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Published: Friday, October 12, 2012
Lions hand Lancers worst loss in years by Travis Mewhirter Staff writer
Friday night was just one of those 'am I really seeing this?' kind of nights. You'd be hard-pressed to find anybody in the state of Maryland that would have predicted the 48-0 thumping that Walkersville High School handed Linganore.
Granted, the Lancers are having an uncharacteristic and very rare down year, but it's still Linganore (3-4) football, a tradition-rich program that always seems to extend its season deep into November. A Walkersville win was hardly unexpected, but 48-0? No way.
“The better team won, the better team won,” Lancer coach Rick Conner said.
There was no question Walkersville (7-0) was the better team. The county's leading rusher, Avery Ezell, needed just two carries to make his first of three trips to the end zone. He followed his 33-yard touchdown on the opening drive with a 6-yard score to cap a possession in which the ball touched his hands on eight of nine plays.
Linganore's night could be summed up on the ninth play of its next drive. Facing a fourth down and 8 yards to go at the Walkersville 45 yard line, Conner sent out the punt team to ensure a long field for Walkersville's offense. But the snap sailed well over punter Kyle Parsons' head. He scrambled to beat Walkersville's line to the ball but couldn't buy enough time to put a foot on it and ran backwards, and then back some more, and then back some more before finally being brought down 37 yards later on Linganore's own 18.
“They took advantage of our mistakes,” Conner said. “We made mistakes, you know, bad start and they took advantage of things.”
Walkersville receiver Myron Maiben scored on the ensuing play when the whole Lancer line bit on a fake to Ezell, leaving 18 yards of free real estate for the senior to run through.
Lancer fullback Austin Webber found a little daylight on the first play of Linganore's drive but he was sandwiched between tacklers after a 20-yard pickup and the ball popped loose — one of five Linganore turnovers on the night — which signaled generally how the rest of the evening would go for the Lancers.
“The way we came out tonight, that's how we need to play every game,” said Walkersville quarterback Brady Policelli, who finished the night with 105 yards and a touchdown. “I think if we play every game the way we played tonight good things will happen.”
Policelli and Ezell's services weren't needed much in the second half, although the senior running back, still undecided as to where he'll be playing next year, would add another touchdown and 58 more yards.
Nick Tucker, who picked off a Clark Stieren pass and returned it 33 yards for a touchdown in the first half, expanded upon Linganore's special teams woes, taking a punt back 85 yards to the end zone for the final score of the game.
“Adding Nick Tucker to our team — last year he was our guy in the student section, he kept us going in the fan base,” Policelli said. “But this year he's super fast and he really wanted to play and he did huge things tonight.”
The Lancers haven't suffered a loss this bad in at least eight years, and the only team to ever beat them by more than 24 in that time span was Middletown in 2010. Walkersville, meanwhile, is off to its second consecutive 7-0 start. The only team it has lost to in the past 19 games is Middletown, who the Lions finish up the regular season with.
“We'll see,” said Walkersville coach Joe Polce if this is the year his Lions can finally take down Middletown. “Stay tuned.”
tmewhirter@gazette.net
Walkersville 48, Linganore 0
Walkersville (7-0) 21 14 6 7—48
Linganore (3-4) 0 0 0 0—0
W—Avery Ezell 33 run (Brady Policelli kick)
W—Avery Ezell 6 run (Brady Policelli kick)
W—Myron Maiben 18 run (Brady Policelli kick)
W—Braden Smith 66 pass from Brady Policelli (Brady Policelli kick)
W—Nick Tucker 33 interception return (Brady Policelli kick)
W—Avery Ezell 1 run (Brady Policelli kick failed)
W—Nick Tucker 85 punt return
RUSHING
Walkersville—Avery Ezell 24-168; Myron Maiben 2-18; Brady Policelli 1-9.
Linganore—Bradley Unger 18-58; Justin Cooney 8-39; Austin Webber 4-29; Kevin Connor 6-13; Michael Starin 1-2
PASSING
Walkersville—Brady Policelli 3-7-105
Linganore—Clark Stieren 4-14-57-1
RECEIVING
Walkersville—Braden Smith 2-97; Avery Ezell 1-8
Linganore—Josh Gontarek 4-57
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© 2012 Post-Newsweek Media, Inc./Gazette.Net
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Published: Friday, October 12, 2012
Lions hand Lancers worst loss in years by Travis Mewhirter Staff writer
Friday night was just one of those 'am I really seeing this?' kind of nights. You'd be hard-pressed to find anybody in the state of Maryland that would have predicted the 48-0 thumping that Walkersville High School handed Linganore.
