Photo by Skip Lawrence Linganore's Colby Weierbach (27) goes airborne while rushing Walkersville quarterback Jeremy Musselman, left, on Thursday night at Walkersville High School. The Lions' Cameron Farr, middle, is blocking. Purchase this photo

Linganore -- the top ranked public school in Maryland -- was trailing at halftime for the first time this season. The Lancers saw Walkersville , a decided underdog, take a two-point lead by containing an explosive offense and mounting a long touchdown drive against a mighty defense Thursday night.

But Kevin Myers, who stands 5-foot-5 and weighs 150 pounds, helped the Lancers bounce back. The speedy back broke three long touchdown runs in the second half and finished with 204 rushing yards as the Lancers downed the Lions, 43-21.

"They're a good team. I think we came out flat, and we can't do that against a good team," Myers said. "I think we came out more inspired in the second half."

With his team trailing 8-6, Myers scored the first two touchdowns of the third quarter on runs of 29 and 41 yards, giving the Lancers a 22-8 lead at the 4:43 mark. Meanwhile, Linganore 's defense didn't let Walkersville score in the second half until the 4:05 mark of the fourth quarter.

Walkersville 's upset bid was foiled, but it won't be forgotten.

The Lions (1-2) came away knowing they could make some noise against one of Maryland's heavyweights.

"It was a good confidence builder for us," Walkersville quarterback Jeremy Musselman said. "That's probably the best team I'm going to see this whole season, including the playoffs. We know we can play with anybody now."

And the Lancers (3-0) now know they can deal with a scare.

"It's great to be in this situation. Because you're going to be in this situation later in the season, and maybe next week, right?" Linganore coach Rick Conner said. "So, how do you respond? I think we responded and passed the test."

Things got the most challenging for the Lancers late in the second quarter. Walkersville kept Linganore 's high-powered offense off the field by mounting an 18-play, 71-yard scoring drive that gobbled up 8 minutes, 45 seconds. Musselman tossed a 9-yard touchdown pass to Jose Depadua with 2:20 left.

Setting up to kick the extra point, the Lions then ran a fake that led to Musselman's two-point conversion pass to Michael Kelley, giving the Lions an 8-6 lead.

Penn State-bound running back Zach Zwinak helped put the Lancers in position to respond. He broke at least five tackles for a 45-yard run to Walkersville 's 5. But on fourth-and-goal, the Lions stopped Nick Marth on a quarterback keeper with six seconds left in the half.

The Lions held Linganore 's potent rushing attack to 125 yards in the first half. Musselman credited the gameplan of defensive coordinator Joe Polce, who was familiar with a Linganore program he faced every year when he was Urbana 's head coach.

At halftime, was there any yelling in Linganore 's locker room?

"No. We're past yelling at these guys," Conner said. "It's got to be intrinsic, and it was. We said, 'It's up to you guys.'"

Myers was one of those guys. He had a knack for beating Lions defenders to the edge and sprinting

for the end zone.

"He hit the hole and just took off running," Marth said. "I've never seen him run so fast in my life."

The running back credited his line, but his teammates praised his performance, too.

"That little man can run," Zwinak said. "He runs like a big, power guy. He's very strong. He's got great vision. He can find the hole. And we he needs to, he delivers a hit. He's shifty."

The Lancers ended up rushing for 388 yards. Zwinak rushed for 155, including a 17-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.

Marth ran for two touchdowns, including a 46-yarder in the first quarter, and completed five passes for 83 yards. Ricky Conner took the most of the snaps in the first two games, but coach Conner said the quarterback's throwing hand was dinged up. Coming into the season, both quarterbacks were expected to get snaps.

Marth and Conner also grabbed interceptions for the defense.

"We just came out motivated from our bad first-half performance in the second half and we just brought it to them," Marth said.

Linganore 's defense held bruising running back Quentin Ezell to 46 yards on 22 carries.

Walkersville coach Ryan Hines thought his team ran out of gas in the second half. Most Lions play offense and defense, and they were playing a Thursday game after playing last Saturday.

Musselman completed 11 of 19 passes for 179 yards and three touchdowns. In the fourth quarter, he threw a 36-yard touchdown pass to Joey Zuniga and a 53-yard touchdown pass to Jacob Miller.