Rivalries come in all shapes and sizes.
Some are marked by their frequency and tradition — think Fort Hill-Allegany or Allegany-Keyser, both spanning more than 100 games. Others, like the Steelers-Raiders in the ‘70s and Patriots-Colts during the 2000s, blossomed due to recurrent high-stakes matchups.
Fort Hill and Dunbar fit into that second group. All six of their meetings have come with championships on the line: five in state title games and once in a semifinal.
That will change at Morgan State on Friday. For the first time in history, Fort Hill and Dunbar, holders of a combined 23 championships between them, link up in the regular season.
Due to reclassification, the teams won’t play for a title any time soon.
Since the state moved to a six class system in 2021, Dunbar and Fort Hill have won all three state titles in Class 2A/1A and 1A, respectively.
That doesn’t mean Friday’s contest is without stakes. The winner will hold the longest win streak in the state of Maryland.
Dunbar already does, boasting 38 wins in a row, while Fort Hill is second with 22 consecutive triumphs.
The Poets also have their sights on the all-time Maryland record for consecutive victories of 53, set by Damascus from 2015-18, which they could achieve next season.
Furthermore, there is intrigue surrounding the timing of the matchup, as both are in position to tie a state record with a fourth consecutive state championship this year.
Fort Hill shares the current high mark with Urbana (1998-01), winning four in a row under Hall of Fame coach Todd Appel from 2013-16.
Before getting into the Dunbar-Fort Hill series, in which the Poets hold a 5-1 edge, it’s worth highlighting the last time a Cumberland school played, and beat, the Baltimore City power.
In Week 1 of 2017, Allegany welcomed Dunbar to Greenway Avenue Stadium and the two produced an all-time offensive classic that featured a combined 91 points, 43 first downs and 906 yards of offense.
Elisha Llewellyn and Karson Robinette accounted for nearly 500 yards between them, and Allegany sent the Poets back East packing with a 49-42 defeat.
The loss lit a fire in Dunbar, whose season ended with hardware earned from toppling the Campers’ crosstown rival, but more on that later.
We’ll begin our journey with Fort Hill’s lone victory in the series and then travel back in time chronologically.
1997
Fort Hill 22, Dunbar 6
Led by the rushing of hard-nosed fullback Josh Page, Fort Hill avenged its loss to the Poets three years prior to end a 22-year championship drought in College Park.
The 6-foot-3, 220-pound back pounded Dunbar to the tune of 125 yards and two touchdowns on 33 carries. He finished his career with then-state records in 71 touchdowns and 438 points and an area record 4,987 rushing yards.
Fort Hill finished with a 13-0 record punctuated by the Class 2A title.
The result is the most lopsided in series history. Dunbar has won by 15 twice, and the last three meetings have been decided by six points or less.
It was the lone championship for Hall of Fame coach Mike Calhoun, who guided Fort Hill to five title games and four in his final five years. He finished with a 122-31 record.
2017
Dunbar 30, Fort Hill 26
With Fort Hill aiming for a record fifth consecutive state championship, Dunbar scored the second-half’s lone touchdown, an 87-yard passing score in the third quarter, to deny the Sentinels in Annapolis.
Fort Hill (12-2) led 26-22 at halftime, but Dunbar adjusted to load the box and deny Troy Banks, who finished with 153 yards on 35 carries.
Dunbar (12-1) won the second half 8-0 and the game on Jared Lewis’ short pass to Ryan Wood that resulted in an 87-yard house call.
The clash of styles was evident by the teams’ scoring drives. Dunbar scored six points on a 68-yard run and passes for 60, 63 and 87 yards. Fort Hill on sustained 69-, 77- and 88-yard series.
Luke Hamilton, Carter Swan, Wyatt Brehm, Kaleb Harden and Braeden Smith led the Fort Hill defense.
The championship game appearance was the fifth of six in a row for Fort Hill under Hall of Fame coach Todd Appel, a state record. Appel finished with a 142-16 record and won five Class 1A state titles.
Appel is now the defensive coordinator at Stephen Decatur in Berlin, which he helped to a Class 2A state championship last year. It was the school’s first.
2010
Dunbar 20, Fort Hill 14
In the lone matchup that wasn’t for a state championship, little 5-foot-6, 140-pound Dunbar quarterback Kevin Estep snuck over the line with three seconds left at Baltimore Poly’s Lumsden Scott Stadium to advance to the title game.
