Sentinels shut down Miners, 25-0

Nov 20, 2010
by Steve Luse

FROSTBURG — The Clay twins — Garrett and Dylan — each rushed for over 100 yards and the dominating Fort Hill defense allowed only a total of 76 yards with its sixth shutout of the season as the second seeded Sentinels defeated top-seed Mountain Ridge, 25-0, for the Maryland Class 1A West Region championship Friday night at Mountain Ridge Stadium.

The victory sends the Sentinels into the state semifinals with a 9-3 record and a four-game winning streak and they will be playing on the road against the winner of today’s game between unbeaten Forest Park and Dunbar. Mountain Ridge concludes its season 9-3.

Garrett Clay rushed for 126 yards on 25 carries and had a one-yard touchdown. The junior fullback also caught a 13-yard pass from Joe Howser for the Sentinels first touchdown that resulted in a 9-0 halftime lead.

Dylan Clay gained 116 yards on 23 attempts that included a 44-yard run that set up the second touchdown. He also completed a pass to Justin Dawson to set up the first of Philip Giugliano’s two field goals.

With the Clays churning up yardage behind another strong performance by the offensive line and Howser coming through with some key runs on keepers, Fort Hill had 284 yards rushing on 59 carries and added 29 through the air.

Dominating up front were right tackle Nathan Steckman, right guard Nick Greise, center Zach Cohen, left guard Bryce Lowery, left tackle D.J. Jolley and tight end Garrett Dolly.

The Fort Hill defense, led by linebackers Dolly and Andrew Blank and nose guard Wes Wills, held the usually potent Mountain Ridge offense without a first down and only 17 yards total in the first half. The Miners finished with only four first downs and 45 yards rushing and 31 passing. The area’s leading rusher Jarrod Harper was held to only 14 yards on 11 carries.

That domination on both sides of the ball led to Fort Hill having an huge advantage in time of possession of 33:50 to 14:10.

“Fort Hill kids are tough and they showed that tonight. They really wanted this game and the area championship and played hard,” said Fort Hill coach Todd Appel. “We pounded the ball at them in the old Fort Hill style and were able to dominate the game. The Clay brothers ran the ball and Joe Howser had a great game at quarterback.

“We knew from their formations what they were going to run and our defense had another great game,” added the Fort Hill coach. “Garrett Dolly is a great linebacker and Andrew Blank does a lot for this team.”

Dylan Clay returned the opening kickoff 36 yards to the Mountain Ridge 46-yard line and his pass on fourth down gave the Sentinels a first down at the 14-yard line. The Miners’ defense then stepped up with a big stop for a loss on third down and Fort Hill settled for the 32-yard field goal by Giugliano with 6:32 left in the opening quarter.

The Sentinels marched to the Miners’ 25 on their second possession, but lost the ball on a fumble that was recovered by Shane Phillips. On their next possession they turned the ball over on downs at the Mountain Ridge 26.

After forcing the Miners’ to punt for the third time on a three-and-out, Fort Hill took over at the 50 and moved the ball 37 yards on five straight runs by Garrett Clay. Howser then found Garrett Clay open in the end zone with the 13-yard scoring strike with only 21.7 seconds left in the half. The kick for the extra point was blocked by Josh Fitzgerald.

Wells recovered a Mountain Ridge fumble at the Fort Hill 47-yard line after the Miners got their initial first down at the start of the second half. After a three-yard run by Garrett Clay, Dylan Clay got out on a 44-yard run to the six-yard line.

On second down Garrett Clay was plowing toward the end zone but lost the ball and it was recovered by Dolly for the touchdown with 7:29 on the clock in the third quarter. A pass for two points failed and Fort Hill led 15-0.

Josh Vaughn returned the kickoff 32 yards and the Miners moved to the Fort Hill 29-yard line with their best scoring threat before turning the ball over on downs. The Sentinels then used 15 runs to reach the Mountain Ridge 10 before Giugliano kicked his second field goal from 29 yards out with 9:41 left.

On their final scoring drive, the Sentinels went 54 yards on nine runs with Garrett Clay diving over from the one with 3:59 left. Giugliano kicked the extra point. Howser had runs of 15 and nine yards in the drive.

“We gave ourselves an opportunity by being top-seeded and winning last week to have the best scenario with Fort Hill having to come to our stadium, but they were the better team tonight,” said Mountain Ridge head coach Roy DeVore. “You have to give Fort Hill a lot of credit for being able to shut down our offense like that. And they really wore our defense down in the second half.”