In many ways, it  seemed fitting that Lancaster played this game at Ralph Wilson Stadium, home of the Buffalo Bills.

The previously unbeaten Redskins run a no-huddle offense, engineered by a quarterback sporting uniform No. 5.  Sound familiar?

Whatever disease the Bills have on this turf must be contagious, because it spread like wildfire to Lancaster.

North Tonawanda took advantage of five first half turnovers, converting them to 34 second quarter points en route to winning the Section VI Class AA championship,  blowing Lancaster off the field, 54-7

The 54 points scored is a stadium Section VI finals record, breaking the previous mark of 53 by Iroquois set in 2006.  Lancaster had only allowed 54 points scored on them the entire season before tonight.

“Turnovers like this get more and more critical as you move in the playoffs,” North Tonawanda coach  Eric Janzti said.  “Fortunately they went out our way and we were very opportunistic with them.”

Lancaster finished the game with eight giveaways.

Senior quarterback Justin Juda had an outstanding year.  Entering the game, Juda completed 81-of-166 passes for 1,138 yards and nine touchdowns.  He also led the team with 706 yards rushing.

It simply wasn’t his night.  Juda tossed three interceptions in the first half and another in the second as well as a lost fumble as North Tonawanda showed off a brutally physical defense.

Ironically, Lancaster moved the ball very well on its first two possessions.  On their first drive they were stopped only when a low fourth down pass in the end zone wasn’t handled by Andrew Mrozek.

The game was scoreless after one quarter. Then things got very ugly.

Lancaster chewed up yardage again offensively, but then Juda completed a pass to Cory Davis, who  fumbled.  The ball was recovered by Darrik Bloomfield and returned to the Redskins’ 28.

North Tonawanda took advantage.  Joe Montesanti took a handoff up the middle, plowed through an arm tackle by Andy Speyer and rumbled 22 yards for the game’s first touchdown.

From there, the water was just beginning to break from the dam.

After forcing a punt, the Lumberjacks smelled blood.  They got the ball back and fullback Steve Kijowski took one right through the heart of the Lancaster defense for a 41-yard score, and a 14-0 lead.

Kijowski was far from done. Two plays after scoring a rushing touchdown, he picked off a deflected Lancaster pass and took it 15 yards to paydirt, staking NT to a 21 point bulge.

Not bad for the senior, who played the game with a cast on his left hand; the result of a broken thumb and sprained ligaments.

The nightmare was merely beginning for Lancaster. The very next offensive play was a fumble by Zack Maryniewski and was recovered by North Tonawanda’s Travis Charsley at the 11. Four plays later, Kijowski scored again from four yards out.

He ran the ball five times in the game; three of them went for touchdowns and that’s not counting the pick six.

A 14-yard touchdown pass from Mike Tuzzo to Aaron Davis ended the second quarter massacre, making it 34-0.

If the proud Lancaster squad had any hopes of mustering a miracle comeback, it was squashed on their first possession of the second half when Bloomfield picked off Juda.  Soon enough, NT capitalized on a 19 yard touchdown connection from Tuzzo to  Montesanti.

Two Juda pass attempts later, Bloomfield got his second interception, which led to a third Kijowski touchdown.

Bloomfield gave all the credit to his defensive line.

“ It was the defensive front,” Bloomfield said.  “We put pressure on the quarterback all night and that’s what created the turnovers.”

To Lancaster’s credit, they managed to avoid the shutout in the fourth quarter on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Juda to Sean Pantling.

The Lumberjacks made sure the momentum didn’t last.  The next time Judah touched the ball he was hit by Clayton Schmidt, fumbled, and North Tonawanda recovered on the Lancaster seven.

Two plays later, Montesanti scored for the second time and the Davis extra point gave them the single-game scoring record.  Montesanti finished with a game-high 107 yards on the ground.  As a team, North Tonawanda ran for 234.

For good measure, Josh Kern picked off a pass by backup quarterback Corey Czaplicki for the Lumberjacks’ ninth turnover.

After the game, Jantzi gathered his team and told him they’re going to keep the same recipe, keep getting better and if they do, the sky would be the limit.

Their magical season will continue next Saturday at 6pm when they travel to Marina Auto Stadium in Rochester to take on the Section V champion Webster Schroeder.  The winner will advance to the New York State semi finals.  It’s North Tonawanda’s first Section VI championship since 2002.

For Lancaster, while embarrassed by the lopsided defeat, they still have a lot to hang their hats on.  They were good enough to make the title game undefeated, destroyed a good Lockport team to get there, and their achievements won’t go unnoticed by head coach Len Jankiewicz.

“We had a good year today,” Jankiewicz said.  “They were just by far the better team on this night.”