Published: November 01, 2009 12:02 am      

Halloween, Homecoming weirdness have set in

Not to dwell on it, but yes, it was a mistake. The team of Fearless Forecasters unanimously selected Fort Hill to defeat Mountain Ridge, not the other way around as it read in Friday’s weekly forecast in the Times-News. I’d say I received over a dozen calls on the matter; three or four, I would guess, from bookmakers, leaving messages such as, “Please call back at this number and tell us what you know about this,” and, “What do you know about this game that nobody else seems to know? Have there been injuries?”

No injuries, just an honest mistake.

I don’t know if it was because of Halloween or not, but things have been kind of spooked for us here the past couple of weeks. It’s been weird to say the least. Did you read Tom Valentine’s terrific Homecoming column in the Times-News Sports Magazine on Saturday? It was great until the end, right? I have no idea what happened on the break, because I have the proof of the page right here and the column ran to its proper end on it, just the way it’s supposed to do, so don’t ask me. All I can do is highly recommend that you to go our web site at www.times-news.com to read the conclusion of “The view from the fence has been well worth it,” because it will be well worth your time.

Hey, Tom, I know you love a mystery, but this isn’t what we had in mind, is it? Please accept our apologies for the computer glitch.

Something that was not a glitch but certainly caught some of us by surprise was Frankfort’s 22-13 win over Keyser. What a great victory for the Falcons, who certainly aren’t surprised by the outcome. There was nothing but respect for the Golden Tornado, which had won six in a row coming in, around and about Short Gap, but the Falcons truly felt and feel they have the better team. It’s also sweet redemption for last year’s lopsided loss to Keyser, but most importantly it puts Frankfort in awfully good position to play some home games in the upcoming playoffs.

It’s quite likely the Falcons and the Golden Tornado have not seen the last of each other this season.

And speaking of rematches, they haven’t even played the first one yet, but unless something really, really, really weird and unexpected happens, Saturday’s Homecoming Game will be the first of what has now become the annual doubleheader between Fort Hill and Allegany.

I would suspect undefeated Fort Hill enters as the favorite, although I would have to ask the bookmakers to be certain. And anybody who wagers anything more than a friendly bet — a drink, a pizza, some pocket change, etc. — on a high school sporting event has a serious mental illness.

Right off the bat, my feeling is Fort Hill is so strong up front offensively and defensively. Both teams are loaded in the backfield, and both teams have terrific linebackers.

Though it was more by necessity, the Sentinels really scheduled up this season, taking on three 4A teams: Mount. St. Joseph, Martinsburg and Thomas Johnson. I felt at the beginning of the year if they could win two of the three they’d have a great season. Well, they beat all three and enter Homecoming undefeated.

I also feel the Sentinels are playing with a chip on their collective team shoulder each week, with a few issues possibly coming into play: last year’s last-second loss to Dunbar in the state championship game, an Us Against The World approach they were forced to adopt last season, not to mention picking up the Friday morning newspaper to read they are a unanimous underdog to a .500 team while being a 1.000 team themselves. Hey, it was an honest mistake. If I should apologize to anybody it would be Roy DeVore.

Allegany, too, can stick a chip on its shoulder, as well, having lost two very difficult ballgames to Fort Hill last season, both of which came right down to the wire. The Campers are their strongest in the backfield. How can you not love the direct running of J.D. Hook and Dustin Wharton coming out as a receiver? And, of course, senior kicker John Carpenter is one of the most valuable weapons in area football.

But the Sentinels’ backfield is the deepest it’s been in years: Dakota Welsh, Sam Walker, Kwam Kassim, Shawn Metheny and, of course, quarterback Devin Lee, who helped Fort Hill to last season’s last-second Homecoming victory as a receiver. Lee is such a fine football player, he could play any position and excel.

There is so much, quote-unquote, star power in this game that I would expect a pretty high score, which for Allegany will be important, because unless they can keep their linebackers spotless all day, I believe the Campers are simply going to have to outscore Fort Hill to win.

How the second one plays out is anybody’s guess, of course, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Saturday’s game is going to be one to savor.

Contact Mike Burke at mburke@times-news.com.