Junior Varsity Football: Knights and Lancers Face Off in Physical Contest

By Ben Spector
Winning After MidKnight

 

While the Middletown High School Knights Junior Varsity Football team might have a rival with the Walkersville High School Lions because of the school history, the Knights have another rival in the Linganore High School Lancers, and this rivalry is based off of the close competition that occurs whenever the Knights and Lancers meet up.

This rivalry will renew once again on Wednesday September 14^th when the Knights head down Interstate 70 into to take on the Lancers from Linganore.

Middletown will be hoping to pick up where they left off when the Knights’ season opener against the Walkersville High School Lions was stopped in the fourth quarter and called a complete game due to lightning. But, when the game was stopped Middletown was in control of the contest with a 35-13 lead and the Knights hope that they can carry the same style of play that helped them into that lead into the Linganore game.

It’s an added plus for Middletown that the Knights were playing traditional “Middletown football” with the Knights pounding Walkersville on the ground using multiple running backs including Roland Hockenberry and Isaac Summers to slash through the Lions’ defense and produce the results to help them succeed.

The Middletown offense will be tested against the Lancers as Linganore has a much sturdier defense than the Lions but the Knights still hold a running game that will produce some degree of results no matter who they are playing.

The real question will be to what amount the Lancers can keep Middletown in check from an offensive standpoint. If the Lancers only limit Middletown in fleeting amounts from a rushing standpoint than the Knights will be in good shape. If Linganore can severely limit the Middletown offense than the Lancers will have a shot at taking down the Knights.

No matter what both teams do from a strategy standpoint this match-up is guaranteed to be a physical, hard-hitting contest as both of these teams are usually among the top junior varsity programs in Frederick County. The JV match-ups between the Lancers and the Knights not only represent some of the top JV games in Frederick County during the season but also preview what will be some fun Varsity match-ups to watch in one or two years.

With the junior varsity schedule being so short for Frederick County programs (8 games) it also magnifies the intensity of the match-up as this marks the quarter mark in the season and both teams will be looking to head into the middle part of their schedule with a head of steam.

Bothe teams are coming off of decisive victories as while the Knights took down Walkersville in convincing fashion, Linganore was doing the same as they played the Governor Thomas Johnson High School Patriots and would roll to a 41-12 victory over the Patriots.

In that regard both teams’ seasons have taken very similar paths as both the Lancers and Knights have shown a potent offense in the opening game while also having a stingy defense back that up.

For Middletown and Linganore, years and years of tough, physical games have lead to a rivalry between two teams that have more in common than what meets the eye.