And the beat goes on for the Lancaster High School football team.
The Legends won their 24th straight game against local competition, controlling the trenches in a 31-22 win over rival Clarence on Friday night at Foyle-Kling Field. The win was the 19th in a row in the regular season for Lancaster.
“It’s just a great feeling,” offensive lineman/linebacker Conor Mahoney said. “It’s just a great feeling to keep this tradition going. Nothing phases us; we just keep going and win up front. That’s how we beat teams, we beat them up front.”
They sure did on Friday night. Offensively, they paved the way for more than 300 yards of total offense, including more than 200 on the ground.
“They did an amazing job,” said running back Brandon Wingard, who ran for 176 yards. “I couldn’t have asked for anything more from them. They made our job real easy.”
Jason Mansell threw for 118 yards and touchdowns to Nick Castellana and Shawn Davis. Fellow quarterback Gianluca Fulciniti added a touchdown run. Tim Gardner got the first points of the game for Lancaster on a two-yard TD run.
That set the stage for a showdown on Thursday night at All-High Stadium between the Legends and also undefeated Bennett. The Tigers beat Williamsville North on a last-second touchdown on Friday to improve to 4-0.
“Bennett is very tough team, very athletic,” Lancaster coach Eric Rupp said. “Any time you’re playing on a short week, it’s tough. But we’ll be ready. One at a time, that’s it. We just want to go 1-0 every week.”
On the flip side, the trenches proved to be an issue for the Red Devils for a third straight week. After opening with a win, Clarence has now lost three straight to powerful Williamsville North, Bennett and Lancaster teams.
“That seems to be our M.O. right now,” Clarence coach Paul Burgio said. “We’re getting beat up at the line of scrimmage a little bit but our skill players are giving it all they’ve got.”
Indeed, Jack Putney and Jon Stevens again proved to be worth the price of admission. Lancaster built a 31-8 lead before the standout combination did all they could to bring the Red Devils back. All told, Putney threw for 201 yards and touchdowns to Stevens and Cole Harris and Stevens added a pair of two-point conversion runs.
“Putney and Stevens, in my opinion, should both be all-Western New York kids,” Burgio said. “It’s tough for people to look at our record and say that but we’ve played three really good teams in a row.”
The Red Devils (1-3, 0-3) will face winless Niagara Falls next week.
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