Published: September 05, 2008 10:31 am         

Maryland schools, Keyser ready to roll

Appel debuts as Fort Hill coach; Mountain Ridge, Northern, Southern open seasons as well; In W.Va., Golden Tornado kicks off 2008 at Moorefield

CUMBERLAND — The second week of high school football brings the first full week for area teams as the Maryland public-school teams get into the act this weekend with eight games tonight and one on Saturday involving area teams.

Fort Hill opens its season and a new era under head coach Todd Appel, who succeeds Barry Lattimer as the Sentinels’ head coach after nine seasons. A former Fort Hill player and an assistant coach for 15 years, Appel will lead his team into Greenway Avenue Stadium against Baltimore City College.

Other Maryland teams making their 2008 season debuts include Northern, who will travel to Smithsburg to take on the Leopards; and Mountain Ridge, who will host Sidwell Friends, of Washington, D.C., tonight at Frostburg State University.

In West Virginia, the Keyser Golden Tornado will make its season debut when it travels to Moorefield (0-1). The Yellow Jackets, under first year head coach Josh See, fell short in their comeback bid, 21-20, to Frankfort last Friday at Frankfort Stadium. The Falcons, in the meantime, will be out to go 2-0 under first-year head coach Kevin Whiteman when they travel to Liberty Harrison (find directions in the Sports Roundup on page 2D).

Keyser is the fourth-ranked team in West Virginia Class AA, behind top-ranked Wayne, second-ranked James Monroe, and third-ranked Bluefield, while Frankfort earned consideration in the voting with seven points. Moorefield, despite the loss to Frankfort in the opener, is ranked No. 8 in the Class A poll.

The Hampshire Trojans (0-1) dug themselves a hole early last week in their loss to Preston, and fell to the Knights, 29-6. Hampshire will host Berkeley Springs tonight.

In other games, Petersburg (0-1) will host Pendleton County, and East Hardy will visit Bath, Va.

Saturday night, the Allegany Campers welcome back their head coach Tom Preaskorn, who did not coach last season due to his 10-month tour in Iraq, when both the Campers and the Southern Rams open their respective seasons at Greenway Avenue Stadium.

Bishop Walsh, which opened the season last week under first-year coach Mike Page with a 14-6 win over Fairfield, Pa., is off this week and will host Clear Spring next Saturday.