Fort Hill storms back

Oct 30, 2010
by Mike Mathews

CUMBERLAND — Garrett Clay scored a pair of touchdowns and Joe Howser delivered in the clutch and scored the go-ahead touchdown as second-ranked Fort Hill rode a big second half to beat top-ranked Mountain Ridge, 20-16, Friday night at Greenway Avenue Stadium.

The win puts Fort Hill at 6-3 heading into Homecoming while Mountain Ridge slipped to 7-2.

The Sentinels, after being pushed around for most of the first half, came to life and shoved back in the second. They tied it 13-13 on a 6-yard run by Clay in the third quarter, then took the lead on an 11-yard sneak by Howser with 5:26 left in the fourth.

“It’s a really big win for us,” said Fort Hill coach Todd Appel. “It makes us believe we’re a playoff team, even though we thought we were one. There are teams playing lesser people and getting in the playoffs. Even if we lost tonight I’d think we were a playoff team. It validates us, so to speak, because we beat the No. 1 team in the region tonight.”

Fort Hill had only two first downs and 93 yards of offense — 49 coming on a run by Clay — in the first half. In the second, they had 13 first downs and 185 yards.

“The kids did a better job in the second half of blocking, running the ball hard, executing, and Joe Howser made good decisions over center. We played smarter, and played better on defense, too.”

Clay led Fort Hill with 20 carries and 116 yards. Shawn Metheny (12 carries, 53 yards) and Howser (7 carries, 50 yards) combined for 100 more rushing yards in the second half. Howser completed two big passes for 38 yards in the second half as well.

Jarrod Harper ran 21 times for 110 yards and caught three passes for 53 yards for Mountain Ridge. Dan Streitbeck had another big night throwing the ball. He was 6-for-7 in the first half and finished 8-for-12 for 109 yards.

The Miners dominated the first half in yardage 182-93, first downs 10-2, and possession, 17:39 to 6:21, but the scoreboard showed only a 13-7 lead.

“We made too many mistakes ... too many motion calls and things we shouldn’t do,’’ said Mountain Ridge coach Roy DeVore. “We would have had some good opportunites had we not made those mistakes. Give them credit. They came out, especially in the fourth quarter, and kind of took it to us, and we kind of lost our focus on defense.

“We played hard and I’m really proud of the way our kids played. But we just can’t play a team of Fort Hill’s caliber, on their home field, and make mistakes the way we did.”

The Miners had a first quarter drive inside the Fort Hill 10 stall with two motion penalties and a holding call, then took the lead on their next possession, a 48-yard, 10-play drive. It was highlighted by a short run for first down on a fake punt, a sliding 19-yard catch by Anthony Spataro, and an 8-yard touchdown run by Harper with 8:05 left in the half that made it 6-0.

The Sentinels answered quickly as Clay ran 18 yards for a first down, then charged through a big hole and raced 49 yards to the Miners 1-yard line. He scored on the next play, and Philip Giugliano’s kick gave Fort Hill a 7-6 edge with 5:45 left in the half.

A textbook march of 62 yards in 14 plays put Mountain Ridge back on top. Streitbeck, 6-for-7 in the first half, hit Pat Livingston for a 12-yard gain on a third-and-eight, and five plays later Drew Winters scored on a one-yard run just 18 seconds before halftime. Evan Logue’s kick made it 13-7.

The Sentinels tied it with a 59-yard drive to open the second half. They converted three third downs, including a 17-yard pass to Dylan Clay on a third-and-seven from the Miners 27, and scored on a 6-yard run by Garrett Clay. Josh Fitzgerald blocked the extra point, keeping the score 13-13.

Mountain Ridge failed on a fourth-and-one at the Fort Hill 30, then drove to the Fort Hill 3-yard line before being hurt by another illegal motion penalty. Garrett Clay broke up a pass in the end zone, but Logue booted a 25-yard field goal to put the Miners up 16-13 with 9:07 left.

From there, it was all Fort Hill, as the Sentinels outgained the Miners 126-4. The game-winning drive covered 72 yards in nine plays, with Howser running seven yards on third-and-four from the Mountain Ridge 44, then rolling right and hitting Dylan Clay for a back-breaking 21-yard pass play to the Mountain Ridge 11.

On the next play, Howser called his own number, and ran straight up the gut for an 11-yard sneak for touchdown at 5:26.

After a Mountain Ridge punt, five first downs enabled the Sentinels to run out the remaining 4:25. Every time they needed a big gain, they got it: Metheny, a 10-yard run on third-and-eight; Howser another 9-yard sneak; Metheny a 12-yard sweep; and Howser a 15-yard sneak on second-and-nine that sealed it.

“Those were his own calls,’’ Appel said of Howser’s sneaks. “Joe’s been a good senior leader, is a smart kid and he showed that tonight on those drives. Those sneaks were big for us and took the pressure off of us. We have a play called, and he sees that sneak, and it makes us look good,’’ Appel said with a chuckle.

It was the first Fort Hill victory this year that was not a shutout.

“Our defense has played well all year long. We faced a little bit of a different style of football tonight. They ran the ball right at us, and that’s not what we’ve been used to, at least not on a consistent basis.

“I give credit to Mountain Ridge. They tried to do it to us, thought they could do it to us, and for they did for the most part. We figured out we had to man up a little bit and not be so soft, and then we started playing better defense.”

Mountain Ridge ends the regular season Friday night at home against Keyser.

“Right now, we’ve got to rebound and focus on Keyser,’’ DeVore said. “We’re in pretty good shape as far as the playoffs go. We’ve got to get back to work. We played hard in the stadium against a good Fort Hill team, we just made a few costly mistakes.”

Fort Hill plays Allegany next Saturday afternoon.

“We’ll probably see (Mountain Ridge) again, if we are fortunate enough and play hard enough against Allegany, because there are no guarantees. We could still lose to Allegany and not make the playoffs. We need to know that and the kids will know that.”