The touchdown came on fourth-and-goal and broke a 14-all tie. Fort Hill drew even on a 30-yard pop pass from Dylan Clay to Justin Dawson with 5:20 left in the third quarter. Joe Howser found Dawson on the two-point conversion.
Garrett Clay finished with 118 yards on 16 carries to top Fort Hill (9-4).
“They pushed us around,” Dunbar coach Lawrence Smith recalled at the time. “They pushed us down the field. Our defense was sucking wind.”
Fort Hill gave a miraculous defensive effort to hold down a Dunbar (12-1) team led by workhorse back Epenetus Henriques, who had 33 carries for 224 yards.
Dunbar went on to score 22 unanswered points in the championship game to defeat Havre de Grace, 22-12, and lift the Class 1A title.
2008
Dunbar 20, Fort Hill 19
Dunbar’s Tavon Austin went down as one of, if not the greatest scholastic football player in state history, and Fort Hill was one stop short of doing the impossible.
The Poets (13-1) drove 91 yards in the final two minutes, and Austin went around the left side of his line for the winning two-point conversion. Jonathan Perry connected with Sean Farr for the touchdown at Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium.
Austin still holds career state records for total offense (9,258), rushing yards (7,962), points (790) and touchdowns (123). He rushed for 2,660 yards and 34 touchdowns on just 218 carries as a senior.
Against Fort Hill (11-2), he finished with 191 yards on 28 carries and scored a pair of touchdowns to clinch a three-peat against Cumberland city schools. Dunbar beat Fort Hill in the ‘06 title game and Allegany in ‘07.
Austin would go on to an All-American career at West Virginia and was selected eighth overall by the Rams. He played nine NFL seasons, officially retiring this August.
It was a heartbreaker for Fort Hill, which missed a 37-yard field goal with two minutes to go that would have iced the game.
The closeness of the game shocked coach Smith, whose Poets got all they could handle from the Sentinels in Appel’s first season.
Marcus Lashley scored two touchdowns for Fort Hill, and Eric Howser accounted for the other.
2006
Dunbar 38, Fort Hill 23
Dunbar racked up 549 yards of offense led by Austin and Marice Portee to turn back Barry Lattimer’s Fort Hill at Ravens Stadium.
The duo accounted for a combined 453 yards of offense. Fort Hill held Austin to just eight rushing yards on four carries in the first half, but Marice Portee exploded for 195 yards to keep the Poets afloat until Austin found his rhythm.
Austin rushed for 113 yards and three scores in the second half, and Portee led the way with 237 yards for the game.
Fort Hill (12-2) turned the ball over three times, and Dunbar (11-3) turned two of those into touchdowns.
Drew Yurko paced Fort Hill with 109 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries. Scott Rice added two scores.
1994
Dunbar 30, Fort Hill 15
Turnovers, big plays and a 22-point Dunbar second half doomed Fort Hill in a battle of unbeatens in the 2A title game at School Stadium in Hagerstown.
Before Austin, there was Tommy Polley. Hailed as one of the most decorated high school recruits in the nation, Polley went on to become an All-American at Florida State and played six NFL seasons.
Still, Fort Hill (12-1) remained in the game, trailing 8-7 at the half. Shannon Trimble set up the score with an interception and then punched it in on the ground.
Dunbar (12-0) took some time to adjust to the partisan crowd of more than “10,000 crimson-clad, banner-carrying Fort Hill fans,” as the Baltimore Sun recounted.
The Sentinels’ Matt Calhoun opened the second half with a screen pass to Trimble, who took it 70 yards for a touchdown and a 15-8 lead.
It was all Dunbar from there. The Poets were led by their defense: Carl Carter picked up his 17th sack of the season, and linebacker Terrence Hinton his 14th sack. Lance Askins grabbed his 10th interception.
Calhoun completed 8 of 15 passes for 167 yards, and Trimble caught four passes for 149 yards and added 57 more on the ground.
It was the game that started it all, and Fort Hill will have a chance to avenge its past defeats, the last three in heart-wrenching fashion, with a triumph on Friday night.
Dunbar makes the trip to Cumberland next year, and Fort Hill will hope to recreate the atmosphere of 1994, hoping for a different result at the final whistle.