Is 1A football bad, or is Fort Hill just too good?

Nov. 30, 2023
by Alex Rychwalski

Fort Hill has won seven of the last nine Maryland Class 1A football state championships, and it'll be playing for another on Saturday.

The Sentinels' dominance of the state's smallest classification, and that of Dunbar before the Poets moved up to 2A/1A in the new six-class, football-only system, has done a number on the competitiveness of 1A football.

Following Allegany's 2005 title, the pair of small school titans have combined to win 14 of 16 Class 1A championships — with Catoctin in 2009 and 2019 the lone dissenter during that span.

Why has Fort Hill, the 13th smallest school of the 180 public institutions that play football in Maryland and with 17 programs with larger enrollments in its own classification, had a stranglehold on the hardware?

What makes Fort Hill special? Is Maryland Class 1A football just bad?

And that opens up a more nuanced conversation: What is 1A football supposed to look like?

Should Fort Hill and Dunbar be the standards we measure good Class 1A football by?

"When you look at us and Mountain Ridge, we're playing teams that are 3A and 4A and we're beating those teams in the regular season," Fort Hill head coach Zack Alkire said.

"To say that some of the top teams in 1A aren't very good because we happen to win all the time and blow teams out, it's kind of nonsense."

Then there's Mountain Ridge, which is in the midst of a historic run under coach Ryan Patterson having won 34 of its last 37 games.

Are the Miners not good simply because they haven't beaten Fort Hill in Annapolis? Are they not good because they haven't steamrolled nearly every opponent with relative ease like Fort Hill has this year?

Or is Fort Hill the exception to the rule? And was Dunbar before it?

"Fort Hill has kind of ruined that idea for people," Patterson said. "Truth be told, they're a better team than we are in a lot of areas, but I do think that skews people's perception of what a good team looks like.

"There are times this year we've struggled with consistency, and they've been the opposite. They've been a model of consistency. That's what has set them apart over the years."

What should 1A football look like?
The Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association voted to move to a six-classification system prior to the 2021 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, watering down an already poor system.

The flaws in the playoff structure have been further exposed by Fort Hill and Mountain Ridge occupying the top two seeds in Class 1A the past three seasons — pitting the Allegany County squads against the Nos. 7 and 8 seeds in the state quarterfinals and giving them home field in the semifinal round.

The result is 12 lopsided victories for the pair in the first two rounds of state play by an average margin of 48.8 to 11.5.

This is due to a number of factors.

The state is intent on using a regional system before state play instead of what West Virginia does, which is seed the top 16 teams in each class and begin the state tournament immediately.

Instead, Maryland separates each classification into four regions. In 1A football, more than seemingly any other classification, there is a wide disparity between the good regions (West and North) and the weaker ones (East and South).

There are quality squads in the East and South regions some years, but they don't have the depth of the West and North — which routinely have good squads eliminated prior to state play.

For example, Patterson Mill (8-1), Brunswick (7-2), Boonsboro (7-2), Loch Raven (6-3), Allegany (6-3) and Northern (5-4) all would've been the No. 1 seed in this season's South Region playoffs — all were eliminated in region play in the West and North regions.

The best teams aren't advancing to the state tournament, and it gives an illusion of a poor product at the 1A level.

"In a vacuum a school like Northern could compete for a championship," Alkire said of the new six-class system. "If the state would do away with regional play, a team like Northern would be in the quarterfinals or semifinals. Allegany is another example.

"You're not truly getting the best teams in that elite eight. ... This year, we blew out Havre de Grace, but the two worst teams are probably the two South Region teams, and they're the 5th and 6th seeds.

"Then you have a team like Boonsboro that is better than those two teams and Brunswick, but they're playing better competition to get out of their region.

"It's not so much that 1A is watered down, but these teams are getting beat in region play."

Even so, many of the squads that do advance to play the Miners and Sentinels in states are traditional contenders.

Joppatowne won the 2003 Class 1A state title over Beall and is a seven-time finalist — yet Fort Hill smashed the squad 43-6 in the state semifinals last year and 54-0 in the quarters the year prior.

