After World War II, Western Maryland college decided to no longer play against larger schools and instead play what is considered to be its "natural rivals."

In 1947, Western Maryland and Johns Hopkins began the tradition of having the last game of the regular season be played against each other.

The origin of the Maryland Railroad Lantern Trophy is traced back to Vincent Chesney, a alumni of McDaniel College.

He recognized the history of the rivalry that lacked a trophy and wanted to honor that rivalry as his brother Bob Chesney was associate head coach at Johns Hopkins.

The result saw Hopkins clinch the outright conference title with their seventeenth consecutive home victory.