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Before this football season even began, the Class 3A West Region was the state's toughest on paper.

During Friday night's region final at Quince Orchard, it looked even tougher from Linganore senior Robby Havenstein's vantage point in the trenches.

"It was real physical: down and dirty, getting in the grass," Havenstein said. "It was just physical."

With their 19-0 shutout of top-seeded Quince Orchard (11-1), the No. 2 Lancers (12-0) emerged as the toughest of the tough: Undefeated region champs.

Linganore, visiting Montgomery County by virtue of a deficit of less than two state playoff points, won a fierce battle for control of both lines of scrimmage. Fullback Zach Zwinak carried 25 times for 279 yards, including six runs of 10 yards or more.

Quince Orchard's own star runner, senior Ben Sasu, had 119 yards on 29 carries. But the Lancers took away the big play — his longest run was just 12 yards — and kept Sasu out of the end zone.

"To get a shutout, especially against an unbelievable team, is a great accomplishment for us," Zwinak said. "Our defense has worked really hard, and it's paid off."

The Penn State University commit helped set up Linganore's first-quarter touchdown with a 38-yard burst from the 7-yard line. Two more big plays, a pass and a run by quarterback Nick Marth, set up an easy 3-yard scoring run by Kevin Myers.

Long Zwinak runs — of 92 yards in the second quarter and 50 in the fourth — accounted for the rest of the game's points. The Lancers rolled up 453 yards of total offense to the Cougars' 201.

That said, it could have been different for Quince Orchard. The Cougars penetrated Linganore territory eight times, including each of their first three drives of the game. But they were forced to punt eight times, and turnovers ended two promising second-half drives.

"We never took advantage of our opportunities," said QO head coach Dave Mencarini. "They are the total package. They have size, speed, they're well-coached. I thought our defense did a great job hanging in there."

Sasu finished as Montgomery County's second-leading rusher, and the defense pitched three shutouts on the season. After losing four players from last year's team to Division I college programs, Mencarini expressed pride in an undefeated regular season return trip to the region final, especially in the 3A West.

"This was a great team," Mencarini said. "Nobody thought we would be 11-0 and the No. 1 seed in the 3A West. They talked about everyone else. The kids did everything they needed to do to get to this point."

Coming off a state runner-up appearance in the 4A a year ago, Linganore actually returned three future Division I players: Zwinak, Havenstein (University of Wisconsin) and receiver Ryan Dixon (James Madison University).

Yet a return trip to the state playoffs was far from certain. Lancers' head coach Rick Conner, too, told his players that no one expected them to be able to get out of the state's deepest region.

"We went from playing Frederick, to Tuscarora, to [Thomas Johnson], to Urbana, to Damascus to Quince Orchard," he said. "The road we've travelled has been, needless to say, tough. ... The best thing about winning is we get to hang out together and keep playing this game we love."