FH cruises over Carrick, 51-8

Oct 22, 2011
From Staff Reports

CUMBERLAND — Unbeaten and top-ranked Fort Hill made short work of Pittsburgh’s Carrick Raiders, scoring 30 first-quarter points on its way to a 51-8 victory Friday night at Greenway Avenue Stadium.

The victory puts the Sentinels at 8-0 and sets up the much-anticipated match-up Friday night in Frostburg with second-ranked, unbeaten Mountain Ridge. The Miners went to 8-0 with a 35-7 win over Southern.

Fullback Garrett Clay led the Sentinels on Friday, rushing for 119 yards on six carries and scoring touchdowns on runs of 4 and 40 yards. All but one of Clay’s carries and one of Clay’s yards came in the first quarter.

In all, the Sentinels used 10 ballcarriers and three quarterbacks with the starters on the sideline for the night after Lance Fullwood’s touchdown and Cullin Brown’s kick made it 37-0 with 11:07 to go in the first half.

Fullwood finished the game with 62 yards on three carries, while Cody Arigo rushed for 83 yards on nine carries. The Sentinels rushed for 401 yards on 32 carries to finish with 455 yards total offense.

Fort Hill took over after Carrick was unable to sustain a drive on the game’s first possession, moved 70 yards on four plays, with Garrett Clay picking up 11, quarterback Dylan Clay 31 and halfback Jaron Watkins 25 for the touchdown at 9:30. Brown’s kick was blocked and the Sentinels led 6-0.

The Sentinels got the ball right back after a Carrick fake punt fell short at the Raiders’ 48. Garrett Clay produced the long gainer of the drive of 38 yards, before heading to the edge for the four-yard touchdown. Dylan Clay’s pass to Fullwood on the conversion made it 14-0 at 5:28.

On the next possession it was a four-play scoring drive, with Garrett Clay going 40 for the touchdown with 1:42 left in the first quarter, with Brown’s kick making it 21-0.

Four more plays, after Kaleb Miller recovered a Carrick fumble at the Raiders’ 42, a Mike Austin pass to Garrett Clay picked up 17, Fullwood picked up 12 and Ryan Briner covered the final 13, going into the end zone with 48.9 seconds remaining in the first.

After Fort Hill received two more points on a safety on an untimed play to end the first quarter, Fort Hill took over at the Carrick 45, with Fullwood taking it 44 yards on a second-and-nine, with Brown’s kick making it 37-0 at 11:07.

Two possessions later, the Sentinels scored in three plays, the drive covering 57 yards, when quarterback Travis Bush let it fly to tight end Garrett D’Atri, who took in the pass for the touchdown with 2:50 left in the half.

Carrick punched one in just prior to the end of the half, putting together a nine-play, 67-yard drive as quarterback Henry Myers went in from the one, with Myers’ pass to Zach Roche making it 44-8 with 0.2 seconds left in the half.

After a scoreless third quarter, Fort Hill’s Zac Elbin scored the final touchdown of the night on an eight-yard run.