CUMBERLAND — It was a clash of styles Friday at Greenway Avenue Stadium: Mountain Ridge’s short passing game vs. Allegany’s power run.

On that day, the passing attack won out.

Sophomore Carter Clites threw for 204 yards and two touchdowns to Eli Sibley, and No. 3 Mountain Ridge came back from a 13-point deficit to outlast Allegany, 24-21.

“That was a very hard-fought game by Allegany,” Mountain Ridge head coach Nathan Shipe said. “That was a great football game. They came out and started the game exactly how they wanted to. Grinding the football out.

“Extremely gutsy performance by our kids. ... Even if it’s not pretty. Even if your offensive line doesn’t look good in the first half, turned the football over, dropped passes. Coming out with a win, that fixes a lot of hurt feelings.”

Mountain Ridge improved to 3-0 and pushed its winning streak over Allegany (0-3) to 10 games.

The Campers, who didn’t complete a pass, forged ahead to a 13-0 lead early in the second quarter, led 13-10 at the half and 21-17 late in the third quarter.

But Mountain Ridge followed Allegany’s final score — a 45-yard Aidyn McKenzie touchdown run with 2:54 left in the third quarter — with a four-play, 37-yard scoring drive set up by an Owen McGeady 46-yard kick return.

Clites threw up a jump ball in double coverage to Sibley, and the 6-foot-3 target came down with it for a 24-21 lead with 1:36 remaining.

“Eli is one of a kind for sure,” Clites said of his top receiving target, who caught a touchdown in the first half and has six through three games. “Over the summer, through our workouts, starting in March, we’ve developed a chemistry that is built on trust. If I throw it up, I trust he’s going to go get it.”

Allegany had two shots to offer a response. The first was stunted by a fumbled snap on a first down that put the Campers behind the sticks and ended with a punt.

Mountain Ridge was stopped on fourth down on its next series, and Allegany moved to the Mountain Ridge 24 on a 29-yard Khiante Bible run and jaunts of 19 and 11 yards by McKenzie.

However, a holding penalty and another botched snap exchange put Allegany in a 4th-and-15 situation, and the Campers couldn’t complete the first-down pass.

“That’s the type of game-plan that we should win with,” Allegany head coach Bryan Hansel said. “You rush for over 400 yards, that means you should probably win the time of possession and the game.

“Just in the second half, when we started to get things rolling, it was a dropped snap. It was a hold. You just can’t have those mistakes late in games. It seems like we just keep doing that. ... I don’t know if it’s a fatigue thing or a youthful thing, but we need to clean it up.”

Allegany rushed for 421 yards on 56 carries and had a 27:40-20:20 edge in time of possession and 421-276 margin in total yards.

Mountain Ridge had the better field position, scoring on touchdown drives of 47 and 37 yards after halftime and starting another on the Allegany 31 late in the first half that ended with a 43-yard Tyler Cook field goal.

Cook was a weapon in the kicking game, putting four kickoffs through the back of the end zone for touchbacks to force Allegany to drive the length of the field.

Clites completed 19 of 26 passes for 204 yards and two touchdowns. Sibley caught nine passes for 58 yards and two scores, Owen Bannon had two catches for 57 yards, Owen McGeady made three receptions for 49 yards, and Kyree Griffin hauled in four balls for 44 yards.

Griffin added 60 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries in the ground game.

Allegany limited Mountain Ridge to just 15 yards rushing on eight carries during the first half and 72 on 17 tries for the game, but the Campers, playing man coverage on the outside, had little answer for the Miners’ quick passing game.

“When your running game is getting stuffed, you have to be able to do something else,” Shipe said. “Carter is a good thrower. Seeing the man coverage on the outside, we had to make a decision, we’ll take Eli Sibley and Owen Bannon and try to just throw it up and see if they can make a play. There were a couple times where they did.”

McKenzie had an explosive day for Allegany gaining 227 yards on 11 carries and scoring touchdowns of 83 and 45 yards. Bible added 98 yards on 14 tries, and fullback Jackson Resh gained 94 yards on 26 carries.

Quarterback Sebastian Stewart scored a rushing touchdown.

Mountain Ridge, trailing 13-10 at halftime, took the lead on its first possession of the second half when Griffin capped a six-play, 47-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown run with 7:21 left in the third.

Allegany used a long, methodical drive and a big play to jump out to a 13-0 lead.

