Published: December 07, 2008 12:22 am

Heartbreaker
Dunbar touchdown, two-point conversion with two seconds left beats Fort Hill, 20-19

Steve Luse
Cumberland Times-News

BALTIMORE — The Dunbar Poets stole a page from the Fort Hill script on how to pull out wins and drove 91 yards in the final two minutes to beat the Sentinels 20-19 with a touchdown and a two-point conversion with two seconds left for their third straight Maryland Class 1A state championship on Saturday afternoon at M&T Bank Stadium.

Quarterback Jonathan Perry connected with Sean Farr on a 13-yard scoring strike to give Dunbar the chance to win on a play where he didn’t even see the catch. Fort Hill was called for roughing the passer to move the Poets closer for the two-point conversion, and Tavon Austin went around the left end for the two points.

Austin, Dunbar’s all-everything running back, rushed for 191 yards on 28 carries and scored the Poets’ first two touchdowns on runs of 36 and 47 yards. Perry finished 6-for-20 passing for 91 yards and had one pass picked off. But he came up with the big plays when they counted.

Marcus Lashley got the Fort Hill ball control running game going in the second half and finished with 75 yards on 23 carries. The 6-3, 210-pound senior fullback scored a pair of touchdowns and kicked an extra point. Quarterback Eric Howser went 11 yards on a sweep for the other touchdown and came up with some key pass plays, completing 5 of 10 attempts for 114 yards.

The Sentinels, who used late drives to beat Allegany on Homecoming and in the West Region final, closed the season with an 11-2 record after having their 10-game winning streak snapped. Dunbar, the top seed after winning the North Region, finished 13-1.

Fort Hill had a chance to possibly nail down the win when Lashley lined up for a 37-yard field with two minutes left. He had been successful on kicks of 31 and 32 yards during the season, but a low snap resulted in a squibbler that gave Dunbar the ball at its own 9-yard line with 1:56 on the clock after an attempted return by Austin.

After two incomplete passes and a 2-yard run, Perry got away on a scramble for 13 yards on fourth down to keep Dunbar alive. The tall senior quarterback had completions of 18 yards to Avery Brisbon, 10 yards to Austin, 14 yards to Michael McNeil, and 26 yards to Farr for a first down at the 13 with only 13 seconds left. That set the stage for a dramatic finish.

“I feel hurt for our kids. They played as hard as they can play,” said Fort Hill coach Todd Appel. “Dunbar has an incredible team and they beat us with big plays. We weren’t even supposed to be here in the finals against an all-star team from Baltimore and we should have won and brought the championship back to Cumberland. It was a disappointing way to end.”

Dunbar coach Lawrence Smith got a tougher battle than he anticipated from Fort Hill and was just happy he had the athletes and speed to pull it out at the end.

“I didn’t expect anything like that,” he said. “Fort Hill came prepared for us and they just played a great game. On the last drive we just put all our best athletes on the field as wide receivers and we had some good match-ups and the line gave our quarterback time.”

It was the lowest number of points for the Poets as they hurt themselves with penalties and other mistakes. They also had some trouble solving the Fort Hill offense after the first quarter.

“We committed too many penalties and had two touchdowns called back. But that’s part of the game,” said the Dunbar coach. “They kept us off-balance and hurt us with play-action passes.”

The Poets, who were averaging 48 points a game, looked like they had the speed to run away from Fort Hill on their first two possessions after taking the opening kickoff.

It took just five plays and 2:05 off the clock to go 69 yards as Austin got to show off his speed when he got outside on a 36-yard scoring run. A pass for two points failed.

A short punt after Fort Hill failed to get a first down on its first possession gave Dunbar the ball back at its 43-yard line. After pass interference on the Sentinels and an illegal shift penalty on the Poets, Austin broke loose again and raced the 47 yards for his second score at the 7:14 mark in the opening quarter. Once again a pass for the two points failed.

The Sentinels then started showing their ability to pound the ball on the ground and moved to the Dunbar 36 before relinquishing it on downs. A holding penalty nullified a 64-yard jaunt by Austin to the end zone and Dunbar ended up giving up the ball up on downs at the Fort Hill 24. A 5-yard procedure penalty and a seven-yard loss on a fumble helped slow down the Poets.

Fort Hill then decided to go to the air and Howser connected with Devin Lee for his first completion of 27 yards. After being stopped for no gain on a keeper, the senior quarterback went to Sam Walker on passes for 3 and 31 yards and a first down at the 15. Walker moved the sticks again as he got outside for a 10-yard run.

Lashley then went the five yards for Fort Hill’s first touchdown at the 11:01 mark in the second quarter. His kick for the extra point failed.

Davon Muse ran all over the field to break free on an 80-yard kickoff return only to have run brought 59 yards on an illegal block penalty. Fort Hill’s Mike Durr then came up with what turned out to be the game’s only turnover when he picked off a Perry pass at the Fort Hill 45 and returned it to the Dunbar 49. The Sentinels were forced to punt after getting only one yard on three plays. Lashley’s punt went 31 yards.

A 7-yard loss on a fumble and a delay of game penalty resulted in the Poets having a fourth down at their own 14-yard. That resulted in Dunbar having to do something it hadn’t done much all year — punt. Brisbon’s attempt to send the ball back up the field went straight up in the air and resulted in a 3 -yard loss.

Fort Hill took over at the 11-yard line and Howser went untouched on the sweep for the touchdown with 5:32 left in the half. Lashley’s kick gave the Sentinels the 13-12 halftime lead.

The Sentinels got the ball at their 35-yard line to start the second half after a 20-yard kickoff return by Durr. They ran 6:28 off the clock on 13 plays and three first downs before turning it over on downs at the Dunbar 18.

The Fort Hill defense stepped up again and got the Poets to give it up at the Sentinels 34-yard line on an incomplete pass on fourth down with 1:12 left in the third quarter.

After a short gain by Lashey, Howser found Johnathan Foster open on a play-action pass for 36 yards and a first down at the Dunbar 27. The Sentinels faced a fourth-and-eight when Howser hit tight end Colton Sibley for a 17-yard reception to the eight.

Lashley blasted four yards to the four before being thrown for a short loss on second down. Dunbar was called for encroachment and on the next play Lashley plowed three yards for his second touchdown with 8:05 left.

The 10-play, 66-yard drive took 5:07 off the clock. Fort Hill then elected to go for two points and a two-possession lead, but the run fell short.

“We know they always go for two points and we had been working on two-point plays all week,” said Appel about the decision. “We play to win and if we get the two points we go up by nine points.”

Sophomore linebacker Garrett Dolly came up with a pair of big defensive plays as he nailed Austin in the backfield for losses of one and six yards. A holding penalty on the second run along with a delay of game penalty resulted in a fourth down at the Dunbar 20-yard line. A 25-yard punt had the Sentinels starting again at the Poets’ 45.

Five carries by Lashley resulted in two first downs and moved the ball to the 20-yard line. The big fullback was then stopped cold on two runs and an incomplete pass left the ball at the 20 for fourth down.

Appel then showed he had faith in Lashley as a kicker and sent him in to nail down the win like he did earlier this year against Mountain Ridge. But the kick never got off the ground and the Poets were able to put all that offensive speed back on the field with enough time left.

Dunbar wide receiver Sean Farr, center, defended by Fort Hill’s Deven Lee (10), secures a fourth-quarter touchdown reception that led to a two-point conversion and gave the Poets a 20-19 come-from-behind victory over the Sentinels Saturday in the Maryland Class 1A state title game at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. The game-deciding play came with just two seconds remaining in the contest. (PHOTO: Associated Press)