Fort Hill overwhelms Perryville, 49-7, behind Daniels' 4 TDs

Nov. 19, 2022
by Alex Rychwalski

CUMBERLAND — There were questions about who would be the next in a line of great Fort Hill fullbacks. Jabril Daniels answered them on Friday night.

The talented sophomore exploded for 166 yards and four touchdowns in just one half against Perryville, and Fort Hill’s dominant defense made sure that was more than enough.

On a snow-covered turf, the second-seeded Sentinels overwhelmed seventh-seeded Perryville, 49-7, in the Class 1A state quarterfinals.

Fort Hill (11-1) will host No. 3 Joppatowne (11-1) next week in the semifinals. Joppatowne defeated Lake Clifton, 38-30, on Friday night.

“They have a lot of kids who are excellent football players over on the other sideline,” Sentinels head coach Zack Alkire said of Perryville. “I think we’re peaking at the right time.

“We’re able to come together as a team a little more, we have more kids stepping up and leading. ... We had six kids out with sickness, and the fact that we were able to come together as a team and win the way that we did just shows that they’re starting to get it.”

The last time Perryville made the trek to Cumberland, the Panthers returned to Cecil County with a 20-14 overtime win over a previously unbeaten Fort Hill squad in the state semifinals.

Perryville only had bumps and bruises to show for it this time around.

Fort Hill thumped the Panthers with 42 carries for 368 yards, and its defense held Perryville to just 63 yards of offense and five first downs — two of which were by penalty.

The Panthers’ lone points were on a 95-yard kick return by speedster Zack Ayers that went for a touchdown.

“Fort Hill is a tough team,” Perryville head coach Sean Sandora said. “They fire off the ball. Their offensive and defensive lines are very good, and they tackle well. Hats off to them, they hit us in the mouth.”

Other than Daniels’ huge day, Tanner Wertz had 11 carries for 76 yards, Mikey Allen ran the ball eight times for 72 yards and a TD, Shane Welsh had four carries for 42 yards, and Anthony Burns threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Palmisano.

Allen also had a 37-yard interception return for a score on the first play of the fourth quarter, and Landon Sensabaugh picked off a pass on the final play of the game.

Fort Hill was missing All-Area running back Tavin Willis, who leads the team with 14 rushing touchdowns, due to an illness, but the Sentinels didn’t miss a beat.

For the second week in a row, Fort Hill showcased a new wrinkle, lining up in the I formation with Daniels at fullback and Wertz the deep man. Tight end Bryson Metz was frequently called in motion, routinely giving the Sentinels a numbers advantage in the running game.

“We have a certain set of plays that we run, and when we get in those different formations it gives us an opportunity to get an extra blocker to pop somebody,” Alkire said. “Didn’t have a whole lot of big plays here, but we had just enough.”

Daniels produced plenty of big plays himself, scoring all four of the Sentinels’ first-half touchdowns to give them a 27-7 lead at the half. The sophomore had touchdown runs of 62, eight, five and one yards.

Having Daniels in the backfield allows Wertz to move off fullback and gives a lethal running game an additional option in the backfield.

“It was nice having Tavin, Tanner and Mikey in there all at the same time,” Alkire said, “but Tanner’s natural position is halfback, and he made the move back to halfback.

“Having Jabril and Shane with that pop in the middle opens stuff up for us on the outside. Tonight it didn’t open us up, Perryville was shutting down the outside, they were giving us the inside game because we haven’t really showed it a lot this season.”

Despite the return game gaffe in the first quarter, Fort Hill’s defense did well to limit Ayers, who finished with eight rushes for 16 yards, caught three passes for 15 yards and was 0 for 2 with an interception in the passing game.

“The Ayers kid was everything we thought he was going to be,” Alkire said. “Kicking, punting, running the football. Their offense went through him. Kudos to our kids for recognizing that and knowing where he is at all time and putting an end to it.

“We wanted to be able to defend Ayers, have somebody on him at all times. Whenever he went to the gun at quarterback it was a little different, but it was basically trying to shut him down and make other people beat us.”

Kick coverage and penalties were about all that went wrong for Fort Hill.

The Sentinels were penalized 12 times for 105 yards. Perryville’s only two first downs against Fort Hill’s starters on defense were a facemask and a pass interference.

A holding brought back an 85-yard touchdown run by Allen during the third quarter. Later in that same drive, Palmisano executed the tip drill to perfection and hauled in a touchdown pass from Burns, but Fort Hill was given a penalty for an excessive celebration.

Fort Hill was penalized for a pass interference on the first play of the next Perryville drive to move the Panthers down to the Sentinels’ 32-yard line, doing so without a single yard of offense on the series. However, sacks by Carter Hess and Landen Keech, and another by Jaylan Atkinson bailed the team out.

“Way too many,” Alkire said. “Penalties happen in the course of the game, but we have to clean up the ones that happen in the end zone. The celebration penalty, you can’t have that. Those are the ones that upset me the most. The ones that happen in the course of the game are an officials’ decision.”

Fort Hill continued its string of disruptive special teams plays when Steven Spencer blocked a punt during the second quarter. Metz made a heads-up play tackling Ayers, Perryville’s punter, who picked up the block and had daylight in front of him. Metz closed the gap in a heartbeat.

“Just goes to show the athletes that we have,” Alkire said. “Just as big as the blocked kick was Metz who had the football IQ to know that was a live ball, and their most athletic kid on their sideline picked the ball up. If he wasn’t there to make the play they score and it changes the game.”

Perryville bellcow Ethen Gunter hurt his leg after taking a jet sweep with 5:09 on the clock in the second quarter, and he didn’t return. At the time, Gunter had six carries — twice as many touches as his teammates combined.

The victory propels Fort Hill to the state semifinals for the ninth consecutive season, where the Sentinels will face Joppatowne.

Fort Hill crushed Joppatowne, 54-0, in the state quarterfinals last year at Greenway Avenue Stadium.

“They’re going to know the stadium, they’re going to know what they’re coming into now,” Alkire said. “They’re going to know our offense a little better. I imagine it’s going to be a little better game than it was last year.”