IJAMSVILLE- Football is a simple sport in Linganore head coach Rick Conner’s eyes. To play your game, make adjustments if needed and always bring relentless toughness to keep the word “possible” alive. And if nothing works, then maybe it’s just not meant to be. But the most important thing Conner abides by is that you play to win the game and anything short of that is intolerable.
Last year, against Damascus in the 3A West region championship, the Lancers found themselves down one point after facing a 14-0 deficit in the fourth quarter – instead of kicking the PAT to most likely send the game to overtime, Conner went for the win on a 2-point conversion call.
Right then and there in the heat of the moment, it seemed like nothing could go wrong, but that’s when it wasn’t meant to be as quarterback Nathaniel Musselman lost his footing after receiving the snap – falling inches short to the frozen turf.
The 14-13 loss stuck in the back of Linganore’s minds as they were chomping at the bit to rival another opportunity.
On Friday night, Musselman and the Lancers were put in a very similar situation – this time entering the fourth quarter facing a 13-point deficit.
They didn’t lose faith nor had flashback’s. Little by little they chipped away at the Oakdale lead. Then with 26.3 seconds left, Musselman found Dante Butler on a 10-yard strike to make it 20-19 still in favor of Oakdale.
Conner stuck to his golden rule – playing to win the game.
“You just play to win the game,” Conner said. “That’s it.”
He was not hesitant and sent the offense back out on the field for an ensuing two point conversion try. Musselman converted as he found Wade Stieren in the back of the end zone to lead his Lancers (6-0) to a 21-20 victory over Oakdale.
“We always play to win the game,” Musselman said who finished 12 for 20 on 107 passing yards and one passing touchdown. “It’s been a whole frustrating year of two point conversions. Finally, just finally.”
For the entire first half, Oakdale was in control – dominating the total yardage 165 to 91 and had a halftime lead 13-7 despite fumbling twice inside the red zone.
“Never once did it cross my mind that we wouldn’t be able to come back,” Musselman said.
With Musselman at the helm, Linganore improves to 17-1 since he took over the starting role last year.
“In the first half, they (Oakdale) had us,” Conner said. “Second half, we put number seven (Musselman) in charge. Nothing bad can happen when he’s in charge.”
Through the first half of the year, Linganore stood at 5-0. And despite being undefeated they were faced with adversity of under-acheiving. Musselman put that load on his shoulders and it’s safe to say that he answered on Friday night.
“I just kept faith in God,” he said. “I prayed and I prayed and I just kept praying.”
Coming out after the half, Oakdale orchastrated a six play 65 yard drive as Sean McGaughey connected with Ben Simonica on a 22-yard touchdown with 10:37 left in the third quarter.
It looked all but over as Oakdale kept pounding the ball down Linganore’s heart of the defense.
“We didn’t give up,” Musselman said.
Musselman and Linganore refused to back down. Oakdale was sustaining a deep drive into Linganore territory, Malik Boyd appeared to have day light towards the end zone, but he coughed up the football and fumbled at the three yard line.
Linganore would take advantage of the Oakdale mishap, taking an eight play 56 yard drive down the field that was capitalized by a two yard Musselman quarterback keeper to make it 20-13, still in favor of Oakdale with 9:54 left.
“There were numerous of times where Oakdale could have put us away,” Musselman said. “But God was on our side tonight and I can’t than him enough.”
With 2:52 left in the game, still down seven, Musselman and Linganore got the ball back at their own 45-yard line.
“I told our guys we can do this,” Musselman said. “We just have to believe.”
Musselman moved the ball down the field at will – to the 48, then across midfield to the 39, the 21, to the 10. That’s when he found Dante Butler on the 10 yard touchdown reception with 26.3 seconds left and then converted on the ensuing two point conversion.
As for Oakdale, their minus four turnover differential plagued them from holding onto the lead.
“It’s hard to beat a good football team turning the ball inside the 10 yard line three times,” Stein said. “We needed to play clean and we didn’t.”
It was the one that got away for the Bears as the nightmares that continue to haunt the organization in marquee games spewed out once more.
“We did a lot of things right and so did Linganore,” Stein said. “It just feels awful.”
The loss drops Oakdale to 5-1 as they look to rebound next week against Walkersville.
