On November 30, the varsity football team traveled to the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium to face off against the Milford Mill Millers for the 3A Maryland State Championship.

Milford Mill Academy is in Baltimore and had a season record of 12-1. This is the first time the Millers have been in the state championships since 1987.

The Lancers had a record of 11-2.

The last time the Lancers were in the football state championship was 2013 when they lost against Franklin High School. The last time LHS won states was in 2009.

Milford Mill scored the first 19 points of the game in the first half, but had a missed opportunity for a two point conversion and an extra point. The Lancers scored a touchdown with 48 seconds left on the clock before halftime.

“The biggest challenge I would say was focusing on winning states and not just being satisfied with getting there. We weren’t done yet and had to stay focused,” said Bennett Formulak, kicker, Class of 2019.

Once the game resumed, the Lancers scored two more touchdowns making the score 22-19.

Milford Mill answered with a touchdown drive to make the score 22-25. They had a successful two-point conversion to put them up 22-27 with four minutes left in the game.

The Lancers saw their title hopes flashing before their eyes as they eyed a fourth and ten deep into their own territory. Ryan Leyh, quarterback, scrambled for a first down just barely reaching the ball across the line.

The Lancers kept driving but eventually were faced with another fourth down. This one with just one yard to go. Leyh handed the ball off the Ben Musselman, class of 2020, who plunged forward with what seemed to be a first down but was too close to tell. The officials brought out the chains to measure the spot and Musselman had the first down a few inches.

The Lancers proceeded to go down to the two-yard line and scored a touchdown with 14 seconds left on the clock making the score 28-27. They kicked off and Milford Mill ran two desperation plays and got nowhere.

The clock counted down to zero, and the Lancer crowd went wild as they won their 6th 3A State Football Championship, the most ever in Frederick County.

“It was awesome to know that all our hard work throughout the summer and fall paid off, and it was surreal to spend that time with my teammates,” said Formulak.

Junior, Joey Felton, suffered from an ankle injury in the first half of the game. Nick Albano suffered from a head injury in the last quarter.

The Lancers have now won four state championships this year and need one more to set the new record for the number of state championships in one school year.