Published: October 25, 2008 12:29 am

Howser passes FH over Northern, 42-7

CUMBERLAND — Fort Hill showed the shotgun formation two weeks ago against Jefferson, but used it as their base offense Friday night to pile up the yards and points in a 42-7 win over Northern in Accident.

The Sentinels were able to spread out the Huskies, and used their size to gain 417 yards led by quarterback Eric Howser. Howser had a team-high 103 rushing yards, and was 13-of-19 for 218 passing yards.

Northern stalled on its first drive, but got it back deep in their own territory when the Huskies stripped the ball from a Sentinels running back. After a hold set the Huskies back, they were forced to punt the ball away.

The very next play saw the first points go on the board with a 72-yard pass between Howser and Jonathan Foster. The extra point failed and Fort Hill led 6-0 halfway through the first quarter.

Fort Hill cashed in again on its next drive when it scored on a 10-yard run by fullback Marcus Lashley. Lashley dragged defenders that last few yards into the end zone.

Another long Sentinels drive was capped by a one-yard plunge by Lashley with 11:28 left in the first half.

The Huskies got the running game working on its first drive of the second half. Randy Wiley got three straight carries to move the ball down to the nine-yard line of Fort Hill. He even attempted a pass on third-and-goal before a fourth-down pass went incomplete.

The Sentinels, however, were flagged with a personal foul penalty that gave Northern a fresh set of downs at the Fort Hill six. After an incompletion on first down, Jake Bosley called his own number and got Northern on the scoreboard with a six-yard draw.

Zach Fratz intercepted Howser at Northern’s 11-yard line on the next Fort Hill possession, but the Huskies did little with it and were forced to punt.

Fratz was Northern’s leading rusher with 46 yards on 12 carries. Wiley added 45 yards on 10 rushes.

Howser had Fort Hill moving with the passing game, and a roughing the passer penalty against Northern got the Sentinels to the eight-yard line. Lashley moved it to the two on the next play, and Sam Walker pushed the lead to 28-7 with 17 seconds to play before halftime with the help of a two-point pass to Jordan Helmick.

“Fort Hill did a good job of spreading us out and using their size to even more of an advantage,” said Northern Head Coach Phil Carr. “I thought we had a nice drive when we scored, but we lost some momentum when they scored with 17 seconds left.”

In the first half, the Sentinels had seven first downs passing and five on the ground. They led the Huskies 275-86 in total yards during the first half.

The first drive of the second half erased almost five minutes off the clock as the Sentinels, staying mainly in the shotgun, moved from their own 30-yard line to the end zone. Lashley got his third touchdown with his second one-yard run.

Howser got his second touchdown pass when he hit Jordan Helmick on a fade route for 41 yards.

With the clock moving for the whole fourth quarter, the Huskies missed a second touchdown opportunity when a 75-yard run from Jason Green was called back by a penalty.

Fort Hill (6-1) returns home for a Maryland 1A West match-up with Mountain Ridge on Saturday. The Huskies (2-6) travel to Cumberland to play Allegany on Friday.