CUMBERLAND — Allegany head coach Bryan Hansel admitted that mistakes are easier to fix when you win.
For an Allegany squad searching for its first victory, a few mistakes were made, but the Campers eventually pulled themselves together.
Allegany earned a much-needed win, 57-21, over Maret on a sunny and breezy fall Saturday afternoon at Greenway Avenue Stadium.
Maddox Hensel, Khiante Bible and Alex Spriggs combined for 421 yards rushing.
“They came here and they executed today,” Hansel said. “They executed it almost to perfection. We had some mistakes. But for them to get the win with the execution and the week they had and the high energy they practiced with, and to see it on the field, it’s just a beautiful thing.
“It just felt good for the kids.”
Allegany (1-3) struck first on an explosive run from Hensel. The Campers decided to keep their offense on the field for fourth-down-and-2 from their own 38.
On the handoff, Hensel broke a tackle and darted 62 yards to the end zone. The PAT missed, so Allegany’s lead remained 6-0 with 8:43 left in the first quarter.
“I’ve had some problems securing the ball recently,” Hensel said. “So I went through the hall with my arms tucked around the ball. I looked up, nobody was there, so I tried to run as fast as I could.”
Maret, which made the trip from Washington, D.C., responded on its ensuing drive. Quarterback Trysten Johnson kept the drive alive on a keeper on fourth-and-5. Two plays later, Johnson fired it to DJ Lee in one-on-one coverage for 53 yards. That tied it up at 6-6 with 5:56 to go in the quarter.
Allegany fumbled on its next drive, and Maret’s Aodhan Daly recovered it at the Frogs’ 42.
However, the Frogs were unable to take advantage as two penalties and a bad snap on the punt put the Campers near the red zone.
Allegany kept feeding the ball to its backs until it was faced with fourth-and-goal at the 1. Quarterback Dylan Blank kept it himself and found the end zone as the Campers regained the lead.
Another missed extra point kept the score 12-6 with 9:53 left in the first half.
Josiah Dudiak intercepted Johnson on the first play of the following drive. That set up a two-play series that ended with a 29-yard counter by Spriggs. Hensel then took it up the middle for two more points to make it 20-6 with 9:16 to go in the first half.
The Frogs were once again stopped in their own territory after Johnson was stuffed by a pair of Allegany defenders on fourth-and-2 at the 33.
The Campers kept churning the run game as Bible took the snap out of the Wildcat formation for a 7-yard score.
On the Campers’ first throw of the day, Dylan Blank’s pass was intercepted by Daly. The next play, Johnson threw it to the end zone for Lee, who snagged the pass with one hand to cut the deficit to 26-13 with 2:56 left in the half.
The Campers added to their lead with a few seconds to go after Dudiak nailed a 36-yard field goal. The drive was aided by a 32-yard run from Bible and a face-mask penalty on Maret.
Allegany continued to wear down Maret with its run game in the second half. Hensel ripped a 29-yard carry from the Campers 8 before Bible runs of 18 and 19 yards made it first-and-goal.
Hensel ran up the middle from eight yards out for his second touchdown to extend the Allegany lead to 36-13 with 5:35 left in the third.
After Allegany made another fourth-down stop, Bible took a pitch 25 yards to the house to make it a 43-13 game with 3:08 to go in the third.
Maret then scored its final touchdown of the game. But the Campers responded with two more touchdowns to make it out of reach.
Blank found a wide open Trevin Cox down the right sideline for a 52-yard score to make it 50-21 early in the fourth.
Blank threw it just three times, finishing with two completions for 53 yards.
“You feel for him at times because when you’re running the ball well, it’s hard to get into a rhythm as a quarterback,” Hansel said. “And then you ask him to get into a rhythm and throw one ball. He misses, and it’s like the end of the world sometimes.
“But he’s a tough kid though. I think we’re gonna need him more as the season goes on.”
After Spriggs intercepted a pass, Bible scampered 12 yards to the end zone for his third touchdown of the game with about seven minutes to go.
Hensel led the Campers’ rushing attack with 175 yards on 17 attempts while Bible was right behind him with 168 yards on 16 carries. Spriggs ran for 78 yards on seven tries.
“If I get tired, I know Maddox got me,” Bible said. “If Maddox gets tired, I got him. Same with Alex. If both of us are tired, we know we got Alex. So it’s good to rely on each other and we know that we have each other.”
Johnson passed for 165 yards, but he was under duress for much of the game. Johnson, who recently committed to The Citadel, was often forced to scramble and throw passes out of bounds.
He was 18 of 38 passing, and the Campers’ defense contained him on the run for the most part.
“I thought from the jump they were very physical,” Hansel said. “He didn’t have any running lanes. Even the running lanes he got, he paid for it when he tried to run. He got hit.”
Allegany will look to continue its winning ways on Friday at Brunswick at 6:30 p.m.