CUMBERLAND — It took Allegany one play to wipe the slate clean and put Homecoming behind it.
Khiante Bible took a toss on the first play from scrimmage and cruised 60 yards for a Campers’ touchdown — his first of five scores — and he capped a perfect Allegany half with a stirring open-field tackle on the final play.
Second-seeded Allegany led by 49 at the half and romped to a 49-19 rout of seventh-seeded Clear Spring in the Class 1A West Region semifinals on Friday at Greenway Avenue Stadium.
“I was really happy with our offense in the first half,” Allegany head coach Bryan Hansel said. “I don’t think we played great defensively. We gave up too much. We didn’t get a lot of push from our defensive line.
“We have to clean a lot of that up, and we’ll get the film on this game and see where we can start there fundamentally and then move on.”
Allegany (5-5) advances to the region co-finals where it’ll host third-seeded Mountain Ridge (5-5), a 28-15 winner over Smithsburg, next Saturday at 1 p.m. for a spot in the state quarterfinals.
Bible rushed for 187 yards on nine carries — finding the end zone on runs of 60, 31, 25, nine and seven yards, all in the first half.
Maddox Hensel had six rushes for 48 yards, Aidyn Mckenzie added six runs for 37 yards and a three-yard score, and Dylan Blank connected with Sebastian Stewart for a 31-yard aerial score.
Stewart made all seven of his extra points.
Allegany led 21-0 after the first quarter and 49-7 at the half, at which point it had 280 rushing yards on 23 carries, out-gained the Blazers (2-7), 323-86, and held a 13-7 edge in first downs.
The Campers’ offensive line was much improved from a week ago, creating big holes for the Alco ball carriers.
“Our offensive line got the memo,” Hansel said. “They got off the football and they moved people. I thought they were explosive off of it.”
Allegany scored on all seven of its drives before halftime, spanning 60, 60, 47, 44, 39, 27 and 26 yards.
The Campers tallied the game’s first 21 points before Alex Matthews’ 19-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter.
Allegany’s defense didn’t give up a first down the rest of the half, during which time Hensel intercepted a pass, Alex Spriggs and Sully Watkins had sacks and Bible blocked a punt.
Cameron Ramonot also recovered a Clear Spring fumble on a kickoff.
Allegany’s defense played the first series of the second half, a long 13-play, 73-yard odyssey that ate up 14 minutes thanks to the running clock that began at the onset of the third quarter.
Clear Spring converted two fourth downs during the drive, scoring on the second one — a 10-yard pass from Matthews to Will Bennett in the corner of the end zone on 4th-and-8 on the final play of the third period.
The extra point was attempted after the running clock was started in the fourth, which failed due to a high snap.
Clear Spring momentarily stalled the mercy rule with 53 seconds to play on a one-yard Kayden Selby touchdown run that trimmed the Blazers’ deficit to 49-19.
Clear Spring’s ensuing onside kick didn’t go 10 yards, allowing Allegany to kneel it out. Landon Raley recovered an onside kick earlier in the second half for the Campers.
Bennett, who gave Fort Hill fits in the region playoffs last year, finished with eight receptions for 94 yards, the longest a 63-yard catch and run down to the one-yard line on a play where he appeared to be down near midfield.
Matthews completed 10 of 16 passes for 113 yards, and he had 15 rushes for 126 yards.
Allegany now turns to a region final rematch with Mountain Ridge. The Campers defeated the Miners, 19-13, on Sept. 19 in Frostburg to end a 10-game losing streak in the series.
Allegany is looking to get to the state playoffs for the first time since 2009.
“They’ve changed a lot of things, kudos to their coaching staff,” Hansel said. “I think they’re a much better team than we played in Week 3.