Nov. 10, 2012
by Mike Mathews

CUMBERLAND — Same teams. Same place. Same result.

Even the same score.

Other than that, it was an entirely different show Friday night at Greenway Avenue Stadium, where second-seeded Fort Hill defeated third-seeded Allegany for the second time in seven days, 21-20 in overtime, to advance to the Class 1A West Region championship.

And because of fourth-seeded Brunswick’s improbable upset of top-seeded Boonsboro, the region championship game will be at Greenway, likely Friday evening. Boonsboro, which had beaten Brunswick 47-0 during the regular season, lost last night’s rematch 39-16.

Meanwhile, at Greenway, Fort Hill (9-2) found another way to win — its seventh in a row — overcoming five turnovers and a 14-0 deficit late in the third quarter.

“I’m totally thrilled with our kids. I’m totally thrilled with everything that went on tonight,’’ said Fort Hill coach Todd Appel. “They kept the faith and kept on digging. They never gave up at all.”

Dekarai Darr scored on a three-yard run in the third quarter and Micah May pounced on a fumble in the end zone to tie it 14-all with 9:39 left in the fourth.

Then, in the first Kansas tiebreaker overtime, Hunter Squires scored on a one-yard sneak and Chris King booted his third conversion to make it 21-14.

Allegany scored on its overtime possession, with Dylan Shockey powering in from the two. The Campers went back to Shockey on a two-point try for the win, but Fort Hill’s Cody Arigo charged through the line and made the game-ending tackle, leaving Allegany two yards short of victory.

“I wanted to win so bad. I love football and I wanted to continue in the playoffs. I did everything I could to stop him from going across the goal line,” said Arigo, a senior lineman.

“Dylan Shockey’s a good runner. He’s a great running back and he was getting tough yards the whole game. And so I figured they were probably going to give it to him on that play. I got lucky and held him off.”

Squires completed 8 of 18 passes for 131 yards, Travis Bush caught six passes for 90 yards and Zac Elbin ran eight times for 75 yards for Fort Hill.

Shockey led Allegany and all rushers with 15 carries and 110 yards. Christian Thomas had 16 carries for 83 yards.

For the second time Allegany (7-4) outgained Fort Hill in yardage but came up a single, frustrating point shy on the scoreboard. The Campers led 6-0 at halftime, 14-0 with five minutes left in the third, and had the Sentinels on the ropes facing a fourth-and-10 from the Allegany 38 two minutes later.

But Squires hit Ty Mance for a 13-yard gain, then connected with Bush for a 26-yard pickup to the Alco three, setting up Darr’s touchdown.

“Our kids played extremely hard throughout the whole game. I have to give them credit.” said Allegany coach Tom Preaskorn. “We had some costly penalties here and there, but that’s football.

“I guess what it came down to is they made the big plays when they had to. That was the difference. And we didn’t execute very well at the end.”

The Sentinels held Allegany on downs at the Fort Hill 21 early in the fourth quarter and marched 79 yards in only five plays to get the game-tying touchdown.

Squires and Bush hooked up for another 26-yard pass play, a defensive holding on third-and-nine gave Fort Hill a crucial first down at the Alco 15. Darr weaved his way through the defense to get to the one but fumbled into the end zone. May fell on it for the touchdown with 9:29 to play.

The first half was anything but a thing of beauty. Both teams had turnovers inside the opposing team’s 10-yard line. Fort Hill lost two fumbles and had an interception in the first half and two interceptions in the second.

Shockey scored on the only points in the first half on a three-yard run but Fort Hill blocked the extra-point kick attempt, which factored in the Campers’ thought process about whether to go for one or two points after their overtime touchdown.

The Campers drove 70 yards in six plays and made it 14-0 on a Thomas 18-yard TD run and Madison Wolford’s run for two points with 5:05 left in the quarter. Shockey did much of the damage, running the first five plays for 52 yards, including a big 24-yard burst to get to the Fort Hill 30.

Hayden Bosley, Kirk Robinette and Aniellio Destefano had interceptions and Asia Broadway and Thomas recovered fumbles for Allegany. The Campers’ only turnover was an interception by Darr in the first half.