Perryville upset Fort Hill in the 2011 semifinals and yet was fodder for Mountain Ridge on Friday, 40-14, and in the quarterfinals two years ago, 63-14. Fort Hill blasted the Panthers, 49-7, in the 2022 quarterfinals.

Beall lost to Bohemia Manor in the 2002 state championship game — the Miners trounced them, 57-0, in the snow in the 2022 quarters.

Havre de Grace is a three-time state champion, a nine-time finalist and a two-time 1A runner up to Fort Hill in 2015 and 2016 — Fort Hill destroyed the Warriors, 57-6, in this year's quarters.

Catoctin won states in 2009 and 2019 — routing Fort Hill and Dunbar in consecutive weeks in the latter conquest — but the Miners took care of the Wildcats, 37-17, two weeks ago.

Edmondson was the 2006 Class 2A state champion and has made the semifinals in 2A six other times, yet Fort Hill rolled 43-14 in the semifinals two years ago.

Forest Park finished 11-2 after moving up to 2A/1A this year and made the state semis in the higher classification — Mountain Ridge routed the Forresters, 55-20, in the quarters in 2021.

Brunswick is the last team to defeat Fort Hill at Greenway Avenue Stadium in the playoffs, doing so 32 Sentinel wins and a decade ago, and Mountain Ridge rolled 49-20 over the Frederick County foe to make the title game last year.

Then there's Cambridge-South Dorchester, which was defeated by Jim Refosco and the Allegany Campers in the 1978 Class B title game and has made the state semifinals 21 times in its storied history. The Eastern Shore squad was taken care of 38-20 by the Sentinels last Friday.

Cambridge-SD coach Toby Peer, who compiled a 57-25 record at 3A South Hagerstown between 2010-17, had the following to say when asked if Fort Hill's dominance in 1A was due to a weak classification:

"They (who say 1A is weak) have no idea. We played Fort Hill back in '16-'17 (and lost 47-26 and 27-13), and we were in 3A, and I said, 'They would win the 1A title, the 2A title and the 3A title.' That's how good they are. They can compete with anybody in the state. That's just the bottom line."

Reload, not rebuild
In every metric other than the one the state uses — enrollment — Fort Hill is not a Class 1A football team, and that's not Fort Hill's fault.

The Sentinels have amassed an absurd 129-7 record since 2013, beating teams from Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Florida and Pennsylvania and multiple schools with more than 2,000 kids to pick from.

Fort Hill put a running clock on the Class 3A runner-up Oakdale last season, and it defeated a Top 10 Division 1 Ohio opponent Wadsworth, 36-35, earlier this year.

It has also beaten Mountain Ridge, far and away the second-best squad in 1A each of the past three seasons, in the previous two 1A title games — 51-31 and 16-14.

But why is Fort Hill so good compared to the rest of Maryland Class 1A? And why has Mountain Ridge dominated the field with nearly as much ease since 2020?

It isn't a wealth of numbers. Fort Hill started 2023 with just 26 kids on its varsity roster before calling up six sophomores. The 2021 Mountain Ridge team didn't even have enough kids to sub in a fresh 11 early in the year.

Patterson believes the difference in Fort Hill and everybody else the last decade has been its concept of team.

"I can't speak for (the success of) Dunbar, but Fort Hill, they're different than a lot of these contenders because they're such a team," said the Mountain Ridge head man.

"They're such a proud program. They're such a traditional program. They also get the concept of team.

"You just look at the numbers, they just consistently have kids out for their program in a school that continues to shrink. Once you take sports kids, band kids and cheerleaders into account, you're not left with a lot of kids left in that school that aren't involved. It means something to be a part of that program."

Alkire highlighted Mountain Ridge's coaching staff and the culture they've built as something that's elevated the Miners to the point of becoming a worthy challenger.

"Mountain Ridge has done a great job of instilling a culture," he said. "They have demanded a lot more from their kids. They have that community buy-in. They have had a much different expectation from their community.

"They've also done a great job of getting creative in their offense, putting kids in the right positions. There are other teams that have really talented players, but by scouting them, their guys aren't in the right spots.

