Published: December 02, 2008 09:21 am      

One-at-a-time Fort Hill has one more to play ‘to win’

In a season full of turmoil and distractions, the players on the Fort Hill football team found a way to remain focused and win football games with a lot of togetherness and determination.

The result of that is a trip to the Maryland Class 1A State Championship Game this Saturday at noon at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. The Sentinels will be facing two-time defending champion Dunbar of Baltimore in the finals for the second time in three years.

Second-seeded Fort Hill rolled over Joppatowne, 28-0, in the state semifinals on Friday at Greenway Avenue Stadium and will be going to Baltimore with an 11-1 record and a 10-game winning streak.

Dunbar went into the semifinals as the top-seeded team and has a 12-1 record after crushing Catoctin, 48-12, on Saturday. The Poets repeated as state champion last season with a 58-34 victory over unbeaten Allegany after taking the 2006 championship with a 38-23 win over Fort Hill.

Looking at what has to rank as one the toughest schedules in the history of the school and a lot of new starters in key positions, the chance of Fort Hill advancing this far appeared to be more of a dream than a realistic goal. Only the players, coaches and some die-hard fans thought they could win enough games to even qualify for the playoffs in the tough West Region.

The season was off to a shaky start even before the first kick. A scheduling snafu had two games on the same date that resulted in dropping Southern and having to play Cambridge-South Dorchester on a Friday afternoon at Greenway. That would have given Fort Hill a nine-game schedule, but athletic director Paul Green was able to place McKinley Tech in the open date.

The players didn’t care whom they were playing just as long as they got to play. They totally bought into first-year head coach Todd Appel’s concept that you only focus on one game at a time.

Fort Hill opened the campaign with a very strong defensive performance in a 14-6 victory over a very fast Baltimore City College team at Greenway. That was followed by the only loss of the season to the hands of Keyser, 13-7, on Sept. 12 at Keyser’s Stayman Field. The Golden Tornado was unbeaten in nine regular-season games this season.

Then came an episode that may have brought the Fort Hill players together and able to overcome any kind of adversity more than anything else. It was Sept. 19, and Dunbar of Washington was at Greenway with a very talented team that included a number of NCAA Division I prospects.

Dunbar coach Craig Jefferies pulled his team off the field with the Crimson Tide leading Fort Hill, 14-8, in the third quarter, citing racial slurs and fear for his African-American players. The game was ruled by the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association to be a forfeit in Fort Hill’s favor after its review.

An independent investigation presented by Fort Hill Principal Steve Lewis and the Allegany County Board of Education on Sept. 22 found no evidence of the use of racial slurs by the Fort Hill players. The game officials, players, coaches and other people on the scene were interviewed. They saw or heard nothing to support Jefferies’ allegations.

Then in a week of turmoil that saw the story spread across the country, the Fort Hill players were able to stay focused on football and responded with a thrilling 36-28 victory over a South Dorchester team that also advanced to the Class 1A playoffs.

Some people continued to believe the Dunbar coach, and the District of Columbia school officials wouldn’t allow McKinley Tech to come to Cumberland the next week.

The Sentinels then kept finding different ways to win over quality opponents in the 10-game winning streak that included a couple of close calls in a 14-12 win over Frederick Douglass and a 24-21 victory over Mountain Ridge before the 26-22 comeback victory over Allegany in the Homecoming Game.

In the opening playoff game, Fort Hill routed Boonsboro, 35-0. Facing Allegany for a second time in the West Region finals, the Sentinels put together another long drive in the closing minutes for a 21-14 win. Capitalizing on four turnovers and controlling the ball on the ground led to the win over Joppatowne.

The Sentinels pounded many opponents and controlled the clock behind the running of senior fullback Marcus Lashley, who rushed for 200 yards and a touchdown against Joppatowne. In other games they used the arm and legs of senior quarterback Eric Howser to come up with big offensive plays. The Offensive Player of the Game in the Homecoming win has come through with some crucial passes to the likes of Jordan Helmick, Devin Lee, Colton Sibley and Johnathan Foster.

A major key to any team’s success is the offensive line and Coach Appel thinks the Sentinels have proven they have the best one in the area. Creating holes and providing pass protection have been tight ends Sibley and Helmick, tackles Caleb Morris and Morgan Absher, guards Nathan Greise and Clint Johnson, and center Matt Riggleman.

Special teams have also been a factor, especially in the win over Mountain Ridge when Mike Durr returned a punt 88 yards for a touchdown on the final play of the first half and Lashley kicked a 32-yard field goal for the winning margin.

The Fort Hill defense had some trouble stopping the Allegany and Mountain Ridge running attacks, but always seemed to come up with the big plays that gave the Sentinels a chance to win. In the Homecoming game Helmick earned Defensive Player of the Game honors after returning a blocked punt by Garrett Dolly for a touchdown, and setting up another score with an interception.

Appel is touting Caleb Morris, a senior defensive tackle, as a strong candidate for Area Defensive Player of the Year honors. Dolly, who is only a sophomore, and junior Dakota Welsh have also stepped up big as linebackers in their first year of varsity football.

“The key thing is how these players have stayed together with the turmoil and the very tough schedule. We have great, great kids,” said Appel. “Our players never quit and always believe they can win the football game.”

Fort Hill will undoubtedly be a heavy underdog against what Appel considers to be a Baltimore all-star team, led by all-everything running back Tavon Austin.

“You don’t just go down there to play. You go to win,” said Appel. “Dunbar has a great football team and we know we have to find a way to contain No. 9 (Austin). But if we play Fort Hill football the way we have been playing, we can win. We have been taking them one game at time and have been getting better every game. That was our goal.”

Steve Luse is a retired Cumberland Times-News sportswriter. Contact Steve Luse at sluse@times-news.com.