Posted: Saturday, September 26, 2015 6:15 am
Chris Appel cappel@times-news.com

CUMBERLAND — Fort Hill got off to another hot start, scoring four times in the first quarter and three more in the second, as the Sentinels spread the wealth to 10 different ballhandlers during a 50-0 blowout win over visiting Silver Oak Academy Friday at Greenway Avenue Stadium.

A week after scoring all 63 of its points during the first half in a win over Chestnut Ridge, Fort Hill came out and scored 29 points in the first 12 minutes against the Rams. The first drive wound up being its longest after lasting nine plays and finishing with Troy Banks going three yards for the touchdown with 5:50 left in the quarter.

No other Sentinels’ drive lasted more than six plays.

The second touchdown came just 12 seconds after the first, following a turnover by Silver Oak. Markel Spencer recovered a fumbled at the Rams’ 20 and the Sentinels went for the end zone on the next play as Nathaniel Graves threw the first of back-to-back touchdowns passes by going to Ethan York on a corner route for 20 yards.

Fort Hill got another quick turnover when Brayden Brown intercepted a pass on the third play of Silver Oak’s following drive. Brown was rewarded for his pick by getting the ball on the final two plays of the three-play drive, picking up 35 yards on a sweep before catching a screen pass and going the final 16 yards to increase the lead to 22-0 Sentinels.

Brown was the leading rusher for the Sentinels with 60 yards on three carries as Fort Hill had eight different players carry the ball. Another two, York and Lennon Squires, caught passes for a total of 10 unique ballhandlers.

With 1:18 left in the first, Graves scored on an eight-yard run for the final points of the quarter.

The Sentinels have gotten out to early leads in all four of their games, including their only loss, and Coach Todd Appel credits the way his players are able to channel their pre-game emotions.

“Most players have the jitters or butterflies before the game, and I?think that if you use that properly, you play well. I?think our kids have that. They want to be successful, they want the games to get started, they want to go down the steps and they want to come play.

“They don’t have the jitters where you get nervous and over-think. They are just excited about getting on the field and so far it’s helped us start strong.”

The strong start continued into the second period when Brown got the Sentinels another touchdown with a 64-yard punt return the very first time a Sentinel touched the ball during the quarter. Brown was able to beat the Rams to the corner thanks to a devastating block from York that leveled a Silver Oak defender.

Spencer scored on an eight-yard run with 6:41 left in the half, and Brayden Poling added a seven-yard run with 3:29 left.

From there, Fort Hill began to look to the depth chart and found plenty of hungry runners to feed.

The Sentinels rushed for 143 of their 202 yards in the first half, and had only two penalties in the first 24 minutes — and three total.

That stands in contrast to the Rams, who committed 15 penalties for 157 yards, had three fumbles — two lost — and two interceptions.

Appel was pleased with the way the team has handled the secondary details since the loss to Keyser when the Sentinels were called for double-digit penalties.

“We have cleaned up the little things the past two weeks, but it was something we didn’t do in Week 2 when we had 14 penalties ourselves. That was a wakeup call for us, and it’s something we’ve improved on.

“And that’s not always easy to do against a team like Silver Oak, which was very physical and has some athletes. They are going to win some games this year. I?am very impressed with Coach (Kevin) Mcleod and how he handles that program.”

The Rams most impressive player Friday was Tyree Holmes, who tied Brown for a game-high 60 yards on 15 carries. He also caught two balls for 25 yards. Quarterback Kevin Taylor completed 8 of 15 passes for 82.

The Sentinels (3-1)?have a short week coming up when they travel to play Archbishop Curley for Thursday night football.

“The short week is an exception, and although it’s something I?normally wouldn’t do, the coaches did have a little bit of overlap in scouting and planning with Silver Oak and Curley. It’s not something we got into with the players, but as coaches we started preparing a little earlier with Curley than we would have.”

Silver Oak (2-1) returns to Greenway next weekend to face Allegany.