Lancaster kicks off the Summer with their Youth Camp

This past June the Lancaster football team hosted youth from the community in a camp for football. A little bit about the camp:

This non-contact football camp is designed for players 7-15 years of age. The goal of the camp is to introduce young players to the fundamentals of the game of football.

The importance of good sportsmanship, hard work and have FUN will be stressed and each camper will receive a Lancaster Legends Football T-shirt. There will be a punt, pass and run competition with daily prizes.

Talks each day will be centered around the core values of Lancaster Football which include hard work, discipline and the power of doing everything with high energy and a positive attitude.

Below is a short video of that week where it started, not just for the team that will be on the field on Sunday but for the future Legends that wish to one day play the game of football.

Lancaster is in the Playoffs

Up until 1992, the farthest any WNY football team could go was the Section Championship. That all changed in 1993 when a State Playoff was introduced and teams would begin the quest for a State Championship.

In 1993 Lancaster would be in the hunt for the playoffs but would have to win the last game of the season to even have a shot at the post-season. Enter the Depew Wildcats, a team that was undefeated at 7-0 and looking to finish with an unblemished record. Lancaster would travel to Frank Constantino Sports Complex for this showdown.

Junior RB Andre Cook would get Lancaster on the board first with a 56 yard run around the right sideline in the 1st quarter. He would finish the game with 140 yards and 26 carries on the night. Depew would answer with a score of their own before the end of the first half with a 1 yard run and convert the extra point, Depew up 7-6.

The 2nd half would see only one team score. Late in the 4th quarter Lancaster would get the ball and move it down the field. Inside the Red Zone QB Jason Mangone would be flushed from the pocket and scramble before finding TE Eric Betz just inside the endzone who would bobble the ball before hauling in the winning score.

Lancaster vs Williamsville

In 1923, Lancaster football was only in its 5th year of existence. Only 20 young men came out to play this year for the squad. They would play 8 games with 2 of them against Williamsville.

Week 4 would see the boys from Lancaster score a TD in the 4th quarter after a blocked kick. An interception would lead to the next touchdown and helped secure the victory.

Williamsville would turn the tables in week 7 as the 2 teams met once again. This time Williamsville was able to get an early TD and hang on to win the game. Lancasters season would continue and finish the year at 3-4-1.

Lancaster vs Jamestown

Lancaster had a 7-0 lead at the half in the first ever meeting between Lancaster and Jamestown. With 9:23 left in the game, Lancaster would put up another TD but would miss the PAT, 13-0. Jamestown would get a score late in the game and go for an onsides kick and recover. With 33 seconds left in the game, the Red Raiders would score and convert the extra point to come away with a win, 14-13.

Section VI had formed in 1971 where the team was placed in Division III. In '73 and '74 they jumped up and played in Divison II. In 1975 the team was moved up to Division I. With the move to Division I, this would be the first year Lancaster and Jamestown would meet and they have played each other every year since. Friday nights game will mark the 50th time these 2 schools will face off.

Playoffs Lancaster vs Kenmore

It was a year ago that Lancaster entered the playoffs against Kenmore West on a windy, rainy night at Foyle-Kling Field. Kenmore entered the game 5-2 on the year and with a 4 game winning streak to add to their resume.

The Legends would get on the board first with a Zach Samborski run of 9 yards. The Blue Devils would not go away easily as after an interception they were able to cross the goal line but fail on a 2-point conversion, Lancaster up 7-6.

More on this game here.

Week 7 Lancaster vs Depew

In 2013 the Lancaster football team came into the Depew game on a 3 game losing streak. Depew had won 2 games in a row and also had won 3 straight Lancaster/Depew games. The LHS Seniors had never seen the Varsity team win a game against Depew. The Wildcats looked to have all the momentum coming into the game.

Lancaster would have none of it. The team went to Depew HS and were able to walk away with a big 36-0 win.

The visiting team got on the board first when a RB from Depew fumbled the ball and M. Szymanski picked it up and ran for a 75 yard TD. They went for 2 and were able to convert it, up 8-0.