"When you get teams that have an understanding of what teams are trying to do, and even if they're not as talented, they're going to be successful putting kids in the right spot."

What has also separated Fort Hill and Mountain Ridge from the pack is their ability to replace key players and continue their winning ways.

Fort Hill lost 3,000 rushing yards to graduation last year and Area Player of the Year Blake White the prior season and has still managed to win 37 of its last 38 games, including 20 in a row.

Mountain Ridge has had to replace two award-winning quarterbacks in Bryce Snyder (2021 Offensive Player of the Year) and Leuma Pua'auli (2022 POY).

First-year starter Will Patterson has guided the Miners to an 11-1 record this year and has thrown for 20 touchdowns and rushed for 20 more.

Other small-school football squads have been forced to win and lose in cycles.

Take Catoctin, for example, which followed the 2019 unbeaten title campaign with seasons of 1-9, 2-8 and 5-7 marks.

Havre de Grace didn't win a football game last year and met the Sentinels in the quarters a season later. Cambridge-South Dorchester was 4-5 two years ago and 4-6 last year before taking a 10-2 record to Greenway last Friday.

Why have many 1A squads in more populated areas struggled with sustaining success? The transfer portal and private schools play a part.

The concept of team
Fort Hill and Mountain Ridge, just like other high school football teams in this area, are community football teams, with few transfers on each squad.

The Sentinels have just two contributors who have played at other high schools and the Miners have only one, but that's not the case at many Maryland high schools downstate.

Havre de Grace has a talented young football team, led by sophomore gunslinger Jaylin Solomon (who played last season at Concordia Prep), but will those players stay together?

Private schools routinely poach the top players in the Baltimore and Washington area, something Western Maryland doesn't have to worry about in football.

There are 27 members of the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Conference in the Baltimore area and 10 Washington Catholic Athletic Conference schools.

That's not including independent national power St. Frances, which rose to prominence in 2017 after hedge fund manager Biff Poggi poured money into the program, hoarding most of Baltimore's top talent at one private school.

At the 4A public school level, Quince Orchard of Montgomery County and Wise and Flowers of Prince George's County attract the top transfers from that area that WCAC schools can't poach.

Good 1A football players rarely are still at 1A schools by their senior year.

"I think the modern kid has changed," Patterson said, "in this age we live in where kids can transfer schools. It was a common thing in Baltimore for so many years, I think that the concept of team is somewhat leaving. That isn't necessarily just a 1A question, just public school in general."

Continuity is something Fort Hill has made into a science since Todd Appel took over in 2008, compiling a 142-16 record for a school-best .899 winning percentage. After Appel's Hall of Fame tenure, Alkire was hired in 2020 and the program continued its winning ways, capturing each of the last two 1A titles.

Mountain Ridge has also developed a program with similar principles and expectations under Patterson, with Sefa Pua'auli and Adam Patterson directing the offense and defense, respectively, during the run of the Miners' success.

That's important because programs that aren't well organized — like many of the squads that have ventured to Western Maryland and lost badly during the past three years — appear to lack that continuity.

Pre-snap flags, unsportsmanlike penalties and poor attitudes have been rampant in quarterfinal and semifinal games.

Peer gave what felt like a call to action for his program after falling to Fort Hill last Friday, saying his program needed to improve its weight room regimen to compete with the Sentinels.

The Sentinels outworked his team before the season, and they've outworked many other squads, as evidenced by an offensive line that is one of the best in school history.

What does Alkire view as the key to Fort Hill's prolonged success?

"We work," he said. "Not that other teams don't work. It's cliche, but it's year round. We encourage our kids to play multiple sports, and 90% of our football roster does. They're engaged in those sports, and they're dedicated enough to do football stuff too.

"It's not just the football stuff, it's the extra things as well. The kids love it, buy into it. They get support from the administration, the community, the band, the cheerleaders.

"There are also really intelligent people that help put kids in the right position to win. Our coaches dedicate a large portion of their lives for those kids to succeed."

Then there's the financial aspect of Fort Hill's success.

The Sentinels and their booster club fundraise between $20,000-$30,000 a year, Alkire said, with the players themselves raising approximately $10,000 annually through working at fairs, wing-offs, car washes, etc.

