbill added 24 yards on five carries to the group rushing effort.
Lancaster only went to the air three times with Howard’s one completion to Parker for six.
Middlesex didn’t find the end zone until 4:40 to play in the third on a five-yard carry by Davonte Griffin. With only 49 seconds left in the game, Maliki Reaves scored on a 20-yard pass from Griffin and Griffin rushed for the conversion to add another seven for the Chargers. Griffin had 87 yards on 19 carries and completed four passes for 64 yards to lead the Chargers’ offense. He also led the defense with seven tackles and eight assists.
Devontrey Wright led the LHS defense with six solo tackles and Quinn Gouveia had five solos and three assists. Andre Canada had four take downs.
Lancaster has two bye weeks, one scheduled and another because King & Queen cancelled the remainder of its season. The Devils will hit the field for a day game October 10 at Colonial Beach.
