Fort Hill extends Homecoming Game winning streak to eight, beating Allegany 17-7

Posted: Saturday, November 7, 2015
by MIKE MATHEWS

CUMBERLAND — Opportunity knocked, Fort Hill answered and left Allegany feeling a bit blue in the end as the Sentinels extended their Homecoming Game winning streak to eight with a 17-7 victory in front of a filled Greenway Avenue Stadium Saturday afternoon.

Brayden Brown scored on a punt return in the opening minutes and Brayden Conley had two sacks in the final minutes to complete a win that gave Fort Hill (8-1) the No. 1 seed in the Class 1A West Region playoffs and a home game with No. 4 Northern. Allegany (8-2) will be the No. 3 seed and play at No. 2 Boonsboro (10-0) in the first round.

Allegany and Fort Hill could meet again in two weeks if they both win their region semifinal games.

The win came in Todd Appel's 100th game as head coach at Fort Hill, was his 88th win, and eighth in eight Homecoming games.

This one came about because of a quick start — the Sentinels scored two touchdowns in the first quarter — and a strong finish by the defense, which had four sacks in the final 10 minutes that stopped time-consuming Allegany drives deep in Fort Hill territory.

"Allegany played a great football game, and it was a tough, hard-nosed game,'' Appel said. "We have a pretty good defense and they do, too. In the end, we played well at the very end, and I think that was the name of the game."

Fort Hill's Nathaniel Graves was the game's top offensive performer, running 11 times for 62 yards and completing 4 of 8 passes for 63 yards. Raen Smith had 13 carries and 64 yards. Conley, who had three sacks, was selected the Defensive Player of the Game.

Carson Imes ran 15 times for 57 yards and completed 5 of 8 passes for 81 yards for Allegany. Sean Rhodes had three catches for 53 yards.

Fort Hill enjoyed the upper hand in the first half, led 14-0 after 10 minutes and 17-7 at halftime but managed only eight yards of offense in the third quarter and 64 for the second half. Thirty of those 64 came in the final minutes.

Allegany had only three second-half possessions. After a punt early in the third quarter, the Campers came up empty after drives that ate up 8:17 and 6:49 of the clock, turning the ball over on downs after driving to the Fort Hill 16 on the first series, and to the 32 on the second.

"We have got to be more consistent. We got down to the red zone and they were able to get through the line of scrimmage and make some big plays,'' said Allegany coach Tom Preaskorn. "We're going to have to shore that up and make sure we pick up the blitzes and finish off those drives.

"The field gets awful small once you get inside the 20-yard line and they were able to pack their players in and make the plays to stop us. We've got to figure a way to put it in."

Fort Hill found a way in the opening minutes when Brown, later named the Offensive Player of Game, fielded an Allegany punt at the Sentinels 47 and sped 53 yards untouched down the sideline for a touchdown with 9:59 left in the first quarter.

Two minutes later a second Allegany punt, this one a 61-yarder by Darrick Kerns, pinned Fort Hill at its 13. An 87-yard march followed and Graves, who hit Brown for a 24-yard gain early in the drive, ran the final two plays. The first went for 12 yards and a first down at the Allegany 14, and the next was a 14-yarder around the right end for the touchdown. Austin Farrell's kick made it 14-0 with 2:32 left in the opening quarter.

But that would be about it for Fort Hill, which entered the game averaging 47 points per game.

"It's always big when you can come out of the box on fire, so to speak, in a big game and we did,'' said Appel. "Brayden Brown is super fast. If you get him in the open field big things can happen. But after Nathaniel got into the end zone, that was probably the end of our offense for the day. Except for the field goal.

"You have to give a lot of credit to Allegany and their defense, but also to our kids who did a good job too, especially on the defensive side of the ball. We only gave up seven points, on one big play."

That big play was by Allegany's Imes, who turned up field on a keeper, got past Brown near the 30 and continued to the end zone on a 70-yard dash that made it 14-7 with 1:37 left in the first quarter.

"That was a big play and I think it turned things around,'' said Preaskorn. "It made the kids believe they could play with Fort Hill, and it put us right back into the ball game. We responded well after that. Unfortunately we didn't stick the ball in with the opportunities we had."

Farrell kicked a 24-yard field goal to make it 17-7 with 6:20 left in the first half which turned out to be the final points of the day.

The Allegany opportunities came in the second half, but were thwarted by a charging defensive line led by Conley, Luke Hamilton and Ethan York.

The Campers drove 74 yards and were knocking at the door at the Fort Hill six after an eight-yard pass to Rhodes. But Hamilton stopped Imes at the five on third down, and York followed with an 11-yard sack.

Just three minutes later, an Allegany gang tackle, led by Kristian Robinette and Brendon Dougherty, stopped Fort Hill on fourth-and-one and the Campers took over at the Sentinels 43, and two plays later Allegany was at the Fort Hill 32 after a 10-yard pass to Dougherty.

But that's as far as the Campers got as Brayden Poling stopped Darian King for a one-yard loss on first down, Luke Stegmaier had a sack on second down, and Conley rushed straight up the gut for back-to-back sacks. The Sentinels ran out the clock from there.

"The guys on our defensive line are athletes, and when Allegany needed to throw to get points on the board they pinned their ears back and got after Carson (Imes)," said Appel. Conley had three sacks and York and Stegmaier one.

"We're going to have to do better, though. We had some penalties and made some mistakes. We want to correct those."

"It makes it hard to block when they know you're going to pass,'' Preaskorn said about the fourth-quarter series.

"The big plays early put us in a bit of a bind, but it was a nip-and-tuck game and we had our opportunities. We just have to take some positives out of this and focus on Boonsboro, and hopefully get a rematch."

The Allegany defense was just as strong, allowing only one touchdown as well. The Campers were able to keep the Sentinels speed in check all day. Of 40 Fort Hill rushes, only two went for more than 12 yards. Twenty-two went for three yards or less.

The only turnovers were two first-half interceptions by Allegany's Rhodes and Fort Hill's Brown.