Christian Brothers Academy’s Lucius Anderson has been one of the most exciting football players to watch in Section 2 this season.
The senior wide receiver has been a matchup nightmare all year for opposing coaches with his explosive speed and vertical jump.
“I'm thankful that I'm able to perform the way that I am this season,” Anderson said. “I’m playing to the ability that I should play, and I think that I can definitely step it up a notch and play a little bit harder.”
In five games, he has racked up 24 receptions for 643 yards and nine touchdowns. It’s been quite the comeback for Anderson, who missed most of his junior season due to a hip injury.
“Definitely hard sitting there watching people play a game that you love and that you revolve your life around,” Anderson said. “But these are my guys. These are my brothers. So just seeing them happy and seeing them winning was enough for me to keep going.”
“Seeing him every day for the last nine months put the work in, so he's reaping the rewards of it now,” said Bob Burns, CBA’s head coach. “Hopefully, it can continue.”
All that hard work at physical therapy, trusting his coaches and support from his teammates has made all this possible. For Anderson, who grew up in Texas playing football before moving to the Capital Region in the fifth grade, he has always had the iron sharpens iron mentality.
“I go down there and play all the time. I just did an All-American [camp] down there. So it was nice to go back and see some competition and then bring, what I learned from those four and five stars [recruits] that I played against, down here,” Anderson said.
His efforts are a crucial part of CBA’s 5-0 start to the season. That undefeated record will be put to the test this week when the Brothers face 6-0 Shaker in a battle for the top seed for Class AA.
“This is where we should be every single year,” Anderson said. “This is a position that we do the entire offseason to get into.”
“We take pride in playing defense. So at the end of the day, it's probably going to come down to that. Who can defend the other team better,” Burns said.
This meeting will also feature two teams currently ranked top 10 in the state. Shaker was voted at number seven this week, while CBA came in at number five.
“This has been a game that we've all looked at from the end of last season, and we've all had this date circled,” said Nick Graziano, a senior for Shaker. “Just going to take like another game. But really focus for this week.”
“All roads to our goals of being a champion, it goes to them,” said Greg Sheeler, Blue Bison’s head coach. “So we're excited about the opportunity. We know we got our hands full, but that's why we're in it. So that's why we're doing it.”
This will be the 16th meeting since 2005, with Shaker leading the series 8-7. But CBA are the recent winners, which includes last year’s 28-0 win in the sectional semifinals.
It was a game that Anderson missed, and now looking forward to this opportunity Friday night. He’ll likely draw a lot of attention once again, from defenders, fans and even college scouts in this big time showtime.
“I definitely have a ton more interest,” Anderson said. “So it's things to look into, visits to go on, places to see. But as of right now, I'm just focused on getting through the season and winning as a team.”
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Friday, exclusively on Spectrum News 1.