“At the end of the day, you play to win the game,” Conner said. “We’ll play to win the game next week and for the rest of the season.”
You can follow me on Twitter @k_fadd and Maryland Sports Access @MDSportsAccess.
Box score
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final | |
| LIN | 0 | 7 | 0 | 14 | 21 |
| OAK | 7 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 20 |
Scoring summary
| LIN | OAK | ||||
| 1st | 5:00 | OAK | Ben Simonica 30-yard pass from Cory Schlee (Brummer kick) | 0 | 7 |
| 2nd | 9:30 | LIN | Dante Butler 2-yard rush (Sparacino kick) | 7 | 7 |
| 8:37 | OAK | Cory Schlee 31-yard pass from Sean McGaughey (Kick failed) | 7 | 13 | |
| 3rd | 10:37 | OAK | Ben Simonica 22-yard pass from Sean McGaughey (Brummer kick) | 7 | 20 |
| 4th | 9:54 | LIN | Nathaniel Musselman 2-yard rush (Kick failed) | 13 | 20 |
| 0:26 | LIN | Dante Butler 10-yard pass from Nathaniel Musselman (2-pt conv good) | 21 | 20 |
Linganore individual stats
| Passing | Comp. | Att. | Yards | Comp.% | TD | INT | QBR |
| #7 Nathaniel Musselman | 12 | 20 | 107 | 60.00% | 1 | 0 | 91.0 |
| #3 Wade Stieren | 1 | 1 | 21 | 100.00% | 0 | 0 | 118.8 |
| Rushing | Att. | Yards | Avg. | TD | Long |
| #23 Dante Butler | 22 | 73 | 3.3 | 1 | 12 |
| #7 Nathaniel Musselman | 7 | 40 | 5.7 | 1 | 13 |
| #45 Dominic Zanoni | 2 | 16 | 8.0 | 0 | 13 |
| #2 Davon Butler | 4 | -1 | -0.3 | 0 | 2 |
| Total | 35 | 128 | 3.7 | 2 | 13 |
| Receiving | Rec. | Yards | Avg. | TD | Long |
| #5 Jack Staub | 4 | 45 | 11.3 | 0 | 21 |
| #3 Wade Stieren | 3 | 36 | 12.0 | 0 | 20 |
| #2 Davon Butler | 2 | 20 | 10.0 | 0 | 18 |
| #23 Dante Butler | 2 | 16 | 8.0 | 1 | 10 |
| #41 Alec Mathews | 1 | 7 | 7.0 | 0 | 7 |
| #9 Jack Wilkerson | 1 | 4 | 4.0 | 0 | 4 |
| Total | 13 | 128 | 9.9 | 1 | 21 |
Oakdale individual stats
| Passing | Comp. | Att. | Yards | Comp.% | TD | INT | QBR |
| #7 Sean McGaughey | 15 | 25 | 196 | 60.00% | 2 | 1 | 94.8 |
| #18 Cory Schlee | 1 | 1 | 30 | 100.00% | 1 | 0 | 158.3 |
| Rushing | Att. | Yards | Avg. | TD | Long |
| #20 Malik Boyd | 18 | 47 | 2.6 | 0 | 10 |
| #7 Sean McGaughey | 8 | 33 | 4.1 | 0 | 9 |
| #25 Chris Demaille | 4 | 21 | 5.3 | 0 | 11 |
| #35 Tyler McGraw | 2 | 1 | 0.5 | 0 | 1 |
| #31 Percy Agyei-Obese | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 0 | 1 |
| #26 Ben Simonica | 1 | -2 | -2.0 | 0 | -2 |
| Total | 34 | 101 | 3.0 | 0 | 11 |
| Receiving | Rec. | Yards | Avg. | TD | Long |
| #26 Ben Simonica | 8 | 102 | 12.8 | 2 | 30 |
| #18 Cory Schlee | 4 | 73 | 18.3 | 1 | 31 |
| #13 Matt Beveridge | 2 | 17 | 8.5 | 0 | 12 |
| #35 Tyler McGraw | 1 | 17 | 17.0 | 0 | 17 |
| #20 Malik Boyd | 1 | 9 | 9.0 | 0 | 9 |
| Total | 16 | 226 | 14.1 | 3 | 31 |
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