Fort Hill pounds Allegany, 57-13, in record-setting Homecoming

Nov. 2, 2025
by Alex Rychwalski

CUMBERLAND — Perfection may be unattainable, but Fort Hill got as close as anyone ever has in the first half of Homecoming.

Fort Hill scored touchdowns on all seven of its drives, found the end zone on one of Allegany’s and held the Campers without a first down, a formula that equated to a 57-0 halftime lead — the most points ever scored in a full Homecoming or Turkey Day game in just 24 minutes.

Braelyn Younger rushed for a record 203 yards and equalled the all-time touchdown mark with five scores, and his No. 2 Fort Hill Sentinels pounded No. 3 Allegany, 57-13, Saturday at Greenway Avenue Stadium.

Fort Hill played its reserves in the second half and still managed to secure the most-lopsided victory in series history. It’s now won 17 in a row in Homecoming and 22 straight over Allegany.

“We gave them a game plan and they executed it flawlessly,” Fort Hill head coach Zack Alkire said. “We’ve had a lot of momentum in the series, and a lot of it has to do with really good starts. ... Start off really well and try to get our spirits up and knock their spirits down a little bit, and I think that’s what happened.”

Fort Hill (6-3) grabbed the top seed in the Class 1A West Region point standings and a first-round bye. Allegany (4-5) is the No. 2 seed in the region and will host No. 7 Clear Spring in its playoff opener this week.

Fort Hill improved to 69-32-4 over Allegany and 57-29-3 in Homecoming/Turkey Day. Alkire is 5-0 in Homecoming games.

The margin of victory bested the previous record of 43 points, set with a 50-7 Sentinel rout in 2011. Their 57 points broke the mark Fort Hill established in a 56-21 result in 2017.

Younger bounded through wide-open holes and shook off would-be tacklers at the second level, scoring touchdowns on runs off 55, 49, 11, six and one yards.

The senior’s 203 yards on 11 carries surpassed the 187 Tyreke Powell rushed for in the 2017 game, and Younger’s five scores equalled the total scored by Jabril Daniels in 2023.

“Every time I touched the ball, there’s a hole and I hit it and they did what they are supposed to do,” Younger said of his blockers, “did our keys and everything looked good. Smooth.”

Younger was named the game’s Offensive Player of the Game, and Kyler Miller took defensive honors.

The offensive line of tackles Gavin Rose and Austin Zembower, guards Dakota Shambaugh and Lannydn Ritchey, center Casey Martz and tight end Landen Ritchardson paved the way for a rushing attack that garnered 310 yards on 27 carries in the first half.

It was as close to a perfect half of football as a team could play.

Fort Hill out-gained the Campers, 310-(minus 12), turned Allegany over three times and had none itself, had a 14-0 edge in first downs and faced just two third downs — only getting stopped on its last series when the Sentinels mercifully elected to let the time run out despite being in field goal range.

Fort Hill faced a third-and-1 on its first drive and nearly fumbled, but the Sentinels encountered little resistance the rest of the way before halftime.

“Tough one, man,” Allegany head coach Bryan Hansel said. “We made a couple plays on defense early and then we couldn’t get anything going offensively. We didn’t move anybody. I think they came off the ball, both sides punched us in the mouth and then we didn’t know how to respond. We kind of just took it.

“We lacked physicality. That’s never a way to win homecoming.”

Allegany’s first-half drives ended punt, punt, fumble, punt, fumble for touchdown, turnover on downs, punt and fumble.

Fort Hill’s resulted in scoring series spanning 65, 62, 55, 12, 44, 43 and 53 yards.

Noah House and Carson Bender had touchdown runs of five and two yards, respectively, during a first quarter the Sentinels dominated 29-0.

AJ Adams returned an Allegany fumble 27 yards for a touchdown after a crushing strip sack by Christian Riley during the second quarter.

“He was moving so slow,” Miller said. “It was like a slow motion, but he got that touchdown. It was amazing.”

Fort Hill’s defense was in the backfield throughout, taking advantage of an Allegany line that still appeared to be slow getting off the ball, a recurring issue for the Campers this season.

While Miller was a deserving Player of the Game from the defense, it could’ve been any number of Sentinels who swarmed to the football.

“It’s amazing,” Miller said of his deep platoon of teammates on the front seven. “You don’t have any pressure, trying to pull back, and you’ve got somebody that’s going to nail them every single time.”

Allegany didn’t record its maiden first down until Maddox Hensel converted a third-and-1 with a five-yard run during third quarter. The Campers have not recorded a first down against Fort Hill’s first-team defense in Homecoming since 2023.

Miller and Riley also recovered Alco fumbles in the first half. Dylan Leatherman and Parker Beck had second-half recoveries.

Levi House led the Sentinels with four tackles, Harley Twigg two of their six tackles for loss, Miller, Adams, Twigg and Riley had a sack each, and Beck also forced a fumble.

Emotions flared as they often do in Homecoming, with both teams being hit with personal fouls or unsportsmanlike penalties during the proceedings.

Allegany was lucky to not lose its leading rusher and tackler Khiante Bible when the sophomore made contact to a Fort Hill player’s helmet with his hand after a play, which could have resulted in an ejection and suspension if the contact had been viewed as a punch by the officials.

Instead, Bible was allowed to stay in the game, and he carried the ball 11 times for 44 yards — second on the team in rushing behind Aidyn Mckenzie’s 49, which included a 46-yard jaunt for a touchdown for the Campers’ first points with 4:51 left in the third quarter.

Allegany’s Alex Spriggs returned a fumble 45 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter to cap the day’s scoring. Sully Watkins and DJ Riley also recovered Fort Hill fumbles after halftime.

Bible recorded a game-high seven tackles and had a tackle for loss.

Bender was Fort Hill’s second-leading rusher at six carries for 47 yards. Chase Lamb rushed it three times for 27 yards, House had five totes for 24 yards and Neek Taylor had four touches for 19 yards.

Fort Hill used House, the Sentinels’ quarterback, in the run game more than in past weeks, drawing up some counter and option plays for the senior. House completed his lone passing attempt 16 yards to Richardson.

Allegany is projected to host Clear Spring (2-6) in the first round of the playoff this week. If the favored Campers emerge, they’d take on the winner of No. 3 Mountain Ridge (4-5) and No. 6 Smithsburg (4-5) for a spot in the state quarterfinals.

Fort Hill has a week off before it’ll face the winner of No. 4 Northern (4-5) and No. 5 Southern (4-5) in the region co-finals for a spot in the final eight.

The Sentinels were held to 30 or fewer points in four of their first five games, losing three of them.

Fort Hill’s victory was its fourth in a row by at least 40 points after routs of Mountain Ridge, 62-0, North Hagerstown, 48-6, and Smithsburg, 56-6, entering Saturday’s matchup.

For a team on a quest for a record fifth consecutive Class 1A state championship, Fort Hill is peaking at the right time.

“Important to stay sharp during the bye week,” Alkire said. “You don’t want to have a letdown in the second round of playoffs because you took an entire week off. So we’ve got to be able to stay sharp, keep people healthy and find a way to keep the intensity level where it’s been the last couple weeks.”