LAKEVILLE, IN. - It's been 36 years since the LaVille football team has experienced the feeling of a conference football championship. In fact, current LaVille head football coach Will Hostrawser was a sophomore at John Glenn High School the last time Lancer Football raised a Northern State Conference trophy in 1986. Yes, LaVille has played big games since Hostrawser arrived. In recent history, the team has played in the 2017 Indiana High School Athletic Association Sectional Championship against Triton, the 2017 IHSAA Regional Championship at Pioneer, the 2021 IHSAA Sectional Championship against Pioneer, and the 2021 IHSAA Regional at Andrean just to name a few. Since the inception of the Hoosier North Athletic Conference in 2015, Pioneer has had a tight grasp on the HNAC football title. But the October 7 HNAC game between LaVille and North Judson-San Pierre had a different feeling. This one put the 1A #3 Blue Jays against the 2A #3 Lancers. And, very likely for a HNAC championship. Winning a conference crown was one that the LaVille senior class of football players has put on their checklist. "Going into this game we all knew it was going to be a challenging game," said senior tight end/linebacker Ross Wagoner. "We have had intense games with these same (North Judson) kids since junior high. My mindset was that we were going to need everyone on our team to do their job and give 100% to pull off a win." According to some, this was a game worth a brighter focus. In fact, it drew Game of the Week attention from a local television station, and invited a radio station to change its originally scheduled game along with a national audience via the world wide web. "We knew it would be close," said senior lineman Garrett Wagoner. "They're very athletic. The (LaVille) senior class has been competing against this same group of guys from Judson for years. It's always been a dog fight till the end." And a dog fight it was before LaVille rallied for a 27-21 comeback victory over NJSP in overtime. “. . . We have played in big games before – but (Friday) night’s game was just different,” said Hostrawser. “There were a lot of people all over the state paying attention to that game – it was a microcosm of what high school sports is supposed to be about. I thought our guys were locked in and handled it well. They played hard for 48 minutes – and dug a little deeper to get through the OT to come out on the right side of things.” The LaVille victory over NJSP guaranteed at least a share of the conference title for LHS. Lancer football still has one more conference game to play at Culver Community on October 14. A victory over CHS would earn the title outright. Kick is scheduled for 7 p.m. During Friday's game, senior wide receiver Owen Smith was the first to make a big play that started the Lancer scoring. "I ran what I like to think of a modified post route," explained Smith, who was on the receiving end of quarterback Lucas Plummer's 25-yard touchdown pass. "I ran pretty hard to the left side of the field to draw whoever would pick me up away from the middle. When I felt like I had drawn over my defender far enough I cut back inside and made sure I got behind him. I knew that Lucas would take care of the rest by putting the ball in a good position." Along the way, there would be more players that made big plays for the Lancers. Ross Wagoner was one of those players that stepped in line "to do their job". The first was in the third quarter, as North Judson's Cheyenne Allen went out to the right flat. It looked like they were going to be able to complete the pass, but Ross Wagoner did a nice job on recovering the pass to bat the ball down. "One of my responsibilities is to cover the flats on a pass," said Ross. "During the 3rd quarter when I saw the quarterback drop back for a pass and Cheyenne Allen went out to the flats, I knew exactly what I needed to be doing, which was to be out in the flats to deflect the pass and prevent a completion. This was an important play on 4th down not far from their goal line." Later in a crucial fourth quarter possession for NJSP, Ross had to defend a running play that saw him shed a blocker and trip up Allen for a crucial tackle for loss. ". . . I saw Cheyenne Allen headed my way with the ball and knew I needed to position myself to have a good angle to make a tackle," explained Ross. "At the last second, I made a dive for the tackle and caught his foot causing him to go down with a 2 yard loss on the play. This was an important play to keep our momentum going." On the offensive side of the ball, senior running back Paul DeWitt had two point-producing carries as LaVille fought back to tie the game at 21-21 in the fourth quarter. DeWitt's first run came after he went off the right side, got into some traffic near the linebackers, then made a nice move to free himself and spurted to the end zone. "My first touchdown run I had I ran into my own teammate and it slowed me down a lot but I was able to get my legs going and found a gap to get into the end zone," said DeWitt. His second run came off the left side, got through the line, cut left and went up the left sideline for the score. "My second touchdown run I had, my line was able to make a big hole and seal off the edge for me to get to the side line and keep going untouched for a touchdown," explained DeWitt of the game-tying score. "Knowing I tied the game was a good feeling for me and the team. I think it helped everyone know we are still in the game and need to keep fighting." And keep fighting they would. With LaVille trailing 21-14 at halftime, the Lancer defense made a few adjustments and held Judson to zero points, two first downs, and just 50 yards of total offense in the second half. ". . . Defensively we had a game plan to stop their running game," said Garrett Wagoner. "We were flexible and knew what we needed to change when they changed things up. It felt really good to keep them very confined and not able to play their game." When LaVille could have easily given up after losing their starting quarterback/kicker to an injury to close the third quarter and missing a potential game-winning field goal at the end of regulation, the Lancers were not going to be denied on this night. It started with the Lancer defense allowing just three yards and forcing North Judson into a 25-yard field goal that missed its mark on the first series of OT. That set up a first-and-goal at the Blue Jay 10 for the LaVille offense. Senior Noah Richhart took the handoff and was able to get what appeared like a modest gain of five yards. But the whistle never blew and Richhart never stopped moving. The LaVille offensive line kept pushing and Richhart ended up in the end zone for the game-winner, setting off a celebration. "That specific play is not designed to make it 10 yards," explained Garrett Wagoner. "So, we didn't expect for the pile to continue moving but it did! It was all 11 guys pushing to make it into the end zone." DeWitt said he was expecting for the whistles to blow, but the whistles never came. "That final play with Noah scoring was crazy," said DeWitt. "We all thought the play would be blown dead but then we started pushing the pile and somehow Noah stayed on his feet to get into the end zone." Smith said that his assignment originally was to make the defender think the play was a pass. According to Smith, he lined up in his normal receiver spot to draw a defender from the line of scrimmage. "At first, I was several yards away from the pile because I was trying to fake out the outside linebacker with a pass," recalled Smith. "When the play was still going, I realized that the refs had not blown the play dead so I ran over and got to the back of the pile and pushed as hard as I could. Noah and the rest of our team did an amazing job pushing the pile far enough to get that touchdown. " The end result was something Smith and his teammates believed could happen. "It really is a special feeling," said Smith of the conference championship. "I know our team was going into the season knowing that we could accomplish this and win any game put in front of us. The way the game ended just showed how badly our team wanted the conference championship and how all our work paid off for it." Ross Wagoner concurred with Smith, "It is a pretty good feeling knowing we have won the very first HNAC Conference title for Laville and the first conference title since 1986. We have looked forward to this year for a long time. I am glad we were able to accomplish this for Coach Hostrawser. I'm looking forward to the state tournament in the coming weeks." According to Garrett Wagoner, the goal of playing in big games and winning all started when they were younger. "Being conference champions really means a lot," said Garrett Wagoner. "Ever since we started playing football together in pee-wee, we have had goals of winning big games and being very successful as a team. But, we're not done! We are looking forward to playoff successes also."