Fort Hill crushes North Carroll
Sentinels dominate to win 26th straight, 56-20; advance to 1A semifinal

MIKE BURKE
TIMES-NEWS STAFF WRITER

CUMBERLAND — Defending state champion Fort Hill moved into the history books and, most importantly, into the Maryland 1A semifinals with a dominating performance in handling North Carroll, 56-20, to win in the West Region championship Friday night at Greenway Avenue Stadium.

For the Sentinels (12-0), the West title is their sixth in the last nine years and the victory is their 26th in a row, which ties the 1955-57 Keyser Golden Tornado for the longest winning streak in area high school football history. Best of all, the top-seeded Sentinels will host the state semifinal game either Friday or Saturday against an opponent to be determined today.

Fort Hill was unstoppable on offense, rolling to 392 yards on the ground on 40 carries, and finishing the game with a 440 to 225 advantage in total offense.

Yet not even the numbers tell the story of the Fort Hill dominance on this evening, particularly on defense, as the Sentinels shut down the highly-regarded passing game of the Panthers, led by quarterback Jack Flowers and wide receiver Zack Sherman, who combined to foil Allegany’s season with a fourth-quarter comeback in last week’s first round.

Flowers and Sherman produced, but not until the second half when the Sentinels had their second team in the game. In the first half, when Fort Hill led 49-6, Flowers had completed 8 of 17 passes for just 68 yards, with one being intercepted and returned for a 14-yard touchdown by Fort Hill’s Ty Johnson. Sherman had one catch for 13 yards in the first half. In the second half, the North Carroll duo hooked up three times for 151 yards and two touchdowns.

“The kids played hard,” said Fort Hill Coach Todd Appel. “Defensively, I thought we did a great job covering those guys. The only score they had up to the time we put our second team in was the (first-quarter 90-yard kickoff return by Sherman). Our kids didn’t stop covering and didn’t stop pressuring the quarterback. I’m very pleased with the way we played defense.

“Our kids are good athletes in the secondary. They can lock up their man and give people trouble. We know we are going to see better teams down the road and we need to get better, but the kids did a good job tonight and covered well.”

The Fort Hill running game had its way all evening, led by sophomore fullback Raen Smith, who rushed for 130 yards and three touchdowns on just 14 carries. Senior Alex Barnes gained 101 yards and scored a touchdown on seven carries, while Johnson rushed for 79 yards and a touchdown on six carries. Quarterback Rashaan Shives rushed for 52 yards on seven carries and connected with split end Kris Jackson with a perfect pass for a 48-yard touchdown to end the first-half scoring.

“Raen Smith had a lot of yards,” said Appel. “They gave us some bubbles tonight and our coaches did a great job finding those bubbles. We hit them with some unbalanced and I think confused them a little bit. Raen Smith had a big night.

“We have three kids who can run the ball well, and when the other team takes one of them away, we have another one who will take it, and that was the case tonight.”

Rather than kick deep, North Carroll tried an onside kick to open the game, with Danny May recovering the first of two and Fort Hill took over at its 48. Johnson was ruled to have stepped out of bounds on what would have been a 25-yard TD, but two plays later went across from the four at 10:07 of the first to conclude the six-play drive and it was smooth sailing from there for the Sentinels.

The next time Fort Hill touched the ball, Barnes broke free for 41 yards behind great downfield blocking and outstanding open-field running, and at 8:38 Austin Farrell’s kick made it 14-0.

“Our offensive line,” Appel said, “tackle to tackle we have some big kids, and (tight end Ryan Shives) is about as big as anybody’s tackle. And you have Wilbert Page, Danny May, Tanner Brode, Josh Roberts and Timmy Friend ... We have some strong, athletic kids up front. You can’t run that sweep the way we do without those kids getting out there.”

The next time the Sentinels touched the ball it would be on Johnson’s interception at the North Carroll 14, and that made it 21-0.

On the ensuing kickoff, however, Sherman, who would end up scoring all 37 of North Carroll’s playoff points this season, was allowed outside of coverage and showed excellent moves and speed to return the kick 90 yards for a touchdown.

Smith then scored the first of three straight touchdowns, going in from three yards out to close a 10-play, 80-yard scoring drive, with his second touchdown, an 11-yard run, being set up by a Rashaan Shives fumble recovery, which opened the gates for 21 second-quarter points.

Smith scored again from 14 yards out at 7:00 of the second, before Shives found a wide-open Jackson with the perfect ball for the 48-yard score.

Jadi Candler scored Fort Hill’s final touchdown at 1:35 of the third on the running clock on a three-yard run in concluding an eight-play, 58-yard scoring drive.