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BALTIMORE — The magical run woven together by the Walkersville football team last year seemed along the lines of a Cinderella story scripted on the gridiron.
To an outsider, that may be so, but inside the football program lied prideful aspirations suited for the everyday lion — and secrets were kept bottled up for what magically transpired.
On the first day of school in 2015, all of the Lions senior football players wrote letters to themselves on what they want to accomplish by the time they graduate. Rising senior running back Chad Gleason had no idea what was written on those meaningful letters, until he glanced at them earlier this year.
“They all wrote down that they want to make it to states,” Gleason said. “It was pretty odd.”
The 2015 campaign by the Walkersville Lions, which resulted in an 11-3 record and a state championship run fallen short, appeared improbable in the beginning of the season in September. In the previous two seasons, they had a combined record of 7-13, failing to qualify for the playoffs in 2013 and 2014.
Last year, the Lions held the fourth and last seed in the 2A West postseason battle, carrying the label as the underdog through the entire journey. In the first round, they defeated Oakland Mills, 26-14, to reach the regional championship against Carroll County stalwart South Carroll — a game they dramatically blocked a kick in the fourth quarter to hold onto win, 17-14.
Then, in the state semifinal game, kicker Noah Sadler booted the game-winning 23-yard field goal with 6 seconds left to send Walkersville past previously undefeated North Caroline, 17-15.
“I was looking at all of (the letters), and was like, ‘Wow’. Our run came from the seniors,” Gleason said.
Walkersville played in their first state final since 1992, a handful of years before Gleason or the rest of the Lions football team was even born. The magic that surged the Lions to the state title game ran out with 12 minutes left of the what seemed story-book ending.
A 13-point fourth quarter lead was wiped away with tedious momentum swings. Patuxent capped it off with the game-winning touchdown in the final minute; a gut-wrenching blow that still lingers with Gleason until this day
“I’m not quite sure what happened,” Gleason said of the state championship collapse. “Just couldn’t put it together at the end.”
Gleason ran for 240 yards and all three of the Lions’ scores in the state final game. He described his experience at M&T Bank Stadium as life-changing, but “awkward” at the same time because of the different pregame routine.
“I was just wanting to win a state championship, man,” Gleason said. “I just wanted that (win) so bad, nothing else.”
Luckily, for Gleason and the cluster of returning impact players, a second chance at redemption will present itself as the 2016 football season approaches.
Walkersville will return Gleason, who ran for 1,652 yards and 18 touchdowns on the ground in 2015, earning small-school First-Team All-State. They will also return quarterback, Billy Gant; running back and younger brother of Chad, Tyler Gleason; do-it-all playmaker, Jacob Wetzel; two-way standout Ty Littleton; and 6-foot-6 tight end Kyle Daggett.
They also return two of their five offensive linemen and six of the 11 defensive starters from the state championship run a season ago.
“We’ve worked 10 times harder this offseason,” Gleason said, who tied the school record in bench press max with Navy fullback Quentin Ezell and former lineman Tanner Dixon at 375 pounds.
Gleason claims the athleticism across the board has drastically improved, but the time is now for leaders to emerge and bonds to be formed if the Lions want to return to state championship contending form in the fall.
“The most important thing is building team chemistry, have everyone be on the same page,” Gleason said. “We need to feel like a big family.”
This past Sunday, Walkersville took part in the Ravens 7on7 passing tournament held at St. Paul’s School in Baltimore to build vital team chemistry.
Walkersville defeated Overlea from Baltimore County in the first round before being knocked out by the defending Class 1A state champions, Fort Hill in the second round, 4-3.
Gleason scored two of the three Walkersville scores. With under 25 minutes left (40 minute, running clock games) he returned an interception for a touchdown to knot it at 1-1. At the 17:10 mark, he received a pass from Gant to tie it 2-2.
Kyle Daggett would notch the third touchdown in the waning minutes to tie it at 3-3 before Fort Hill scored the game-winning point as time expired.
Both of the Gleason brothers, Littleton, and Wetzel head a prominent Walkersville backfield heading into the summer. Daggett is expected to serve as the top receiving threat with his superior length.
“We’re going to take it one game at a time,” Gleason said. “We’re not even thinking about making it to states right now.”
