Legends Set Another Record In Rout Of Jamestown

The Lancaster High School football team insists it is not focused on breaking records – just winning football games. These days, the Legends are getting both on a regular basis.

Lancaster set a program record for points in a game and turned what was expected to be a marquee matchup into a 56-14 blowout of rival Jamestown on Friday night at Foyle-Kling Field.

“It’s nice to have records to look back on at the end of the night,” said wide receiver LG Castillo, the program’s all-time leader in receiving yards. “But we’re not focused too much on that. We’re out here looking for W’s.”

A year ago, the Legends shocked the Western New York high school football community by traveling to Jamestown and emerging with a 46-41 victory in a memorable shootout, one of the signature moments in a season that saw Lancaster set a program record for points in a season.

This time around, a Lancaster victory wasn’t much of a surprise. The dominant fashion sure was. Although he played less than a half, Ryan Mansell threw for 235 yards and three long touchdowns – two to Castillo and another to Max Giordano. Zach Samborski added 101 rushing yards and a pair of long scores and Ben Damiani returned an interception 18 yards for a touchdown and blocked a punt that teammate Joe Andreesen recovered for another Legends’ TD. Backup quarterback Noah Speyer went 52 yards after a great option read to put this game into the history books for Lancaster.

“I certainly didn’t expect that,” Lancaster coach Eric Rupp said after his team improved to 2-0 overall and 1-0 in Class AA South. “Last year it came down to whoever had the ball last was going to win and I was expecting the same. I told the kids all week that this was going to be a battle and it was going to come down to who made plays in the fourth quarter.”

To be technical, Jamestown made more plays in the fourth quarter – but it hardly mattered. Lancaster was up 21-0 after the first quarter, 42-0 at halftime and 49-0 after the first drive of the third quarter, which also marked the end of the evening for most of Lancaster’s starters.

Jamestown (0-2 overall, 0-1 Class AA South) didn’t quit and got second-half touchdowns from Tariq Strudwick and CJ Woodard – but this game belonged to the Legends from start to finish.

A year ago, Samborski set a program record with six touchdowns in that win at Jamestown and the Red Raiders were understandably focused on the star running back this time around. So the Legends turned to the air on the first drive as Mansell, with a 47-yard TD, set the stage. The first-year starting quarterback found the dynamic Castillo for TD strikes of 63 and 81 yards.

“You knew they were going to put seven in the box to try and stop Sambo,” Mansell said. “We knew they were big up front so we used our speed and agility to get past them. Our O-line did great to give the time and when you’ve got LG and Max to throw to, it’s awesome.”

The Legends are flying high but some tough opponents await. Williamsville North in Week 4, and then the trip to Orchard Park that will most likely decide the Class AA South championship in Week 5 – plus the always crucial Depew game in Week 7.

“Everything’s going well for us right now,” Castillo said. “But like our coach always says, ‘Never be too high, never be to low.’ So right now we’re just trying to ride this wave up, enjoy the night and get ready to come back to work tomorrow.”

Photo by Emyle Watkins