In their first test of the season, Gloucester High School varsity football players fell to the visiting Phoebus Phantoms, 40-0, last Thursday night. 

The Phantoms put up 21 first-quarter points and tacked on six more prior to the half to make it 27-0 at the break, while the Gloucester offense struggled to gain any ground. Thirteen more points in the third quarter sealed the win for the visitors.

“There were times when we looked good, other times we didn’t do so well. We struggled offensively, defensively, we didn’t tackle so well. We were in position, we just didn’t execute,” said GHS coach Brandon Kelley.  Kelley said giving up big plays also hurt the Dukes. One Phoebus player ran for 92 yards in the game, and the Phantoms passed for over 150 yards. 

“This week, we’re working on execution,” Kelley said Tuesday. “We have to adjust to a lot of speed. We got the experience under our belts last week, now we need to ge...