Fort Hill's rushing attack tramples Silver Oak Rams

Oct 19, 2019
Brandon Glass

CUMBERLAND — When Silver Oak (1-8) showed up to town and set up on the sideline with 14 players, it should have been a sign of some tough sledding to come for the Rams. And well, it was, as the Fort Hill Sentinels (6-1) ran roughshod over the Rams to the tune of 59-6.

With the win, Fort Hill moves to 6-1 with two more home games left in the regular season.

Fort Hill scored early and often, relying only on the run game and scoring on every single offensive possession of the first half. Not to limit themselves, the Sentinels ran back a pick six, too.

Fort Hill, without throwing a pass, out-gained Silver Oak 229 to 105 yards in the first half, and started each drive with a short field. To take it a step further, the Rams didn’t cross the 50-yard line until the second quarter.

Whether on purpose or otherwise, Silver Oak kicked an onside kick to start the game. Shortly there after, after steamrolling down the field on the back of a bevy of fakes, Fort Hill senior fullback Carson Snyder punched in the game’s opening touchdown from 3 yards out. Fort Hill senior Danny King sailed the point after through the uprights.

Silver Oak turned a touchback into a quick three-and-out before punting the ball to the 50-yard line. In just three plays, Fort Hill was at the nine-yard line, handing the ball off to sophomore Breven Stubbs on a sweep to the right side of the formation for a touchdown run. Just like that, after a King kick, the Sentinels were up 14-0 with 7:10 left in the first quarter.

On the next Rams drive, junior quarterback Taron Kelly threw an interception to the Sentinels’ junior defensive back Korey Stafford, who returned the ball to the 14-yard line. Fort Hill senior halfback Colby Santmyire burst through the line for a 10-yard touchdown run. The Sentinels took a 21-0 lead with 5:25 remaining on the first quarter.

Silver Oak’s Kelly threw another interception and wasn’t so lucky the second time, as Stubbs housed the 40-odd-yard interception for a pick six. In a flash, Fort Hill was up 28-0 with 2:55 remaining in the quarter.

The Rams turned the ball over on downs on their own 18-yard line. Thankful for the gift, the Sentinels turned the good field position onto an eight-yard touchdown run for Stubbs to go up by 35 points.

“I always like to comment on our execution after I watch film, but it looked pretty good and we had some kids to block that were pretty athletic, number 21 especially, and we were trying to stay away from him but he found us a couple times,” said Fort Hill head coach Todd Appel. “We try to do a lot of work in practice in small group and team offense to try to make sure we’re holding the snap count, make sure that we’re blocking the right people and certainly it looked like that tonight.”

The tide stemmed for the Rams, if only briefly, to start the second quarter. Kelly broke off runs of 64 and 15 yards as Silver Oak scored its first and only points of the game. The Rams failed to convert the two-point attempt.

Not to be dissuaded, Fort Hill marched 38 yards for a score after securing good field position from a Silver Oak unsportsmanlike penalty on its touchdown. Santmyire took a toss and weaved through defenders for a 17-yard touchdown. The King kick extended the Sentinels lead to 42-6 with 8:06 left in the half.

Silver Oak punted and Snyder secured his second touchdown of the night, a 10-yard dash threw the middle of the Silver Oak defense. Silver Oak turned the ball over on downs and Appel put in some new players on offense. The drive stalled out as time was about to expire. Instead, Appel called a time out and brought out King to kick a 48-yard field goal, which he nailed.

“It’s extremely important [to play players other than the starters] because it keeps your starters healthy and it gets kids in the game who work just as hard during the week as the starters and that’s what builds programs,” said Appel. “It gives them some kind of hope and some motivation to be in the game and be successful and they get to see their-self on film and they get taught and they get coached and later on they become better football players.”

Fort Hill took a 52-6 lead into the half.

The second half saw 10-minute quarters and a running clock. King bounced a 52-yard field goal off the cross bar and Fort Hill junior fullback Hunter Hamilton scored the game’s last points, a six-yard touchdown run.

Fort Hill finished without a penalty and with 246 yards total.

Fort Hill will continue its homestand Friday in a face off against Green Street Academy (3-3) at 7 p.m.