CUMBERLAND — Friday night was a game to forget for Mountain Ridge, and one that was the polar opposite of its meeting 364 days ago with Fort Hill.
Despite the Sentinels racking up the yards late in the game in a 30-8 loss to the Miners on Oct. 7, 2022, Mountain Ridge had its way that night in Frostburg with Fort Hill, who eventually got redemption in Annapolis two months later for the school’s ninth state title.
“It was the exact opposite from last year’s (regular-season) game. I’m just very disappointed,” said Mountain Ridge head coach Ryan Patterson, whose team exited Greenway Avenue Stadium with a 37-14 defeat.
Every question the Miners asked Friday night was promptly answered by Carter Hess and the Fort Hill defense.
“He bullied us,” Patterson said of Hess, who committed to Division I Fordham this summer. “He came down those steps tonight and decided he was going to kick our you-know-what, and did that all over the field. He did it on offense, he did it on defense.
“In particular on defense, I was very upset in the first half how he completely had his way and completely ran over top our quarterback and our guys just stood there in shell shock. We’re going to obviously have to do something about that.”
After throwing for 148 yards and rushing for another 78 in a 24-14 win last week at Frankfort, the Sentinels kept Will Patterson on the run all night and limited the senior QB to 74 yards in the air and minus 4 on the ground.
“When we did have an opening, it seemed like Will was seeing a ghost tonight, no doubt about it,” coach Patterson said. “A high school kid, how are you going to ask him to be able to stand back and deal with that pressure all night long? And then we expected, when we did have an open guy, to be able to hit that receiver? It just wasn’t going to happen tonight.”
Will Patterson was one of four Mountain Ridge ball carriers with negative yardage. Garrett Michaels led the team with two rushing yards on six carries as the Miners ran 24 times for minus 25 yards.
“It starts up front,” Fort Hill head coach Zack Alkire said. “We were able to match up really well against their offensive line. They have their center out and Carter’s over top their center. That’s a big mismatch, and we were able to take advantage of that.”
Mountain Ridge senior Cooper Lindeman had been the team’s center all year until suffering a knee injury that will force him out for a few weeks. The junior varsity center was unable to be called up due to a broken ankle and another sophomore call up broke his foot this week in practice.
On the flip side, the Sentinels ran at will against the Miners, racking up nearly 400 yards of offense despite 100 yards in penalties.
“They shoved us around,” Ryan Patterson said of the Sentinels’ offensive line. “They were carving holes that were large enough that anyone could run through. Their backs, once they hit those holes — in particular (Daniels) — ran through so many tackles tonight. We weren’t getting to the ball. We were so passive tonight and I’m not sure why.”
Alkire applauded Mountain Ridge for its second-half adjustments to Fort Hill’s run game — the Sentinels ran for 83 yards in the second half after rushing for 226 in the opening 24 minutes.
“They went to a seven-man front, and it’s hard to block seven when you have five (blockers),” he said. “We have to go back and watch the tape and see what adjustments we can make.”
No matter how much the Miners may want to look ahead to reaching the Class 1A state title game for the third straight year, Ryan Patterson was quick to shift focus back to the task at hand as his team closes out the regular season with three home games.
After a dominating win in the rain over Frederick two weeks ago, coach Patterson feels the Miners’ performance the past two games has instilled confidence in his team’s remaining regular season opponents — Northern, Williamsport and Keyser.
“(It starts) with Phil Carr’s comments in the paper today,” Patterson said. “He said flat-out they think they can match up with us up front. So, we’re going to find out next week.”