CUMBERLAND — Games are won, and lost, in the trenches. It’s a cliche as old as football itself, but Friday night’s Class 1A state semifinal personified the adage.
Fort Hill’s offensive line created cavernous holes against a Cambridge-South Dorchester front whose largest player checked in at just 240 pounds, and the Sentinels’ 12 backs rushed for more than 300 yards and 19 first downs.
By the time Fort Hill pulled its starters, the Sentinels held a 38-0 lead and allowed just three Cambridge-SD first downs. The Vikings tallied three late touchdowns in the final 3:46.
Behind the blocking of senior linemen Carter Hess, Logan Vanmeter, Riley Williams, Camron Banks and Brayden Sines and senior tight end Bryson Metz, No. 1 Fort Hill cruised to a 38-20 victory over No. 4 Cambridge-South Dorchester on Friday night at Greenway Avenue Stadium.
The semifinal win pits the Sentinels (12-0) against No. 2 Mountain Ridge (11-1) for the state championship in Annapolis on Saturday at noon for a third straight season.
“The plan was to bring a physical brand of football,” Fort Hill head coach Zack Alkire said. “Being able to dominate the line of scrimmage has always been the key to our game. They’re very young up front. … They’ve got a great group of kids. They’re going to be a team to look out for next year.”
The Sentinels have now won 21 consecutive home contests, 20 games in a row overall and 12 straight playoff games.
Come playoff time, Fort Hill hasn’t dropped a home contest since 2012.
Cambridge-South Dorchester (9-3), hailing from the East Region, appeared to be Fort Hill’s trickiest playoff opponent yet due to its program’s history — which has made 21 state semifinal appearances and is tied for most postseason trips with the Sentinels.
Despite the different names on the jersey, it was much of the same.
Fort Hill scored four touchdowns before Cambridge-South Dorchester recorded its maiden first down to lead 31-0 at intermission. The Sentinels led 14-0 after the first period.
A nine-yard rushing score by Jabril Daniels with seven minutes to go in the third quarter kicked off the running clock after the Sentinels led by 38.
That was the last time Fort Hill had its starting unit in.
“If any team is going to come into Fort Hill and win, you have to first win the weight room,” said Cambridge-South Dorchester head coach Toby Peer, who previously coached for eight years at South Hagerstown.
“Teams from Ohio come here and play and lose. Teams from Pennsylvania come here, play and lose. Teams from Virginia come here, play and lose. Teams all over the state of Maryland come here and play and lose.
“It’s a simple recipe. Everybody else has got to get it set up like Fort Hill has it set up: In the weight room.”
Daniels had 11 carries for 103 yards and his 27th, 28th and 29th touchdowns of the season, Steven Spencer rushed for 72 yards and caught a pass for 49 more, Tristan Ross had 51 yards and a score, and Landon Sensabaugh caught at 45-yard touchdown pass from Deshaun Brown.
Brown completed 4 of 6 passes for 102 yards — all in the first half.
The Vikings didn’t move the sticks until the 3:49 mark of the second quarter when Blake LaBelle connected with Majestic Jones for a 31-yard pass play.
Prior to that, the Sentinel defense forced three three-and-outs and ended the Vikings’ fourth series with an interception by Daniels.
When Fort Hill pulled its starting unit, Cambridge-South Dorchester had just 12 carries for 11 yards, completed just 7 of 19 passes for 58 yards and notched only three first downs.
“Playing press coverage, not allowing their receivers to get free releases, coupled with the fact that we had five down lineman most of the game on first and second down,” Alkire said of the key defensively. “It allowed us to get a lot of pressure on the quarterback.”
Daniels capped two of Fort Hill’s first-half drives with touchdowns, finding paydirt on carries for 20 and 10 yards on the Sentinels’ first and fourth series, respectively.
Fort Hill rushed for more than 200 yards before halftime, but its first score came through the air on a 45-yard play-action touchdown pass from Brown to Sensabaugh with 10:08 left in the first quarter.
The Sentinels’ five touchdown drives spanned 88, 74, 69, 61 and 48 yards.
Cambridge-South Dorchester notched its first stop on Fort Hill’s fifth drive, but not before a 48-yard screen pass from Brown to Spencer set up a 26-yard Cooper Silber field goal that made it 31-0 with 4:29 to play in the half.
Silber was a perfect 5 for 5 on PATs.
Ten different Sentinels had carries before halftime, the most unlikely a two-yard rush by the 295-pound offensive lineman Hess on a fullback trap — an ambitious attempt on 1st-and-goal from the nine-yard line.
Ross found the end zone to cap Fort Hill’s second drive on a 23-yard carry. He nearly scored on a 52-yard touchdown run on Fort Hill’s fifth drive but it was called back for a holding penalty.
The Vikings lost their feature back to injury on the second play of the game.
Jaden Ferguson, who also doubles as the team’s starting linebacker, never returned after the leg injury. They lost another back, Sterling Perkins, after a bruising tackle by Jaylan Atkinson during the second quarter, though he later returned.
Cambridge all but abandoned the run before halftime, rushing the ball just nine times for eight yards. Both of their first downs prior to halftime came through the air.
The Vikings ventured into Fort Hill territory twice before halftime.
The first time they were stopped by a Hess sack on a 4th-and-12 from the Sentinel 28 with 3:48 left in the half.
The second time, Nick Willison tackled LaBelle after just a yard on a 4th-and-5 with just eight seconds remaining in the half.
After Fort Hill pulled its starters, the Vikings scored 20 points in the final 3:46.
LaBelle completed a nine-yard touchdown pass to Majestic Jones and had scoring runs of 12 and one yards.
Cambridge was afforded those late opportunities because of a pair of Fort Hill fumbles.
Despite the 20-0 run against his subs, Alkire didn’t regret giving his second string playing time, even if it made the final score look closer than it was.
“You could hear our fans back there crying,” said Alkire. “Our coaches were like, ‘We’re going to get our first string back in there.’ No, we’re not. We’re going to let those kids play it out. The game’s in hand. Everyone just relax.”
Now, Fort Hill turns to another state championship game, a place that it’s been seven times in the last nine seasons — winning seven state championships.
The Sentinels draw a familiar foe in Mountain Ridge, who they defeated in the 1A title game in Annapolis each of the last two seasons and 37-14 earlier this year during the regular season.
“Regardless of who it’s against, having the opportunity to win a championship, giving these kids the opportunity to go down to Annapolis, play in the stadium again, get to travel, stay in hotels, do fun things. It’s an experience,” said Alkire.
“You get a whole fresh new set of kids who get to experience it who haven’t experienced it before.”