There was no doubt that the varsity football was destined to win the State Championship this year. It came as a great surprise to fans and reporters when the Lancers fell short 17-14 in a last second field goal that gave Franklin High School the the 3A State Title in Annapolis on November 29.

The Lancers, who were hoping to repeat their 2017 state title,  put up a fight all the way to the final seconds,  defensively picking off three interceptions, by Will Coletti, Colby Bannon, and Ben Mussleman. There were an additional two sacks from Matthew Beekey and Dalton Pearl, who combined for one of those sacks, as well as Cole Mitchell’s solo sack and forced fumble. The defense was holding Franklin’s offense to a bare minimum of 14 points at the half, but it was the offense that wasn’t on their stride.

Offensively, the boys were not in their game, dropping open passes, not being able to convert off turnovers, and being held off to only 159 rushing yards. Local reporter Kyle Mcfadden did a video interview with Joey Felton, Ryan Leyh, and Coach Conner after the game where Felton said, “We missed out on a lot of opportunities that we didn’t capitalize off them. We played our butts off. Just the fact that we had three interceptions on defense–e didn’t come away with it.”

There are a lot of seniors on the team that are going to be leaving the team, and over that last two years these players have been building a bond that can never be broken.

The players had a tremendous year, going 9-1 in the regular season and going to the State Championship for the second year in a row.

Linganore football may have lost the 3A state championship game, but Linganore fans remain strong.

Oakdale High School plays the 2A state championship game against Howard County’s Glenelk High School on December 2 at 7 p.m.  Best of luck Bears!