On Halloween night, the Lakeland offensive numbers in the first half were downright scary: no first downs, just nine snaps and two crushing penalties. But Lakeland's big playmaker had the answers in the second half, and the Lancers rallied to beat DePaul 21-14.

With the win Lakeland clinches the Northern Hills Conference-Suburban Division championship, only the 4th in school football history. The victory also locks up a home game for the Lancers in the New Jersey state playoffs.

The hero on offense was quarterback Dan Deighan. His 90-yard touchdown burst on the first play of the second half tied the score and brought hope back to the Lakeland sideline. "I think we caught them in a blitz," Deighan said. "The line made a huge hole and I just ran."

In the fourth quarter with the game still 7-7, Deighan struck again, running a sweep to the right and outracing the Spartan defense 70 yards to the end zone. DePaul responded with a strong drive, capped by James Jurewicz's second touchdown of the night to even the score at 14 with under three minutes to play.

But Deighan wouldn't let his team lose. He returned the ensuing kickoff to near midfield. Then on a third-and-3, Deighan scrambled away from pressure and ran 41 yards before being pushed out of bounds at the DePaul 7. Two plays later running back Bobby Thompson scored to put the Lancers ahead with under a minute to go.

DePaul reached Lakeland territory in the final seconds but a fourth down run came up a bit short of the sticks, and the Lancers held on for the victory.

Lakeland's defense deserves much of the credit as well. With the offense doing nothing in the first half, the defense limited DePaul to one score. The Spartans had the ball near the Lakeland goal line in the final seconds of the half, but the Lancers stopped Jurewicz twice just shy of the end zone and the clock expired, keeping it 7-0 at the break.

"We bend and we bend, but we didn't break," said Lakeland coach Tom McCormack. "I'm just so proud of these guys."

Lakeland plays West Milford next week in its regular-season finale, then moves on to the North Jersey, Section 1, Group 3 football playoffs where they're likely to be the third seed.

As for DePaul, the Spartans' two-game losing streak couldn't have come at a worse time. At 6-2, the Spartans are almost sure to be on the outside looking in at the state playoffs in Non-Public Group 3. Wins tonight by Bishop Ahr and Holy Spirit mean the last hope for DePaul is that Madison pulls off a stunner against Delbarton tomorrow--not a likely sports scenario at all. The Spartans can look forward to a cross-town showdown with Wayne Valley in their final regular season contest, what will basically now be DePaul's playoff game.