CUMBERLAND — Fort Hill didn’t know what to expect when it headed to Perryville in the Class 1A state semifinals last year.
The Sentinels are well aware now.
Perrvyille led Fort Hill, 21-7, in the second quarter last year, requiring the Sentinels to come from behind to win 24-21 on their way to a state-record-tying fourth consecutive state title and 11th overall.
The shoe is on the other foot this time around, as third-seeded Fort Hill (8-3) will face No. 7 seed Perryville (8-4) within the friendly confines of Greenway Avenue Stadium — a place where it has won 35 consecutive playoff games dating back to 2012.
Kickoff in Cumberland is schedule for 7 p.m.
“They’re a very good football team that gave us all we could handle last year. They return a lot of those players,” Fort Hill head coach Zack Alkire said. “Really looking forward to the rematch.”
Fort Hill has not lost a playoff game with Alkire at the helm, going 20-0 over that span.
The Sentinels are on a quest for a fifth-straight championship, breaking a tie with their 2013-16 squad under Todd Appel and Urbana (1998-01) for the state-best streak.
Perryville has unsuccessfully stood in the way of two of those title bids, also falling to the Sentinels 49-7 in the 2022 quarterfinals.
The Panthers’ lone win in three tries against Fort Hill came in 2011, a 20-14 upset in the semifinals over the Clay brothers-led Sentinels. The Panthers’ quarterback, Gabe Sherrod, went on to play at Michigan State.
Both teams have overcome slow starts to get to this stage.
Fort Hill began the year 2-3 against a difficult schedule — Dunbar, Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, and Bridgeport, West Virginia, still have just three losses between them — but the Sentinels have rattled off six wins in a row by a 342-37 margin (57-6 average).
The latest in that string was a 77-12 romp of Green Street Academy in the quarterfinal last week — the most points Fort Hill has scored in a game in school history.
Perryville is a victor in five straight outings following a 3-4 beginning to the season, though an off-the-field situation is the likely culprit.
Getting Younger
Fort Hill running back Braelyn Younger is in the midst of a stretch of dominant performances running behind an experienced line that’s clicking at the right time.
Since being held to 68 yards by Bridgeport, though he did make two receptions for 97 yards and a touchdown, Younger has rushed for 100 yards and multiple touchdowns in six straight games.
The senior has at least 174 yards in five of those and 200 in half of them.
His 174 yards and two touchdowns against Green Street were his lowest production in three weeks after racking up 296 yards and three scores against Northern and 205 yards and five touchdowns versus Allegany — both on 11 carries.
In those six weeks, Younger has 77 carries for 1,184 yards and 19 touchdowns, pushing his season totals to 1,829 yards and 24 touchdowns on 148 totes, a 12.4 yards per rush average.
Younger leads the area in rushing, is second in touchdowns with 27 (Frankfort’s Braydn Tyler, 29) and first in all-purpose yards with 2,085.
Younger can become the sixth Fort Hill player to score 30 touchdowns and the third to top 2,000 yards in a single season with another strong performance Friday.
His current rushing total stands at 15th in the area all-time and fifth in Fort Hill history, behind Jabril Daniels (2,276, 2,024), Josh Page (2,274, 1,996 and 1,850, ‘97) and Garrett Clay (1,931, 2,011).
Perryville had some success slowing Fort Hill’s Wing-T last year, most notably stopping the Sentinels inches short on fourth down during the second half on a sequence that started as first-and-goal from the two-yard line.
“I’m really confident,” Alkire said when asked about his team’s ability to run the football. “Our team has played really well the last couple weeks. They’ve been hitting all cylinders when it matters, and the expectation is that they’ll do that again on Friday night.”
Historic House
Quarterback Noah House is in the midst of some history of his own, completing 5 of 6 passes for 153 yards last week. All five completions went for touchdowns: Carson Bender caught two of them, and Younger, Jameson Powell-Morris and Landen Richardson had one each.
The performance made House the sixth Fort Hill passer to eclipse 1,000 yards, joining Gavin Palumbo (1,274, 1,993), Rich Powell (1,239, 1,985), Nick Pennel (1,157, 1,998), Matt Calhoun (1,075, 1,994) and Jeff Brode (1,044, 1,986).
House is up to 1,096 yards and 13 touchdowns to one interception on the season.
Palumbo, Fort Hill’s athletic director, is believed to have the Fort Hill single-season passing touchdown record of 15 (‘93).
Scouting Perryville
Perryville head coach Sean Sandora, who had coached the Panthers since 2020, was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into the program’s use of ineligible players in September.
Sandora later resigned on Sept. 19, according to Cecil County Board of Education records.
Perryville had to forfeit its Week 1 romp of Havre de Grace, and several players, including its leading receiver last year in Coumel Edwards, who played against Fort Hill in the semifinal, are no longer on the roster.
Edwards has since transferred in the middle of the season to The St. James Academy in Northern Virginia.
Perryille “upset” the state’s No. 2 seed Havre de Grace last week, routing the squad 38-10 to get to the semifinals for a third straight season.
Sandora, while not on the sideline, watched from behind the fence and was vocal throughout the game, according to the Baltimore Sun.
Jason Thomason and Dan Basara are serving as co-interim head coaches.
Despite the roster reshuffling, the Panthers still have firepower, namely in the form of Jayden Byard — who caught two passes for 120 yards, one going for an 80-yard score — against the Sentinels last year. Quarterback Joe Thomason is also back.
Byard has a pair of return touchdowns during the playoffs.
“We’re pretty familiar with what they’re able to do,” Alkire said. “They’re pretty familiar with what we’re able to do, so it goes both ways there. The quarterback is a kid that is able to make plays with both his arms and his legs.
“The receiver is a really dynamic player in his own right, both in the receiving game and the return game, but he also gets involved in a run game and makes plays there as well.”
Perryville narrowly outlasted Cambridge-South Dorchester, 24-21, in the region co-finals, winning it on a 40-yard field goal by James Abrams.
The Panthers won the game with special teams.
Byard took a punt for a touchdown and set up the winning kick with another long return. The Panthers also executed a fake punt in the fourth quarter to set up the touchdown that tied the game at 21.
Fort Hill’s defense, which bounced back from a slow start against Perrvyille last year to pitch a second-half shutout, is led in tackles by Levi House with 119 stops and Bender at 102.
Matching Intensity
Perryville punched Fort Hill in the mouth last year with its intensity.
The Panthers tried to intimidate the Sentinels on their way out of the locker room. They then engaged in a “stare down” during warmups.
“That’s what we’re fully expecting,” Alkire said. “They came out with a lot of intensity last year, being that it was a home game and they really took it to us. I fully expect that the same thing is going to occur even here at Fort Hill.
“There’s been a very clear message all week long that we need to be ready. We need to come down those 52 steps and be ready for anything and have our heads on straight and play football.”
What’s At Stake
Friday’s game will mark Fort Hill’s 31st semifinal appearance. The sentinels are 18-12 at this stage. They’ve won nine of the past 11 Class 1A state championships in addition to titles in 1997 and 1975.
Fort Hill has a 46-2 record in the playoffs since 2013.
Perryville is just 1-5 in semifinals, its lone win coming over Fort Hill in 2011. The Panthers inevitably fell to Dunbar, 32-11, in the title game.
Mountain Ridge has also knocked out Perryille in the semis, a 40-14 rout in Frostburg in 2023.
“They’re going to be amped up for the game,” Alkire said. “They’ve been one step from the state championship game three years in a row now, and they’re probably confident in their ability to be able to get down there for the first time in a little bit.”