CUMBERLAND — Clinging to a 28-21 lead early in the fourth, it might’ve felt like Groundhog Day for No. 2 Fort Hill.
A year after losing a three-score lead against Hollidaysburg in a 35-30 defeat, Channing Logsdon made sure history didn’t repeat itself.
Logsdon returned a kickoff following a Hollidaysburg score 39 yards to the Fort Hill 42.
Carson Bender moved the sticks on runs of 17 and 36 yards.
Neek Taylor capped off the drive — and the game — with a five-yard touchdown, as Fort Hill (4-0) left Greenway Avenue Stadium with a 35-21 victory over the Golden Tigers on Friday night.
“There were shades of last year going through people’s heads, I’m sure,” said Fort Hill head coach Zack Alkire. “With Channing, we rested him a little bit on offense so he could be fresher on defense. So he was probably a little bit more fresh for that kickoff than most of the guys that were out there. He made a big play for us and a big win.”
The Sentinels appeared to be out to another blowout win, needing just three minutes and 15 seconds in the first quarter to jump out to a 21-0 lead.
Carson Bender opened the scoring with a two-yard plunge at 3:57.
After Bobby Brauer split the uprights on the point-after try, Hollidaysburg was flagged for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
With the ball moved up 15 yards on the kickoff, the Sentinels took advantage.
Brauer skied a kick down to the Hollidaysburg 5. With the Sentinel kickoff team sprinting downfield, the Golden Tigers (3-2) fumbled the return and Fort Hill’s Logan Jones recovered.
“That was a huge momentum swing,” Alkire said. “It’s great to have a kicker that is able to do the little things like that. We were fortunate enough to get a penalty on the extra point, which moved the ball up 15 yards, so we could play with it a little bit. Bobby put it in a great spot for us. We had guys hustling down the field to make a play. Huge play.”
After a two-yard loss on first down, Brady O’Neal rolled right and hit Levi House for a seven-yard score. Brauer’s PAT 48 seconds after the opening score made it 14-0.
Fort Hill then forced a quick three-and-out and took over at the Hollidaysburg 46 after an errant punt. On the second play from scrimmage, O’Neal hit Jameson Powell-Morris down the right side for a 46-yard score with 42 ticks left in the opening quarter.
Hollidaysburg ended its drought at 9:27 in the second when Vincent Albarano hit Tyler McGough for a 37-yard score following a Fort Hill fumble.
O’Neal pushed the Sentinels’ lead back out to 21 on the ensuing drive when, after hitting Levi House for a gain of 22 on third-and-8, he ran it in from four yards out.
O’Neal finished 6 of 8 for 128 yards.
“Coach (Richie) Shook does an amazing job with what he does,” Alkire said of his offensive coordinator.
“He spends countless hours studying the field. He’s very analytical. He came up with a master game plan tonight, which had a lot of success and a lot of reasons for why we were able to come out with the win.
“Brady has made great strides from the time he was a freshman to where he’s at now. Just his poise, his leadership ability, his ability to throw on the run, it’s huge for us. If he can continue to make plays like that, it’ll be a nice thing.”
The Golden Tigers had a chance to get back within 14 with the ball at the Fort Hill 7 with four seconds left in the opening half, but their pass to the side of the end zone fell incomplete.
After a Fort Hill drive that spanned seven minutes and 59 seconds resulted in no points after sacks for losses of eight and 10 yards, Hollidaysburg scored on a four-yard run by Albarano.
The Sentinels punted on the second play of the fourth quarter and the Golden Tigers appeared to be heading for a repeat of last year with another three-score comeback when Isaac Vent rushed in from a yard out to make it 28-21.
Logsdon then hauled in the ensuing kickoff at the Fort Hill 3 and ran it up the left side 39 yards at a time when the Sentinels badly needed a big play.
“The kids executed well all night,” Alkire said. “Things aren’t perfect. They never are in big games. When you’re playing a team as good as Hollidaysburg, there’s going to be ebbs and flows. Not everything’s going to look great all the time, but their consistency of coming out again and again and again, even if things maybe weren’t going well, with their backs to the wall a bit more and come up with a big play. It happened all night long.”
Bender led the Fort Hill rushing attack with 153 yards on 26 carries as the Sentinels outgained Hollidaysburg 345-291.
Albarano was 9 of 26 through the air for 137 yards while Vent tacked on 99 yards on 20 carries.
“We made too many mistakes,” said Hollidaysburg head coach Homer Delattre.
“We had some big plays earlier, but then couldn’t execute a couple big plays. Execution against a good team like this, you gotta make those plays when you can. They scored a touchdown and then we had a big special teams mistake that really turned that game around early on.”
Hollidaysburg returns home on Friday to host Butler.
The Sentinels will again be out for a little revenge on Friday against a team they lost to last year, as they welcome Bridgeport to Greenway Avenue Stadium.
“Bridgeport is another great program,” Alkire said.
“The heart of our schedule is extremely difficult. We’re going to have to play really well to win.”