Photo by Travis Pratt Travis S. Pratt Linganore quarterback Nick Marth (8) hands the ball off to Zach Zwinak, who for a career-best 328 yards against Damascus Friday night at Linganore in the 3A West semifinals.

"Hey, Zach, great game man," Lucas told Zwinak as two of the state's top players shared a brief embrace.

On another night, Lucas might have been on the other end of a similar congratulatory greeting. But in Friday night's Class 3A West semifinal at Linganore , Zwinak was the star of the Lancers' 33-20 victory over the Swarmin' Hornets.

The Penn State recruit rushed for a career-high 328 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 25 carries to lead the second-seeded Lancers (11-0) into the 3A West championship game next Friday at top-seeded Quince Orchard (11-0).

"The holes were huge," the 6-foot-3, 245-pound senior said. "It all starts with the line."

Zwinak's performance rendered moot four Linganore turnovers, including a Zwinak fumble as he was going into the end zone for a back-breaking touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

"There's absolutely no excuse for it," he said. "I will have to look at the film to see what happened."

The turnover gave Damascus, trailing 27-20, at the time one last chance to get back in the game.

But the Linganore defense stood tall, stopping Lucas on a fourth-and-1 run up the middle to essentially seal the win 5 minutes, 53 seconds left in the game.

"You could see our kids were not going to give in," Linganore coach Rick Conner said.

It was the second significant stop of the night for the Lancers defense.

After taking a 7-3 lead in the first quarter, Damascus recovered a fumbled punt on the Linganore 5-yard line.

Poised to take control of the game, the Hornets (8-2) moved backward due to penalties. They were penalized seven times for 45 yards in the first half.

That drive ended with them turning the ball over on downs at the Linganore 24.

Three plays later, Zwinak burst up the middle on a 48-yard touchdown run that swung the momentum of the game back in Linganore 's favor and offset the Lancers' three first-half turnovers.

"Zach was playing with heart the whole time," backfield mate Kevin Myers said. "Even when people hit him from behind, he was still dragging them."

Running with what seemed like some extra burst in his legs, there was a stretch of the game in which Zwinak looked unstoppable.

Zwinak had a string of eight carries on which he rushed for 30, 48, 1, 34, 10, 10, 9, and 78 yards.

The 78-yard run went for a touchdown on the first play of the second half.

"I see him run hard like that every day in practice," Conner said.

Damascus (8-3) saw its six-game winning streak come to an end. The Hornets scored all three of their touchdowns on big plays.

Brandon Phelps caught a 76-pass from quarterback Connor Frazier, Lucas scored on a 34-yard touchdown run and Chris Betts pulled in a 38-yard scoring pass from Frazier on a fourth-and-9 play that was also the first play of the fourth quarter.

Aside from Zwinak, Linganore scored on a 13-yard run by quarterback Nick Marth, an 8-yard run from Myers, and field goals of 22 and 30 yards from senior kicker Alex Eckard.

Linganore and Quince Orchard seemed destined to play in the Class 4A state semifinals in recent seasons, but the matchup never materialized.

Both schools became members of the same region in 3A this season and will now play for its championship. The 3A West is considered to be one of the toughest regions in the state.

"I know it's a tough place to play, but we are pretty excited to get the chance to play them," Conner said.