Johnson repeats as Player of Year
Sentinels star running back first ever to win award in consecutive seasons

Posted: Sunday, February 15, 2015 10:17 am
MIKE BURKE TIMES-NEWS STAFF WRITER

CUMBERLAND — Fort Hill High School running back Ty Johnson will return to the Ali Ghan Shrine Club dais on Saturday, Feb. 28, for the 67th annual Dapper Dan Awards Banquet to receive something nobody else has ever received — another Cumberland Times-News High School Football Player of the Year award. Since 1973 when Fort Hill and future University of Maryland quarterback Mark Manges was the recipient of the first Player of the Year award, there has never been a repeat winner of it. That is until now, as Johnson followed his 2013 Player of the Year performance in remarkably similar fashion to become the first repeat winner for the 2014 season.

The 5-foot-11, 182-pound speedster, who officially became a Maryland Terrapin on National Signing Day, helped the Sentinels to their second straight 14-0 Maryland 1A state championship season, and was again named to the first team of the Maryland Consensus All-State Team, as well as the Maryland Small Schools All-State Team.

Johnson rushed for 1,733 yards in 2014, averaging 14.9 yards per carry, with 22 touchdowns. He also caught 11 passes for 371 yards for 33.7 yards per catch, and scored eight more touchdowns on pass plays. Johnson finished the season with 2,368 all-purpose yards, an area record 33 touchdowns and tied former Fort Hill great Steve Trimble, who also became a Terp, for an area-record 200 points.

For his career, Johnson rushed for 3,363yards (14.7 yards per carry) and 43 touchdowns, caught 27 passes for 715 yards (26.5 ypc) and 13 touchdowns and returned five kicks for touchdowns to finish with 4,880 allpurpose yards. Defensively, he intercepted 17 passes in his career and returned four for touchdowns.

“It’s amazing to think of all the players who have played here, and Ty is the only one to receive this award back to back,” said Fort Hill head coach Todd Appel. “If people do the right things they are rewarded and this certainly pertains to Ty, on and off the field. And he’s deserving.

“A lot of players could have gotten it their junior year and rested on their laurels their senior year, knowing they were already getting a scholarship. But that’s not Ty’s character, and we knew that. He continued to do the things he did and showed good character and did the right things.”

Johnson, who is known as much for his boxer’s training regime as he is for electrifying Friday night crowds with his explosive plays, is of a different cut, according to Appel — all of which, the Fort Hill coach says, is a very good thing.

“I couldn’t put a finger on it myself as to what motivates him internally,” said Appel. “Maybe it’s because he comes from humble means and he wants to better himself. Maybe he is trying to prove somebody wrong along the way. Whatever it is, he is motivated and has God-given ability, and he enhances that with the time and effort he puts in to making himself better.

“If you help others, you make yourself better,and Ty goes out of the way to help others — our program, his teammates, younger kids, older adults ... He’s a very humble and service oriented kid. He’s not a ‘me’ kid at all, which is good to see in this day and age. These kind of kids are few and far between anymore.

“He’s very loyal,too. Look at how he approached Maryland — ‘They offered me and I wasn’t going anywhere else.’ That’s the way he’s been with us. He’s loyal to us, to our football program and to our coaches. He’s a very great example to young adults.”

Appel said it was understood opposing teams would go out of their way to focus on stopping

Johnson, “and some teams did a good job,” the Fort Hill coach said. Yet over the course of the season, Johnson was still able to produce in much the same fashion that he did his junior season.

“Maybe he didn’t have the run of games he had last year,” Appel said, “but what he did was remarkable.

“And his receiving numbers ... He had 11 receptions and scored touchdowns on eight of them. He averaged 33 yards a catch. That’s kind of remarkable.

“Any time you put the ball in his belly or throw up top to him, good things are capable of happening, and most of the time they do.”

One game — or moment — that Appel will not forget came in the Sentinels’ seventh game last season when they hosted Kent Island, also undefeated at the time. After Fort Hill had taken a 7-0 lead, Kent Island seemed to have gotten momentum on its side, pinning Fort Hill back to its seven-yard line with 4:17 left in the first quarter.

“Ty got on the edge and a kid who was their best athlete had an angle on him,” Appel said. “But, whether he did or not, he couldn’t get to him because Ty’s getting five yards on every two strides, and the kid’s looking in awe at this kid flying down the sidelines with ease.

“Iremember that game. Both teams were undefeated and that 93-yard run set the tone. It sent a message. Any time you give him the ball he can be a game breaker, and then he helped us win the game (38-13) down the stretch.”

When asked about the play after the game, Johnson told the Times-News, “It always starts with listening to the coaching and the blocking schemes. Coach (Jeff)Brode always tells me to be patient, find the hole when it’s there, and square my shoulders and get down field.

Over the course of his Fort Hill career, Ty Johnson did quite a bit of running until he crossed the line. Appel, though, says there is so much more Johnson has done to contribute.

“He has meant a great deal to our team, obviously, for the last three years,” Appel said. “People forget his sophomore year when he gave us a speed threat on the edge down the stretch, which allowed us to run Dekarai Darr on the inside.

“As far as what he meant to the team and to the program, I think he has set a tone of excellence, and I think he set an example for other kids to follow. How he works and how he comes to work every day motivates others to try to do the same thing he’s done.

“I know he’s been a big part of our 28 wins (the past two seasons) in the physical aspect with his speed and explosive ability — as Rashaan Shives said, ‘Wow, you give him the ball and he scores touchdowns.’ But with Ty, the social aspect, the moral aspect, has been as large as the athletic aspect.

“I’ll definitely miss him (next year) ... And when I say that, 99 percent of it is ... Well, it’s not necessarily about football.”

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