Dominating Delbarton

In two months, a few days after the calendar changes from November to December, 20 high school football teams from around New Jersey will celebrate winning a state title.
Earlier tonight, a few days after the calendar changed from September to October, the Lakeland Lancers celebrated as if they had just won a state title. No the playoffs did not start early this year but on a chilly Saturday night Lakeland knocked off Delbarton 17-9. The win was the first in school history for Lakeland over Delbarton.
Facing one of the top parochial schools in the state the Lancers took every hard hit in stride more then willing to exchange hard hits with the Green Wave.
Not only did the Lancers beat Delbarton today but they were also the team in control for most of the game.
When the Lancers took an early 7-0 lead the Delbarton bench and fans barely seemed to take notice. When the lead expanded to 10-2 and then 17-2 it was very apparent that the Delbarton bench started to tense up.
Instead of the Lancers being in awe of Delbarton it was the Green Wave that was in awe that someone was actually taking their best shot and repeatedly getting right back up.
If a call or play did not go the way of the Lancers no player or coach got to upset, they just readied themselves for the next snap.
And with each snap the Lancers found themselves closer and closer to victory.
Four season’s ago I was on the field at Giants Stadium when the Lancers completed the perfect season by winning a state championship. While the crowd and the setting was a bit smaller tonight even for a reporter on the sideline the impact of the win was just the same.