Fort Hill returns to winning ways with 52-0 shutout over Smithsburg

Oct. 15, 2022
by Jordan Kendall

CUMBERLAND — No. 2 Fort Hill returned to its winning ways in a 52-0 shutout over Smithsburg Friday night at Greenway Avenue Stadium.

The Sentinels (6-1, 2-1 WestMAC) held the Leopards (2-5, 1-2 Washington County) to negative 44 rushing yards in the game.

“It was a nice win,” Fort Hill head coach Zack Alkire said. “We had a lot of kids play really well. Had a lot of different kids in the end zone, we were able to spread the ball around.”

Fort Hill celebrated their 18 seniors before the game. The Class of 2022 has gone 31-4 so far and won a state championship last year.

“These kids are all good kids, they’ve all stuck around through COVID and coaching changes,” Alkire said about the senior class. “They’re a really good class, they’re one class I haven’t had from the freshman level on but they’ve been great. They’re great kids, do great in school, and perform well on the field.”

Tavin Willis gave Fort Hill an early lead when he took a toss 47 yards to the end zone. On the Leopards first pass of the game, Anthony Palmisano intercepted it at the 44.

“It was real big, at that point, there wasn’t a lot of electricity in the air,” Alkire said on Willis score. “It felt like everyone was on pins and needles to see how we’d respond. That really opened everything up.”

Later in the quarter, Tanner Wertz walked in from 26 yards out. It was set up by a fourth-down offsides penalty on Smithsburg that gave the Sentinels a first down.

“Our kids played right up until the end, and I’m really proud of them for that,” Smithsburg head coach Dave Miller said. “First and foremost, we can take away the fact that our kids didn’t quit. We got some things to work on, but our kids played hard.”

The Leopards second pass attempt was also intercepted, this time by Bryson Metz. He brought it back 17 yards for a pick-six. Fort Hill’s defense intercepted four passes overall with four different players.

“They played great, we had them working on that all week long,” Alkire said. “We were fairly confident that we knew what Smithsburg was gonna attempt to run and our guys were in a good position.”

Fort Hill made it 28-0 on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Anthony Burns to Mikey Allen late in the first quarter.

Smithsburg struggled with snapping the ball. There were four high snaps in the first quarter. While quarterback Braxton Byrd was able to recover all four, all resulted in big losses.

“The center, he’s young, he’s a sophomore.” Miller said. “He’s doing a great job for us, but he had a rough night early. I think he was a little overwhelmed up front but Fort Hill does that to teams. Credit to them, they’ve built a machine here.”

On the first play of the second quarter, Steven Spencer blocked the punt and Fort Hill recovered at the two. It set up a one-yard score by Palmisano.

“Special teams plays like that are huge,” Alkire said. “We’ve been preaching that for weeks now the proper way to block a kick. Dive at the foot and we finally did that and came up with a big block.”

The big plays continued for the Sentinels midway through the quarter. Mikey Allen returned a punt 40 yards to the Leopards 12. It set up a 24-yard field goal by Quinn Cohen.

Late in the quarter, Jaxon Jones scored another touchdown for the Sentinels from three yards out. It made the score 45-0 at halftime.

Fort Hill was dominant on both sides of the ball in the first half, especially on defense. They held the Leopards to negative seven yards of total offense. It took until there was about three minutes left in the first half for Smithsburg to gain positive yards on a play.

“Our defense has been our calling card all season long,” Alkire said. “When our offense hasn’t performed, our defense usually has. It was good to see that they were able to come out tonight and have just as much success as the offense did.”

Smithsburg’s highlight was a 45-yard completion to Adam Batey from Byrd. The Leopards fumbled and Fort Hill recovered on the next play.

“It’s huge, it’s gonna give Braxton confidence,” Miller said. “He’s a good athlete, he’s a gamer. He’s just gotta take reps like anything else. It was nice to see Adam Batey get a nice catch. We could’ve packed it in when it was 45-0 but we made a play.”

At halftime, the Sentinels had 238 yards of total offense. Smithsburg had minus seven.

“We were overwhelmed with our physicality, there’s no question about that,” Miller said. “One of the things we respect about Fort Hill is people talk about all the state championships and all the success. What people don’t talk about is what you don’t see and what they do.”

The Leopards had another big completion in the third quarter on a 20-yard pass from Byrd to Willie Weakfall. Smithsburg added another big pass in the fourth on a 24-yarder to Logan Jiron.

Spencer got into the end zone from 19 yards out late in the third quarter. It was the final scoring play of the game.

For the Leopards, Byrd was 8 of 17 for 136 yards, no touchdowns and four interceptions. Jiron had three catches for 34 yards. Weakfall had two catches for 33 yards. Batey’s one catch went for 45 yards.

“We’re just gonna keep picking him up, that’s all we can do,” Miller said of Byrd. “He’s the one we’re gonna rock with from here on out. Obviously, we can help him by running the ball more, but tonight it wasn’t gonna happen.”

For Fort Hill, Burns went 5 of 7 for 70 yards and one touchdown with no picks. Tanner Wertz rushed eight times for 46 yards and a touchdown. Willis had two rushes for 51 yards and a score. Jones rushed six times for 29 yards and a touchdown.

Spencer had three rushes for 20 yards and a touchdown. Palmisano intercepted a pass on defense and had three carries for 26 yards with a touchdown.

“He’s kinda like the unsung kid on our team,” Alkire said of Palmisano. “He plays split end in an offense that doesn’t really throw the ball. He had a big game last week, followed it up with another big game today.”

Allen had two catches for 32 yards and a touchdown. He also intercepted a pass and had a 40-yard punt return. Carney also had a pick.

Smithsburg returns home against Southern on Friday at 6 p.m. Fort Hill travels to Pennsylvania to play New Oxford on Saturday at 6 p.m.

“They know what they’re doing up there,” Alkire said about New Oxford. “We’re not going to be able to not show up. If we don’t show up, we’re not gonna win.”