Fort Hill routs Hubs, 46-8

MIKE MATHEWS TIMES-NEWS STAFF WRITER

CUMBERLAND — Good thing the Fort Hill fans were ready and waiting at Greenway Avenue Stadium on Saturday night because so were the Sentinels.

The offense scored three touchdowns, the special teams added another and the defense got into the act as well in a 36-point first quarter as the Sentinels smothered North Hagerstown in the opening minutes and breezed to a 46-8 victory.

Ty Johnson scored three touchdowns, went over 100 yards rushing and had nearly 200 yards of all-purpose yardage in the first-quarter outburst as the Sentinels quickly chalked up their 18th straight win.

Johnson finished with 151 yards rushing on only five carries, Raen Smith ran 13 times for 109 yards and two touchdowns and Alex Barnes ran five times for 81 yards for the Sentinels (4-0), who had touchdown drives that lasted 1:46, 1:34 and 11 seconds in the first period.

“I thought our first quarter was phenomenal,’’ said head coach Todd Appel. “We had more continuity this week up front, and it showed.

“The kids did a great job, a lot of people played tonight, and we’re much happier than last week (a 44-22 win at Silver Oak). We played better, and we’re getting better as a football team.”

The Sentinels piled up 412 yards, with 360 coming on the ground.

“We were really pleased with the offensive line play,’’ said Appel. “Ryan Shives is our tight end but in our offense he’s an extra tackle and he did a nice job on the edge. Josh Roberts is a returner from last year and it’s great to have him back and it allows Timmy Friend to go to left guard, his natural position. He moves well for a big kid and that helped us a lot tonight.

“And we’ve had some pleasant surprises on the other side. Tanner Brode’s been holding down the center position and did a good job with line calls, Danny May’s tenacious and really stays on his blocks, and Wilbert Page has been a pleasant surprise and played really well last week, too. I think we can spot play some other kids to give us more depth. It looked good tonight. We’ll see how good it looked when we watch the film.”

Things went south very quickly for North (0-4).

After three plays, a penalty and a punt by the Hubs, Johnson ran 32 yards on Fort Hill’s first play from scrimmage, and three plays later scored on a 14-yard run to cap a 57-yard, four-play drive that lasted 1:34.

North went three-and-out again, and the speedy Johnson burned them again, this time on a 73-yard run down the left sideline for a touchdown, giving him 119 yards on only three carries.

An interception near midfield by Kris Jackson set up the next quick score. Barnes had runs of 20 and 23 yards on the five-play drive, which ended with a two-yard plunge by Smith that gave Fort Hill three touchdowns in a 5:21 span.

But the Sentinels weren’t done yet.

Three plays later, after a Quade Raley sack on a thirdand- one, Johnson fielded a punt at the North 43, dashed around the left end untouched and sped by punter Hunter Martin at the 15 on a 57-yard return to make it 29-0 with 57 seconds left in the quarter.

Making little progress on the ground, North went to the air, but on third-and-8, Raley led a heavy rush on Andrew Fiery. The ball popped out of Fiery’s grasp and into the awaiting hands of lineman Friend. The 6-foot-2, 277pound senior did his best Ty Johnson impersonation, running down the sideline and into the end zone on a 47-yard return on the final play of the period.

The only points of the second quarter came on a 29-yard field goal by Austin Farrell on the final play of the half. It came after a 46-yard pass play from Rashaan Shives to Brayden Brown.

The second half, with the clock running because of the 35-point mercy rule, took no time to play. Smith’s five-yard run early in the fourth made it 46-0. North Hagerstown got on the board on a 31-yard run by Calvin Bembry with 4:47 left.

Bembry led North with 16 carries and 80 yards, and Preston Carey had six receptions for 59 yards.

Fort Hill will play at Southern on Friday night.