"That's a big part of it too," Alkire said. "We are funded well, but most of that is raised by us.

"Winning also helps. There are kids that have never played football before that came out and they've helped us. Some kids that might not play a lot, but when you talk to them after the season, they say that it's the greatest thing they've ever done. Total buy in from everyone that's involved.

"They don't want to be remembered as a group that doesn't hold the standard that it should. They want to uphold that standard that's been set before them."

Competitive balance
Outside of Allegany County, other schools in Maryland's Class 1A have the resources and numbers, but for whatever reason, they've been fodder for our local teams come state playoff time.

There have been discussions previously of whether Maryland should adopt a playoff system that takes competitive balance into consideration.

For example, the state of Indiana adopted "the success factor" in 2012, which factors in a point system that evaluates schools' sport-by-sport postseason finishes over a two-year cycle into its standard reclassification procedure.

Programs that win state championships are awarded four points, and any team that accrues six of more points during these two seasons competes in the next-highest classification for the following two-year period.

If a program has continued success, it can be moved up again with no limit to how high it can climb.

Once elevated, a team must register two points during the next reclassification period to remain in the higher class (one point is awarded for a section title and two for a region championship).

Schools then move down the reclassification ladder one rung at a time every two years if they don't meet the two-point threshold.

This rule, however, was adopted primarily to prevent private schools from routinely winning small-school championships, something that isn't the case in Maryland with privates not a part of the MPSSAA.

If Maryland did adopt Indiana's system, schools like Fort Hill and Dunbar would no longer be in 1A or 2A/1A.

Alkire believes that it would be unfair to adopt that system because it places future teams against better competition based on previous seasons with different sets of kids.

"I feel like this year's football team would compete in every single classification. We might not win every one, but we'd be competitive," he said. "But that's not the case some years.

"So you move us up for next year, but who's to say that next year's team, which loses 19 seniors, is going to be on that same level? So you're going to punish a team based on previous team's success.

"What I wish they'd do, is I wish they'd have a tournament of champions where all six state champions battle it out.

"You can definitely go back and forth both ways. I could see last year's team, if they bumped us up this year, it's whatever we'd be fine, but you're not going to make everybody happy."

Even for Fort Hill teams like this one, which is historically dominant, it doesn't have the numbers of larger programs.

The Sentinels led Wadsworth, 28-7, at the half but were worn down after halftime in part due to Wadsworth's superior numbers — the Ohio squad dressed 63 players.

Pitting less-talented Fort Hill teams against larger programs with the ability to platoon players could also cause injury concerns.

At its core, Fort Hill is still a 1A football team whether the results show it or not.

"When you don't have the numbers, you have a lot of kids playing both ways," Alkire said. "Higher classifications have a couple players playing both ways, but a majority of the kids are playing one way.

"They also have more kids to choose from. We have about 600 kids to choose from and 300 boys. Schools with 1,200 kids have twice the number of kids to choose from. In that way, we're no different than any other 1A school."

No end in sight
Mountain Ridge stands as the last beacon of hope for the rest of Class 1A, as it tries to prevent another Fort Hill victory parade in the state championship game at noon at Navy Marine-Corps Memorial Stadium.

When that game ends and the offseason begins, the ball moves into the rest of Class 1A's court.

Get to work because Fort Hill isn't going anywhere, and neither is Mountain Ridge.

The Miners have earned that respect to be in that same conversation, and until someone other than Fort Hill beats them — something no other team has accomplished in three years — they are.

If Mountain Ridge does fall to Fort Hill on Saturday, it's not because the Miners aren't a tremendous 1A football program and team.

"If we're the standard for good football in this area, that's an unfair standard for everybody else," Alkire said. "Would people say Frankfort isn't good then? Who says they don't have a good team? You're judging all this on a team that's won 7 of 9 championships.

"Teams in this area would and have beaten teams from outside the area routinely. Football in this area is much better than what people give it credit for."

Fort Hill will lose its entire offensive line and starting quarterback Deshaun Brown next year, but it'll be back. The Sentinels always are.

It's up to the rest of Class 1A to catch up.