Lancaster would score again at the start of the 2nd quarter on a long run by Mitch Fuller, 68 yards. More on this game here.

Week 4 Lancaster vs Jamestown

In 1988 Lancaster would travel to Jamestown to take on the Red Raiders and a team that was ranked No. 1 in the state. Lancaster would have a 14-0 lead at halftime, a 35 yard interception and a 9 yard pass would both earn touchdowns for LHS. With a little over 3 minutes left to play, Jamestown was stopped on a 2 point conversion to help earn the victory for Lancaster.

The team would go on and earn the right to play in Rich Stadium against N.T.

Lancaster makes a run to the Playoffs

Coming off an 8-2 season the 1995 Lancaster football team started the year at 2-2 and faced an uphill climb to the playoffs. They had lost their all-time leading rusher in Andre Cook to graduation along with Bryan Lorenz on defense. Starting QB Andy Kufel starts the year with a stress fracture in his leg and shoulder tendonitis to add to the drama.

In 1980, Hamburg had beaten Lancaster 3-0, they would not beat them again until week 4 in 95. A 89 yard interception and a 2 point conversion pulled out a win for the Bulldogs and sets Lancaster back to 2-2.

With 4 games remaining, the team had OP, West Seneca East, St. Joe's and Depew on the schedule. Whatever Coach Jankiewicz did seemed to work. The offense scored a total of 88 points in those 4 games while the defense only gave up 13.

The team would move onto the playoffs for a 3rd year in a row in 95.

The 1976 season was the 25th for Coach Foyle. The season started with Sweet Home at a wet and rainy Bill Kling Field. The team would have the ball deep in the opposing team's end but would be unable to put 6 points on the board. Sweet Home won 13-7.

Week 2 Lancaster would travel to Niagara Falls and take on the Wolverines but the outcome would be different this time. Lancaster had a 6-0 lead in the 2nd quarter but it was short lived as NF would tie it up before the half. The boys from Lancaster would go ahead with 7:01 left in the game and earn the win 12-6.

Lancasters season would continue and the 1976 team would end up at 4-3-1.

Three players from the team earned the right to be called All-Stars

Senior Tackle Mike Wheeler

Senior Linebacker Ed Damiani- more about Ed here

Senior DB Ken Kieliszek

An 11 year assistant for Lancaster has taken over the Head coaching duties as long time coach Joe Foyle has retired.

In week 3 of the season, a 2-0 Lancaster team met Kenmore East. Down 6-0, Lancaster would score 4 touchdowns, 2 in the second quarter and another 2 in the 4th.

The squad would continue its winning ways for much of the season, only having one blemish on the year. Their final record, 7-1.

New Head Coach Len Jankiewicz would continue coaching at Lancaster until 2011. He finished with the most wins for a Lancaster Head Coach, a record of 143-90-2.

Lancaster becomes charter members of the ECIC

Starting in 1934 Lancaster would play in WNYIC or the Western New York Intermediate Conference.

That changed at the end of the 1952 season. Lancaster and a number of others schools would become charter members of the ECIC, Erie County Interscholastic Conference.

1952 would be the last in WNYIC for Lancaster. Two of the five officers for the newly formed conference are:

John Java and Bill Kling

ECIC History

Lancaster hires a Rookie Head Coach

A Rookie head coach would be brought in to lead the squad in Lancaster in 1961. He had a stellar JV coaching career at Lancaster, going 43-2-2 with a 36-game winning streak thrown in there. He would be asked to lead a team who a season before would go 1-7.

The team would make the jump up from ECIC Division II to Division I for 1961 as well to make the situation that much more challenging.

The first game of the season Lancaster would face Frontier. The Falcons would jump out to a 25-0 lead before LHS would be able to answer with a score of their own bringing the final score to 25-7.

The season would not go as well as fans would like as the squad would end up with a record of 1-6.

That head coach would continue at Lancaster for a few more years before his last game coaching for Lancaster in 1985. His overall coaching record at Lancaster sits at 160-83-9.

The rookie head coach's name was Joe Foyle.