LANCASTER, New York — It's a tradition of champions.
“Every year when you get into the playoffs, you bleach your hair blonde,” senior captain John Gang said.
“It started in 2016, my first year," Lancaster football head coach Eric Rupp said. "We won a sectional championship that year and that was our first one since 1999, so we broke a 17-year drought. We went back into the playoffs next year and we had to do it and we won again and then we had to do it again the next year and we won five in a row.”
That is the same road this year’s Lancaster Legends football team hopes to take after winning its first sectional championship at Highmark Stadium since 2019.
“It was a different experience," senior captain Nate Myers said. "Something you can’t prepare for. Just extremely proud of how we got it done.”
“It's definitely a hungry group," Rupp said. "To lose the last three years at the stadium, it's been weighing on us a little bit. It motivated us in the offseason, it motivated us throughout the course of the season to do whatever it takes to get back on top.”
“Being able to get a win this year, bring it back home, especially your senior year, it feels really good," Gang said. "All the work you put in the offseason and it kind of shows that it pays off but we know we still have a lot more football ahead of us.”
John Gang is just one of 35 seniors on this Lancaster team this year using another outlet of inspiration heading into the playoffs. This motivation stems from none other than one of the program's former players: Joe Andreessen.
“Buffalo Joe, it’s a cool nickname,” Gang said.
“He’s a great role model," senior captain Blake Minsterman said. "He’s like what all little kids want to be. They look up to him. From the same hometown, playing on the same field we play on.”
The Legends will now look to carry on that tradition of champions with a win in the Far West Regional against Aquinas Institute on Friday night.
“Definitely enjoy that big accomplishment of winning a section championship, but that's not our main goal," Minsterman said. "Our main goal is to win a state championship at the end of the day as well. So, not being too comfortable with where you are and staying locked in.”
