Sherwood sophomore Brian Lucas has vivid memories of the fall of 2000. He was only 8 years old, but he’ll never forget watching his brother, Paul, play at Byrd Stadium in the state championship game. The following summer, Lucas was back on the Byrd sidelines as a ball boy in the Super 44 All-Star game.
But for all his inculcation to football, Brian Lucas never played it. Since age 4, his sport was soccer, and he played it to the exclusion of all else.
As his freshman year of high school approached, however, Lucas’ football memories became more enticing — crisp Friday nights, overflow crowds, cheerleaders. So at the risk of disappointing his longtime club soccer coach, Hector Morales, also the varsity coach at Sherwood, Lucas tried out for football.
It’s safe to say Lucas took to the sport. After playing three games for the JV, he was promoted to the varsity and in the starting lineup. Two months later, Lucas, like his brother six years earlier, was the fullback for Sherwood in the state championship game, this time at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.
“The whole year was definitely unexpected,” said Lucas. “I go from never playing organized football, to playing for fun on the JV, to starting in a state championship game. It all happened so fast.”
A year later, Lucas is playing a major role for No. 9 Sherwood (2-0). He starts at linebacker and fullback, and handles the punting and long kicking duties. Despite last year’s experience, it’s still heady stuff for a 15-year-old sophomore.
“He’s got a chance to be special,” said Sherwood coach Al Thomas. “You tell him something once and he gets it. He’s bright, he’s willing. All we need to do now is get him in the weight room.”
Last week in a 35-7 win at Paint Branch, the 5-foot-10, 180-pound Lucas scored the first two touchdowns of his career. They came in a 1-minute, 47-second span of the third period as he scooped up a fumble and ran 17 yards for a score, then picked off a pass and ran 37 yards for another.
“To watch him play is freaky,” said Paul Lucas. “He’s got a soccer game tomorrow. That’s his real sport. But he loves football and, obviously, he’s pretty good at it. He’s gonna get way bigger than me, and, hopefully, be way better.”
LUCAS II
» Brian Lucas is used primarily as a blocking back on offense.
» Brian Lucas ran 100 meters in 11.6 for the Sherwood track team last spring.
» Paul Lucas started at fullback as a freshman at Shepherd College, but left school the following spring, disenchanted with the coaching staff and never played another year of college football.