Granted, the Lancers are having an uncharacteristic and very rare down year, but it's still Linganore (3-4) football, a tradition-rich program that always seems to extend its season deep into November. A Walkersville win was hardly unexpected, but 48-0? No way.
“The better team won, the better team won,” Lancer coach Rick Conner said.
There was no question Walkersville (7-0) was the better team. The county's leading rusher, Avery Ezell, needed just two carries to make his first of three trips to the end zone. He followed his 33-yard touchdown on the opening drive with a 6-yard score to cap a possession in which the ball touched his hands on eight of nine plays.
Linganore's night could be summed up on the ninth play of its next drive. Facing a fourth down and 8 yards to go at the Walkersville 45 yard line, Conner sent out the punt team to ensure a long field for Walkersville's offense. But the snap sailed well over punter Kyle Parsons' head. He scrambled to beat Walkersville's line to the ball but couldn't buy enough time to put a foot on it and ran backwards, and then back some more, and then back some more before finally being brought down 37 yards later on Linganore's own 18.
“They took advantage of our mistakes,” Conner said. “We made mistakes, you know, bad start and they took advantage of things.”
Walkersville receiver Myron Maiben scored on the ensuing play when the whole Lancer line bit on a fake to Ezell, leaving 18 yards of free real estate for the senior to run through.
Lancer fullback Austin Webber found a little daylight on the first play of Linganore's drive but he was sandwiched between tacklers after a 20-yard pickup and the ball popped loose — one of five Linganore turnovers on the night — which signaled generally how the rest of the evening would go for the Lancers.
“The way we came out tonight, that's how we need to play every game,” said Walkersville quarterback Brady Policelli, who finished the night with 105 yards and a touchdown. “I think if we play every game the way we played tonight good things will happen.”
Policelli and Ezell's services weren't needed much in the second half, although the senior running back, still undecided as to where he'll be playing next year, would add another touchdown and 58 more yards.
Nick Tucker, who picked off a Clark Stieren pass and returned it 33 yards for a touchdown in the first half, expanded upon Linganore's special teams woes, taking a punt back 85 yards to the end zone for the final score of the game.
“Adding Nick Tucker to our team — last year he was our guy in the student section, he kept us going in the fan base,” Policelli said. “But this year he's super fast and he really wanted to play and he did huge things tonight.”
The Lancers haven't suffered a loss this bad in at least eight years, and the only team to ever beat them by more than 24 in that time span was Middletown in 2010. Walkersville, meanwhile, is off to its second consecutive 7-0 start. The only team it has lost to in the past 19 games is Middletown, who the Lions finish up the regular season with.
“We'll see,” said Walkersville coach Joe Polce if this is the year his Lions can finally take down Middletown. “Stay tuned.”
tmewhirter@gazette.net
Walkersville 48, Linganore 0
Walkersville (7-0) 21 14 6 7—48
Linganore (3-4) 0 0 0 0—0
W—Avery Ezell 33 run (Brady Policelli kick)
W—Avery Ezell 6 run (Brady Policelli kick)
W—Myron Maiben 18 run (Brady Policelli kick)
W—Braden Smith 66 pass from Brady Policelli (Brady Policelli kick)
W—Nick Tucker 33 interception return (Brady Policelli kick)
W—Avery Ezell 1 run (Brady Policelli kick failed)
W—Nick Tucker 85 punt return
RUSHING
Walkersville—Avery Ezell 24-168; Myron Maiben 2-18; Brady Policelli 1-9.
Linganore—Bradley Unger 18-58; Justin Cooney 8-39; Austin Webber 4-29; Kevin Connor 6-13; Michael Starin 1-2
PASSING
Walkersville—Brady Policelli 3-7-105
Linganore—Clark Stieren 4-14-57-1
RECEIVING
Walkersville—Braden Smith 2-97; Avery Ezell 1-8
Linganore—Josh Gontarek 4-57
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© 2012 Post-Newsweek Media, Inc./Gazette.Net
