Apparently Parmenter is not only a top flight coach but he is also an expert at predicting football games.

"[On Thursday] he told us that he had been watching us since we were young players. He told us that he was going to come to Saturday’s game not as a coach, not as a parent but as a fan rooting for us to beat Delbarton. He told us that we were going to win," said Deighan.

Two days after their former coach talked to the players the Lancers took the field and did exactly what Parmenter said they would, for the first time in school history Lakeland beat Delbarton.

"History," said current head coach Tom McCormack after the win. "This is the first time in history. Coach talked to the kids about being historians, making history. The 2004 team never got the opportunity to accomplish this. What a team, what a game."

From the start of the game it was apparent that the Lancers were not going to be bullied by the Green Wave.

In fact it took less then five minutes for Lakeland to grab an early lead.

After forcing Delbarton to go three and out on their first possession Lakeland used eight plays to move 63-yards. The drive was capped by a one-yard touchdown plunge by junior Bobby Thompson.

Delbarton would move right down field after taking the ensuing kickoff but when push came to shove the Lancers defense stopped the Green Wave with their backs on their goal line. On second and goal from the one-yard line the Lancers forced Brennan Bicknese to fumble to ball. Jake McDonald recovered the ball much to the pleasure of the home crowd.

Thompson was stopped in the end zone on the next play for a safety but the Lancers were happy to trade seven points for two.

The Green Wave took the kick off and immediately were back in the Lancers red zone but on fourth and seven John Allard and Deighan stopped Jason Seifert short of the first down to end the drive.

The Lancers offensive line then took over as they opened holes for Deighan, Thompson and the rest of the Lancers runners. The sixteen play drive took more then seven minutes off the clock and ended in a 25-yard field goal by Allard.

On the play before the field goal attempt Deighan found Tyler Johnson open in the end zone but the junior tight end could not hold on to the pass. As they came off the field Deighan had a message for his receiver, "don’t worry about it and get it out of your head."

Johnson listened to his quarterback’s advice and on the Lancers next drive Deighan again found Johnson in the end zone and this time the play resulted in six points for Lakeland.

"We drove down and he got a touchdown pass. We told him to get it out of his head and he did. He wasn’t open but he got it and pulled it away from him," said Deighan.

Allard’s extra point was good and the Lancers had opened a 17-2 lead.

After the halftime break the Lancers suffered through a series of events that would have crippled most teams.

On the first play from scrimmage Thompson fumbled a handoff giving Delbarton possession at the Lancers 27-yard line.

Bicknese turned the turnover into points one play later when he scored to cut the Lakeland lead to 17-9. To make the score even worse Thompson had to be helped off the field after taking a helmet to the knee.

"In the third we fumbled the ball then got our running back hurt and they scored a touchdown but we did not put our heads down," said McCormack. "I am proud of them, they matured tonight."

For the rest of the third quarter the teams traded punts. At the start of the fourth quarter the Lancers lead was again tested when Allard’s field goal attempt was blocked. Matthew McMaster picked up the loose ball and appeared to be headed to a touchdown but Deighan knocked him out of bounds giving new life back to Lakeland.

The teams then traded punts and then came the fun for the Lakeland defense. Knowing that Delbarton needed to score and score quickly the Lancers defenders seemed to pin their ears back and attack at full speed.

When Delbarton quarterback E.J. Schneider was able to get a pass off Allard, Deighan and the rest of the Lakeland defensive backs were able to knock the passes to the ground.

With just seconds remaining in the game Eric Sinke came up huge for Lakeland. Three times.

On first and ten from midfield Sinke sacked Schneider for an 18-yard loss. On the next play Sinke grabbed Schneider’s arm as he attempted a pass causing the ball to fall harmlessly to the ground. On fourth down Sinke again sacked Schneider as the final horn sounded.

"I did not even know what was going on. I was just running around like a head case," said Sinke. I have been seeing us being crushed by Delbarton for so long. For us to beat them is awesome."

"We have been waiting for this. We had a little bit of Delbarton is us today. We had patients and poise. We are very happy," said McCormack.

For a few of the Lakeland players the win was one that they will never forget.

"All week we practiced for them and we knew that they would be tough," said Allard. "This might be as close to a state game as you can get. This was pretty close our fans supported us."

"This was like winning the state championship," said Deighan.

If the Lancers keep playing like they are Deighan, Allard and the rest of their teammates may find themselves playing for a state championship early in December.