A rainy, cold night might have kept a good contingent of high school football fans at home on Friday, but the varsity football team from Lansing High School was anything but cold down the stretch.

    The Lions got several big plays on defense, offense and special teams in the third and fourth quarters of Friday night’s home game against the Leavenworth Pioneers to claim a 48-19 victory and the championship for Class 5A’s first district.

    “We are excited to be at home next week,” Lansing head coach John McCall said. “This is a great place to be with great support. I’m excited for the team and our community along with everyone else who has followed us this year.”

    The game started out much more evenly contested. On the first possession of the game, Leavenworth capped off a scoring drive with a 30-yard touchdown run by senior Drew Sachen. Senior John Buckley converted the extra-point kick, and the Pioneers held a 7-0 lead with 10:23 left in the opening quarter.

    Neither team would do any scoring for the remainder of the quarter, and that remained true for most of the second quarter as well. The Lions were able to put together a long touchdown drive, punctuated by senior Steve Ray’s nine-yard touchdown run and a senior Kyle Hoffman extra point kick to tie the game at seven with 4:56 left in the first half.

    That was when the big plays started to happen, for both teams.

    The Lions got a 21-yard touchdown run by junior Quinton McQuillan with 3:25 left. Hoffman’s extra-point try failed, and Lansing held a 13-7 lead. Only momentarily, however.

    Senior Nick Starnes took the ensuing kickoff 90 yards for the tieing score, and Buckley mimicked Hoffman’s missed extra point to send the game to halftime tied at 13.

    The early minutes of the second half were when the big plays swung the Lions’ way, and the momentum of the game along with it.