CUMBERLAND — There may not be a bigger complement to a center than to be recognized as a “mauler.”
Fort Hill junior Casey Martz proved he is one with 57 pancakes and was the leader of a Sentinel offensive line that paved the way for Braelyn Younger to tie the area touchdown record and rush for more than 2,200 yards.
Martz was selected by the area’s coaches as the John B. “Jack” Gilmore Memorial Lineman of the Year.
“It’s a no brainer that he’s the Lineman of the Year,” Fort Hill head coach Zack Alkire said. “He’s a mauler. He’s a very smart kid. He understands angles and leverage, and he’s a kid that has worked hard over the offseason to put some more muscle on his frame.”
The area football awards were chosen at a meeting of the area’s head coaches in late December.
Six coaches attended the meeting, and Martz bested Northern’s Ansen Miller five votes to one.
The winners will be revealed a day at a time, culminating with the All-Area team next week. Kevin Whiteman was awarded Coach of the Year in Wednesday’s Times-News.
The Pepsi-Cola Defensive Player of the Year will be revealed Friday.
Martz started as a sophomore on Fort Hill’s 2024 Class 1A state championship squad.
Motivated by the Sentinels’ struggles up front in playoff games against Cambridge-South Dorchester and Perryville during stretches, Martz added more than 20 pounds of muscle over the offseason.
“A couple games in the playoffs where he might not have played as well as he wanted to play definitely played a role in his offseason and the commitment to getting bigger and stronger,” Alkire said of his 6-foot-1, 220-pound lineman.
“It made life a lot easier for himself this year. The expectation is, he’s just a junior and he’s going to have another offseason like he did last year and become that much better and then hopefully repeat as the Lineman of the Year. He most certainly has that potential to do so.”
High school defenses often put their game-wrecker over the center, a proven strategy to alter the point of attack that Fort Hill knows all too well.
Martz was up to the challenge and was a key cog in a Fort Hill offense that gained 5,076 total yards.
“He’s going to neutralize the opponent’s best players and turn it into a positive for us,” Alkire said. “Pretty consistently driving people downfield, consistently putting people on their backs. He led our team in pancakes, and a lot of his pancakes were five, 10 yards down the field. Has a great motor. A kid that doesn’t stop and isn’t happy until you know his opponent’s completely neutralized.”
Fort Hill had its most balanced offense in school history.
Quarterback Noah House threw for a school record 1,279 yards and tied a school record with 15 passing touchdowns.
Younger was third in Fort Hill history with 2,224 rushing yards, and his 35 touchdowns broke Jabril Daniel’s school record of 34 (achieved twice in 2023 and ‘24).
Martz’s intelligence and ability to handle the mental aspect as Fort Hill’s center played a significant part.
“He’s got to anchor the line, he’s got to listen to the quarterback because we don’t call counts in the huddle,” Alkire said. “We’re on the ball and we’re making calls on the line and we’re making audibles on the line, and he’s got to be able to focus on all that stuff and then make line calls as well.”
Martz is the fifth Fort Hill player to win Lineman of the Year since the award’s inception in 2015, joining Carter Hess (2021), Shakur Trimble (‘18), Kaleb Harden (‘17) and Brayden Conley (‘16).