Fort Hill stretches win streak to 20
Sentinels rev up in second quarter, beat Mountain Ridge 56-7

BY MIKE MATHEWS
Oct 29, 2016

CUMBERLAND — The Mountain Ridge Miners really did only one thing wrong in the first quarter Friday night at Greenway Avenue Stadium.

They made Fort Hill mad.

And the Sentinels, after a pair of punts and without a first down in the first quarter, responded in the second by scoring five touchdowns, with three coming in a span of less than two minutes, rolling to a 56-7 victory, their 20th in a row and 49th in the last 50 games.

Brayden Brown returned the opening kickoff 77 yards for a touchdown and turned a short pass into a 34-yard touchdown, Raen Smith ran for 93 yards and two touchdowns on only four carries and Nathaniel Graves ran for a touchdown and threw for another for Fort Hill (9-0).

“The kids may have been a little mad. We were frustrated as coaches because we had two three-and-outs and a fumbled snap on one of the possessions,” Fort Hill coach Todd Appel said of the first quarter.

Mountain Ridge had a sack by Ryan Wilson that ended the first series, and run-stopping tackles by Anthony Linn, Noah DeMichele and Lucas McKenzie forced the second punt. On offense, the Miners ate up as much of the 25-second play clock as they could, and had the only first down of the period when Kaden McElhenny ran 14 yards on an option to get to the Fort Hill 34.

The drive ended at the Fort Hill 26 after a 12-yard run by Dan Bittinger on a fourth-and-14. That came on the first play of a second quarter that couldn’t end soon enough for the Miners.

“If you think you can play four quarters toe-to-toe with them, you have another thing coming,” Mountain Ridge coach Ryan Patterson said of trying to slow the game down a bit by using up every second on the play clock. “No one in the state can do that.

“It was typical Fort Hill. I think they get mad when that sort of thing happens to them,’’ he said about the first quarter. “I don’t know if they have a magic elixir or what that they go to. But I know they work really hard in the weight room and have a great program.”

Fort Hill didn’t punt after the first quarter. Seven possessions. Seven touchdowns, by six players.

With so many weapons and only one ball, keeping everyone happy can be a problem. Appel said it isn’t with his team.

“I think it starts with the kids and the relationships they have with each other. They like each other and they all want each other to succeed and the team to succeed,’’ he said. “They’re unselfish. I haven’t seen any selfishness all year.”

All of Smith’s yards came in the second quarter. Brown had the 77-yard kickoff return, a 45-yard punt return and 181 all-purpose yards before Fort Hill went to its bench in the third quarter. The Sentinels used nine ball carriers.

“Raen has good feet, and he’s been battle tested late in the season before,’’ said Appel. “He played well and I’m happy for him. He was hungry and fresh.”

The second-quarter scoring blitz began with Smith capping a 74-yard scoring drive by bolting up the middle and making a few cuts on a 35-yard touchdown run with 9:19 left in the half. Keegan Miller recovered a fumble three plays later, and after a 24-yard run by Brayden Poling and a 20-yard run by Smith, Poling scored on a three-yard run to make it 21-0 with 7:47 left.

The Sentinels scored three touchdowns over a span of just seven plays and 1:49 to put it out of reach at 42-0.

After stopping the Miners on a fourth-and-2 at the Fort Hill 42, Troy Banks ran 14 yards and Markel Spencer gained 13 before Smith scored again on a 31-yard burst at the 3:14 mark.

Brown caught a high-bouncing, long onside kick by Trenton Groves at the Mountain Ridge 34 that riled up some on the Mountain Ridge side, and Graves dumped a short swing pass to Brown who raced up the sideline and scored with the help of downfield blocks by Luke Hamilton, Poling and Noah Steckman to make it 35-0 with 3:02 left in the half.

Graves, after three plays and a punt by the Miners, scored on a 30-yard run that made it 42-0 with 1:25 on the clock.

The second half was a quick one with a running clock. Fort Hill scored on both of its drives, with Carter Swan reaching the end zone on a one-yard run in the third quarter and Logan Johnson on a two-yard sneak late in the fourth after a 38-yard run by Swan.

McElhenny scored for Mountain Ridge on a seven-yard run early in the fourth to cap an 89-yard march. He ran for 47 of the yards and Tristan Pinto had a 27-yard dash.

“You know when you play them you have to play four quarters,” Patterson said. “And that’s something we still haven’t been able to do. We play in spurts. We have to find a way to play through adversity when it hits us.”

McElhenny led Mountain Ridge with 76 yards on 17 carries.

The Miners end their regular season at home against Keyser on Friday. Fort Hill takes on Allegany in a Homecoming game that features a pair of 9-0 rivals on Saturday, at 12:30, at Greenway.