Big plays send No. 2 Mountain Ridge to rout over No. 1 Fort Hill, 30-8

Oct. 8, 2022
by Kyle Bennett

FROSTBURG, Md. — Mountain Ridge made big play after big play, no matter if it was on offense, defense or special teams.

In a battle for the No. 1 spot in Class 1A and the Area Top Five, the Miners forced three turnovers and were efficient as can be on offense, as they trounced Fort Hill, 30-8, at Miner Stadium.

“Obviously, we’re really happy,” said Mountain Ridge head coach Ryan Patterson. “It starts with our coaches’ game plan. We spent the weekend together. We did such a good job of not peeking ahead. I left the stadium last week after the Homecoming game and it was time to go to work. We started watching the film that we had already had Friday night. Then all Saturday afternoon we watched film, and all Sunday we watched film. I think we had an idea of what they were going to run.

“I think the biggest key was up front: physicality. We were able to match their physicality up front, and surpass it, to be honest with you. We made plays when we needed to. We tackled well in open space, I was worried about that all week with their speed. It all came together for us.”

“Obviously, we’re disappointed,” Fort Hill head coach Zack Alkire said. “Mountain Ridge came out with a great plan. Mountain Ridge came out fired up, and we were flat. We ended up paying for it.”

The first big play for the Miners came with just under three minutes to go in the first when the Sentinels missed a 30-yard field goal.

Backed by a pair of first-down passes by Uma Pua’auli, the Miners marched down the field to the Fort Hill 23 on a drive that carried over into the second quarter.

Pua’auli hit Austin Frost for an initial short gain and a first down up the left side before Xzavier Payton came up with a crucial block to seal the edge and allow Frost to reach the end zone. The point-after try failed at 10:15, giving Mountain Ridge the lead for good.

“They came up with a great game plan,” Alkire said of the Miners. “They were flying to the football and we weren’t. We have to give a lot of credit to coach Patterson and his staff. They did an excellent job, and they deserve everything they got tonight.”

Pua’auli came up with a huge play on defense on Fort Hill’s third play on the ensuing drive, picking off a pass to set the Miners up at their own 30.

Momentum stayed on Mountain Ridge’s side despite punting on the next drive, as Pua’auli’s booming punt was downed at the Fort Hill 2. The Miners took their 6-0 lead into the break.

“I think we played good,” Pua’auli said. “First half we came out and started fast, then we scored. I think our defense is what pretty much won the game for us. We were able to get three-and-outs sometimes, get good field positions on punts.”

After Mountain Ridge forced punts on Fort Hill’s first two drives coming out of the locker room, the Miners’ next huge play came on defense as Hunter Clise forced a fumble, with David Miller coming up with the recovery.

It didn’t take long for Mountain Ridge to find another game-defining play, as Pua’auli hit McAlpine for an initial short gain on second-and-nine near the left sideline.

Some on the field — from both teams — appeared to have given up on the play as it seemed that McAlpine had stepped out of bounds. Instead, McAlpine played until he heard the whistle and gained 32 yards to set up a first-and-goal at the Fort Hill 7.

Three plays later, Pua’auli scored from three yards out on a QB sneak, then hit a wide-open McAlpine on a two-point pass to put the Miners ahead 14-0 with 2:54 to go in the third.

The Sentinels’ ensuing drive again ended in a turnover, with Jacob Tinsley forcing a fumble and Pua’auli recovering it.

“We came into the game knowing what we had to do, especially with everyone saying we were going to lose,” Tinsley said. “Us being the underdogs, we needed to come out and show what we could do, and we did.”

The turnover once again resulted in Mountain Ridge points, as McAlpine booted a 36-yard field goal to make it a three-score game at 17-0 with 11:14 to play.

But Fort Hill wasn’t to be ruled out quite yet.

After McAlpine pounded the ensuing kickoff into the end zone, Anthony Burns hit Anthony Palmisano for a 63-yard gain on the first play from scrimmage to set up the Sentinels at the Mountain Ridge 17.

After gains of four and three yards, Miller batted down a pass in the corner of the end zone to bring up a fourth-and-three.

The Sentinels threw a swing pass on fourth down, with Clise coming up with a huge tackle for a two-yard loss and a turnover on downs at the Mountain Ridge 12.

“Everyone around here was picking Fort Hill to win,” Clise said. “Anyone that’s not from the Mountain Ridge community knew Fort Hill was winning. Being the underdog really helped us in this matchup.”

Fort Hill stuffed the Miners on the next two plays and got on the board with a safety at 7:59 after a fumble, with Jaden Lee getting through a host of Sentinels to recover in the end zone before being tackled.

The Sentinels wasted little time following the kickoff, as a 12-yard run by Tanner Wertz was sandwiched between passes of 31 and 11 yards from Burns to Palmisano.

Four plays later, on first-and-goal from the 2, Shane Welsh rumbled in for a touchdown.

The Sentinels had a chance to make it an eight-point game with a PAT, but drew the Miners offside on the try. Alkire sent the offense back out, but Mountain Ridge came up with another big play and stuffed the Sentinels on a toss to the outside to keep it a two-score game at 17-8 with 5:45 to go.

“Tons of huge plays,” Ryan Patterson said. “The two-point conversion stop was a huge play to keep them to two scores. I can’t get out of here without talking about our kickoff team and our coverage all night long. They had us holding our breath a couple times. Those boys are fast over there, but we did the job.”

Will Bannon recovered the onside kick for the Miners, who had a 12-yard run by Will Patterson — stepping in at QB for an injured Pua’auli — and an unnecessary roughness call on the Sentinels set Mountain Ridge up at the Fort Hill 12.

Lee went on to turn out the lights and put the game to bed, scoring on a four-yard run at 4:07 before adding the exclamation point on a 77-yard touchdown scamper with 1:03 remaining.

“This is it, baby. We did it,” Lee said of what was going through his mind as he outran the Fort Hill defense on his long touchdown run.

“We went in at halftime and told everybody, ‘No. 1 you knew you had to fight that team to the death,’” Ryan Patterson said. “The few times we’ve had the opportunity to do this, when we beat them in the COVID season, we had to hit a pass out of our Flex formation to beat them.

“We knew we’d have to fight them. So, all halftime that’s all we talked about. Just keep on playing, win the half, play every play. Obviously we did that.”

Fort Hill outgained the Miners (395-262), whose forced turnovers set them up with short fields throughout the night. The Sentinels had 16 first downs to Mountain Ridge’s 12, and they also committed 10 penalties for 92 yards.

“Penalties, turnovers, not being able to keep our emotions, losing control of that,” Alkire said. “That’s what happens when you’re expected to win, and someone thumps you in the face.”

Lee was the Miners’ leading rusher with 16 carries for 136 yards, with Pua’auli adding 12 rushes for 34 yards in addition to going 4 of 8 for 73 yards through the air.

For the Sentinels, Anthony Burns was 13 of 22 for 219 yards, with Palmisano hauling in five passes for 147 yards. Tanner Wertz toted the rock 19 times for 109 yards.

Fort Hill (5-1) hosts Smithsburg (2-4) on Friday at Greenway Avenue Stadium.

“If you don’t learn from this experience, it’s going to happen again,” Alkire said. “You have to come out and play every game. You have to come out and play every play. When you take plays off, when you’re not completely focused, this is the kind of thing that happens.”

Mountain Ridge (6-0) gets an extra day of rest and travels to Accident next Saturday to take on Northern (3-3).

“It hasn’t all soaked in,” Ryan Patterson said. “I’m cold, I’m wet. It feels good. Having it in front of our community, everyone showed up here tonight. It’s a big night for us. We’re just so proud.”