For the Lancaster High School football team, it was time to party like it’s 1999.
The Legends continued their dream season and claimed the program’s first Class AA Section VI championship in 17 years with a 27-7 win over rival Orchard Park on Saturday at New Era Field.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” junior fullback/linebacker Joe Andreessen said. “This is what we worked so hard for all season long. I’m just speechless.”
Lancaster moved to 10-0 on the season and finished a rare season-sweep of the defending sectional champion Quakers.
In Week 5, Lancaster won 42-35 at Orchard Park on Jacob Michalski’s last-minute blocked punt and return. No such miracle was necessary this time around.
Saturday actually marked Lancaster’s second-closest margin of victory but the Legends were clearly the better team most of the way.”
“It’s an unreal feeling,” said junior safety/receiver/kicker Max Giordano, who intercepted three passes and returned them for a combined 157 yards and also had a touchdown reception. We practiced really hard all week and coaches had us really prepared,” “So to be honest, I kind of expected the score to be like that.”
Giordano led a strong effort by Lancaster’s defense, which frustrated OP standout quarterback Dillon Janca all day long. Janca completed just 16 of 40 passes for 160 yards and four interceptions.
“Dillon Janca is a great quarterback, he’s an All-Western New York player,” Lancaster coach Eric Rupp said. “But Dave Mansell is one of the best defensive coordinators in the area. Our defense was really prepared today.”
The Quakers had 320 total yards of offense, much of that coming in the fourth quarter with the game out of reach. OP was 5 for 14 on third-downs and 1 of 7 on fourth down.
“Defense showed up to play today,” Lancaster senior lineman Joe Molea said. “We’re just going out there doing our jobs. Last year, we were simply offense. This year, we’re much better on defense and the offense is still great.”
Andreessen also had an interception for the Legends and had nine tackles, tying Michalski for the team lead. Trevor Wilson had the game’s lone sack for the Legends.
Offensively, Ryan Mansell threw for 154 yards and a TD and also ran for a score. Zach Samborski ran for 60 yards and a touchdowns and Andrew Hersey rushed for 29 more yards. L.G. Castillo caught five passes for 71 yards and Giordano added four catches for 58 yards for the Legends.
For OP (6-4), Josh Dahl ran for 105 yards on 15 carries and added 12 more yards on three receptions. Alexander Dogal had for catches for 83 yards and Matthew Honer had four grabs for 26 yards. Zach Prince had 11 tackles and Pat Sullivan added 10 stops for the Quakers.
Lancaster will play the Section V champ Victor at 3:15 p.m. Saturday back at New Era Field. The Blue Devils beat Pittsford 23-7 in Saturday’s Class V final.
“Victor is a very talented football team so we’re going to have our hands cut out for us,” Rupp said. “We’re going to enjoy this tonight and then get back to work.”
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