CUMBERLAND — Fort Hill did everything it wanted to during the first half on Friday night.
The Sentinels created gaping holes for fullback Jabril Daniels on offense, and Mountain Ridge quarterback Will Patterson was under constant pressure. That equation amounted to a 28-7 Fort Hill halftime lead under a steady rain.
Mountain Ridge shored up its defense after halftime and forced four turnovers, but behind the dominance of Carter Hess and the Fort Hill line and more than 200 yards rushing from Daniels, the Sentinels routed the Miners, 37-14, at Greenway Avenue Stadium.
“We came out in the first half with a lot of energy, a lot of excitement, played really well outside of one play,” Fort Hill head coach Zack Alkire said.
“We have some really strong kids up front. They’re very physical kids. We spoke to them all week long of matching the intensity of Mountain Ridge, and we definitely did that in the first half.”
The last time Fort Hill (6-0) and Mountain Ridge (5-1) took the football field, it was a battle for the Class 1A title that went to the final whistle, eventually won by the Sentinels, 16-14.
The first half Friday was anything but that.
Fort Hill scored on first-half touchdowns drives of 75, 73, 66 and 65 yards — three ending in Daniels scores of 75, 33 and 18 yards and the fourth on a 65-yard passing connection from Deshaun Brown to Carson Bender.
The Sentinels finished with 309 yards rushing on 45 carries — with 226 coming before halftime on 25 tries behind a senior line of Hess, Logan Vanmeter, Brayden Sines, Riley Williams and Camron Banks.
“Up front, they dominated the line of scrimmage,” Mountain Ridge head coach Ryan Patterson said. “Both sides of the ball, particularly in the first half. They were at a higher emotional level than we were, and for that I will take full responsibility.
“From here on out I can promise you I will have our kids ready to go emotionally. I don’t care if we’re playing Fort Hill, I don’t care if it’s Northern next week, anybody in between.
“Trust me, we’re going to be at a higher emotional level or I’m going to be fired because I’m going to do whatever it takes to get that done.”
Daniels was the greatest beneficiary of those creases, rushing for 210 yards on 25 carries.
“When he’s running that way, we’re really hard to stop. We just have to do that for four quarters,” Alkire said.
Tristan Ross added 47 yards and a nine-yard touchdown during the fourth quarter on four rushes, Bender rushed for 24 yards on nine tries, and Steven Spencer finished with 17 on four gives.
The Sentinels defense, meanwhile, was an immovable object, limiting Mountain Ridge to negative yards rushing on 24 carries and just 49 yards of total offense and six first downs.
Mountain Ridge went three-and-out on its first two series and was turned over on downs on its third.
It wasn’t until Fort Hill skipped a snap to punter Cooper Silber with 1:31 left in the first half that the Miners got any momentum.
Garrett Michaels recovered the fumble at the Fort Hill eight-yard line, and Will Patterson punched it in on the next play on an eight-yard keeper to get Mountain Ridge within 21-7.
With the Miners slated to get the second-half kick-off, hope was abound. One play later, the momentum was sapped.
Brown went over the top for a 65-yard score to Bender on a seam route, and, with a 21-point lead, Fort Hill was on cruise control the rest of the way.
“On top of everything else, we didn’t play very smart,” Ryan Patterson said. “We finally seized a little bit of momentum, scored the touchdown, but then completely blew a coverage which I don’t know what we thought was going to happen in that situation.”
Fort Hill followed its dominant first half with a sloppy third quarter, committing five penalties for 60 yards in the period and 10 for 100 for the game.
The Sentinels also put the ball on the turf four times — losing all four fumbles — a stark contrast from their turnover-free performance last week at Briar Woods.
Michaels recovered two fumbles and Will Bannon came up with the other two.
“We let what was happening on the field and off the field get to our heads,” Alkire said. “We need to do a better job of trying to eliminate mistakes and clearing our heads after bad plays.”
Still, even with the penalty and turnover woes, Fort Hill outscored Mountain Ridge, 9-7, after halftime on the back of its defense.
Will Patterson scarcely had time to throw with several Sentinels in his face, but he finally had time with 1:00 left in the third period when he hit David Miller for a 47-yard touchdown pass in the middle of the field.
The score cut the Miners’ deficit to 28-14. Fort Hill answered with a 40-yard field goal by Silber on its next series, and Mountain Ridge couldn’t find the end zone again.
The Sentinels were set up for their final score by Ross thanks to an interception and return by Daniels during the fourth quarter.
Fort Hill’s secondary limited Patterson to just 7 of 16 for 74 yards, and its defensive front contained the senior speedster to negative yards on the ground.
Patterson was seemingly under constant duress and took several big hits, and Fort Hill’s secondary did well in man coverage.
“The growth that we’ve had in the secondary since the summer time has been phenomenal,” Alkire said. “Those guys have really bought in and committed to making themselves better. They’ve showed it the last three weeks.”
Fort Hill now turns to a home matchup with Ohio powerhouse Wadsworth (7-1) next Saturday at 1 p.m. at Greenway Avenue Stadium.
Mountain Ridge will look to bounce back at home against Northern (4-2).
“We have three homes games to finish out the regular season,” Ryan Patterson said. “We’re not going to let this night define our season. We’re 5-1 and we have three homes games coming up.
“We’re on to Northern. They’re going to be worth some nice points for us — they do have some wins. So that’s what our focus is going to be.”