CLEAR SPRING — Jabril Daniels was compared to Josh Page the second he stepped foot at Fort Hill.
He surpassed those expectations Thursday and then some to lead Fort Hill over Clear Spring and to a region championship.
Daniels took his first carry of the game 80 yards for a touchdown, his final rush of the half 75 yards for a score and his final run of the night 60 yards for six more points.
He finished with 332 yards and five touchdowns total — his fourth score passing Page’s career touchdown mark of 71 for the school and area record.
Fort Hill rushed for more than 500 yards as a team and scored touchdowns on all eight of its drives to rout a game Clear Spring squad, 55-20, on Thursday night in the Class 1A West Region co-finals.
“Gotta give a lot of credit to Clear Spring,” Fort Hill head coach Zack Alkire said. “They gave us everything they had. They were a scrappy group of kids that weren’t going to back down from us. They should be very proud of what they accomplished this year. Happy for their program.
“Very grateful to get out here with the win.”
Fort Hill is now 9-2 on the field but is 4-7 officially due to five forfeited wins due to using an ineligible player.
The forfeits dropped Fort Hill to the No. 6 seed in the region, forcing it to hit the road to second-seeded Clear Spring (6-4). The game was played in a steady rain with temperatures around 45 degrees.
Fort Hill’s run game traveled in a big way, gashing Clear Spring for 508 yards on 37 carries — an average of 13.7 yards per carry.
The Sentinels, who led 14-0 after the first quarter, 35-12 at the half and 48-12 after three periods, were led by Daniels with touchdown runs of 80, 75, 60, 17 and five yards.
Carson Bender and Braelyn Younger scored during the second half on runs of 16 and nine yards, respectively, and Nash Cassell completed a 25-yard pass to Nick Willison for a score in the second period.
Younger rushed for 84 yards on nine carries, and Bender had 65 yards on seven rushes.
Daniels broke Fort Hill’s single-season school record for touchdowns and tied a city record with 34 last year, and he now has 27 after Thursday.
Despite Daniels’ dominance, his touchdown that broke Page’s mark came as a surprise.
Fort Hill got the ball back leading 28-12 with 18 seconds left in the first half, and Daniels received a pitch, picked up a key block and rolled 75 yards to the end zone.
“Josh Page was the guy that I was able to watch growing up,” Alkire said. “The fact that he was able to break that record in his career, it’s a testament to his talent and work ethic.”
Fort Hill had three one-play touchdown drives. Its longest was a 14-play, 91 yards on its third series.
Clear Spring impressed with its ability to move the football, almost entirely through the air.
Quarterback Hayden Hodge completed 14 of 22 passes for 235 yards, one touchdown and an interception. He also had 45 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries.
Will Bennett caught eight passes for 168 yards, including a 19-yard touchdown.
Fort Hill had surrendered just four first downs over its past two games, both against Allegany, but Clear Spring converted three on its first drive, prompting the Sentinels to call a timeout and get out of their Cover-0 defense.
Clear Spring finished with 13 first downs, nine of which came through the air. Fort Hill had 20.
The Blazers also schemed well, moving pockets to keep Hodge out of pressure. Fort Hill was unable to sack him once.
“Our offensive line did a great job protecting our quarterback,” Clear Spring head coach Curtis Keller said. “We have some guys who can get on the edge and win some routes. We thought we could be successful with that, and we made some plays.”
Fort Hill’s secondary improved as the game went on, and it was able to intercept two passes. Gamil Daniels had one on a throw from Hodge, and Amhad Saunders picked off Bennett on a trick play.
With a spread-oriented Cambridge-South Dorchester likely on the horizon, Alkire hopes Thursday’s game pays dividends this week in practice.
“You could look at it from a negative viewpoint that it gives Cambridge an idea of what to do, but it also allows us to look back at ourselves and clean some things up,” he said. “It’s great that it happened this week.”
The Sentinels, on a quest for a record-tying fourth consecutive state championship, will be the No. 8 seed in the state quarterfinals and will head to the top seed.
Fort Hill’s opponent will be Cambridge (9-0) if it takes care of business against Colonel Richardson on Friday.
Thursday’s contest was Clear Spring’s first home playoff game in school history, and it showed it belonged against a heavy favorite in Fort Hill.
“It’s been a great season,” Keller said. “Proud for the community, the players, the school. We wanted to try to build the program, make it something that has that tradition built in as well.”