FH’s Dolly named first team All-State

Dec 23, 2010
by Chris Appel

CUMBERLAND — Garrett Dolly and the Fort Hill defense made the Sentinel offense more a luxury than a necessity this past season. In almost half of the Sentinels’ games, the 2010 Maryland Small School First Team Linebacker Dolly saw to it that the offense needed only a field goal to secure a victory for the school.

On six occasions, nine wins and 13 games, Dolly and the swarming Sentinels shunned every scoring threat an opponent threw their way to record a shutout. Fort Hill went three straight games in the middle of the season without allowing a single point, and allowed a Times-News area low of 10.8 points per game.

“There’s never a sense of relaxation as a coach, and you don’t think about the shutouts in the moment because you’re always worried the other team will score,” said Fort Hill Head Coach Todd Appel, who has had Dolly as a starting linebacker all three years he’s been in charge. “But once we put a couple of touchdowns on the board you can start to think ‘Maybe we got this game won,’ because of how our defense had played before. With Garrett calling the plays and having played in 38 varsity games, he was very capable of helping the defense keep points off the board.”

A year after being named Second-Team All-State, and finishing second in Fort Hill’s defensive scoring system, Dolly (6-foot, 212 pounds) put together 51 solo tackles with 69 more assists, two fumble recoveries, two batted balls and a sack to lead the Sentinels’ defense with 251 points. He was also a First-Team All-Area selection at linebacker in 2008 and 2009.

“He’s the type of player who just listens to the coaches and does what he’s supposed to do to the best of his abilities. He’d be the first to tell you he wasn’t alone either. He had a great linebacker beside him in Andrew Blank, the Clay brothers in the secondary, Justin Dawson, Wesley Wills and Nick Greise along the front and Joe Howser, who was just a tremendous defensive end.

Dolly led the Sentinels in tackles all three years he played.

“It’s hard enough to start for three years at Fort Hill, let alone lead the team in tackles,” said Appel. “To even be in that position for three straight years is almost unheard of at our school.”

During his junior year he collected 91 total tackles (47 solo and 44 assisted), two sacks and one fumble recovery. He also blocked three kicks.

“Garrett was committed to being the best player he could be all of the time. He is such a great kid on and off the field, and brought several ideas to the program that I bought into and made us a better team. He’s been a blessing to Fort Hill High School football.

“You never hear him say a word about himself, and if he ever had any problems with any of the coaches or other players he kept that to himself as well. He even played through a few injuries that he never came forward with. He is a very spiritual young man who keeps God and his family first, and loves football.”

Dolly was the area’s only player named to the All-State First Team, but Mountain Ridge placed two players onto the Second Team defense.

Senior linebacker Drew Winters (5-10, 200) and junior defensive back Jarrod Harper were honored on the second team.

Winters finished his final year as a Miner by recording 93 solo tackles and 73 assists, with seven going for a loss, and two fumble recoveries.

Harper (5-11, 200) picked off nine passes and recovered one fumble from his spot in the secondary. He had 45 solo tackles, 27 assists and one tackle for loss.

Harper was also one of the top offensive players in the area, finishing one yard out of the area rushing lead with 1,433 yards on 191 carries and scoring 18 touchdowns.

Players receiving Honorable Mention were Northern junior quarterback Patrick Sines, junior running back Garrett Clay of Fort Hill and senior Allegany running back Drew O’Neal.

Lineman included senior Zach Cohen and junior Nick Greise of Fort Hill, and Allegany senior Aaron Murphy.

Northern’s junior Cody Rodeheaver was listed as a receiver/tight end, and Fort Hill’s Dylan Clay, a junior, was named as an all-purpose back.

Sentinels senior Justin Dawson and Northern senior Jason Opel were honorable mention defensive linemen, and Fort Hill’s junior punter Philip Giugliano filled out the team.