The Campers were pinned down to the one-yard line following a pristine McGeady punt on their first series, and they drove 99 yards on nine plays.

Stewart plunged into the end zone on a quarterback sneak to make it 7-0 Alco with 3:36 to go in the first quarter.

After forcing another Mountain Ridge punt, Allegany needed just three plays to score again. On the third play of the series, McKenzie found room on the outside and cruised 83 yards for a touchdown.

Allegany’s lead stood at 13-0 with 11:47 left in the first half following a missed extra point.

Kain Sweitzer then forced a Mountain Ridge fumble, recovered by Rylen Ellsworth, to set up a short field at the Miners’ 40. That’s when the momentum swung in Mountain Ridge’s favor.

Mountain Ridge stopped the Campers on fourth down, and it capped a nine-play, 68-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown pass from Clites to Sibley to cut its deficit to 13-7 with 4:36 on the clock.

Allegany fumbled on its next possession on a muffed handoff on a criss-cross play, and Brody VanMeter recovered to give Mountain Ridge the ball on the Alco 31.

Cook knocked a 43-yard kick through the uprights with 1:34 remaining in the half to put the score at 13-10 Allegany at the intermission.

But Mountain Ridge outscored Allegany, 14-8, after halftime and notched two final stops to keep the Miners perfect through three weeks.

Allegany will try again for its first victory at Albert Gallatin (3-2) next week.

Mountain Ridge aims for a fourth straight triumph at Frederick (1-2).

“The kids expect to win when they step onto the football field,” Shipe said. “Being down 13-0, it would’ve been easy ... to not work on coming back, not fight. I think that mentality was instilled under coach (Ryan) Patterson, and it’s carried over this year.”

   

FROSTBURG — When Mountain Ridge quarterback Cobe Penick left the game with an injury, there was a moment of panic. Carter Clites was up to the challenge.

The sophomore backup threw a pair of touchdowns to Eli Sibley, the Mountain Ridge defense forced four turnovers and the third-ranked Miners defeated Catoctin, 29-12, on Friday to push its home winning streak to 28 games.

“The guys rallied around Carter,” first-year Mountain Ridge coach Nathan Shipe said. “He was as cool as can be. Really did a good job of commanding the huddle and keeping everybody calm. He did an unbelievable job stepping in.”

Clites completed 8 of 11 passes for 86 yards in relief of Penick, who suffered an undisclosed knee injury during the first half. Penick was 5 of 7 passing for 79 yards before he left the game.

Kyree Griffin rushed for 170 yards on 20 carries to lead the Miners’ rushing attack. Sibley caught seven passes for 74 yards and two touchdowns, and Owen Bannon made two grabs for 63 yards.

Mountain Ridge (2-0) led 13-6 at the half.

Penick connected with Bannon for a 58-yard touchdown with 9:27 left in the first quarter. Catoctin’s Shaymus Stull then tossed a 19-yard score to Lane Koenig, but the Cougars’ PAT was blocked.

Clites gave the Miners the lead at the half after his 18-yard touchdown pass to Sibley with 7:29 left.

The sophomore then connected with Sibley again for a score, this time from 20 yards away, for a 19-6 Miners lead after a failed two-point try with 7:08 on the third-quarter clock.

“Eli Sibley played an amazing game on offense and defense,” Shipe said. “It was the best game I’ve ever seen him play.”

Catoctin scored its final touchdown with 3:31 left in the third on a one-yard Stull keeper. The Cougars missed another PAT to put the score at 19-12.

Tyler Cook, who was 2 for 2 on PATs, drilled a 34-yard field goal with 8:36 left in the third quarter.

Just 33 seconds later, Bannon intercepted Stull and ran 30 yards for a touchdown.

Bannon had two interceptions, Kaiden Lissau had one and Brody VanMeter recovered a fumble. Lissau and Daniel Swindle had eight tackles each.

Stull completed 12 of 23 passes for 164 yards and three interceptions. Brady Koenig led the Cougars’ rushing attack with 11 rushes for 70 yards.

Mountain Ridge faced adversity losing its starting quarterback with a young and experienced team, but the Miners battled to keep the home streak alive.

“We kinda told them, we’re here to protect home field,” Shipe said. “It’s senior night. All the younger players rallied around that and bought into that. We tell the kids all the time, you play on Friday nights, but the game is won at 6 a.m. in February where you get up and work out.”

Mountain Ridge is at No. 5 Allegany (0-2) next week.

“Allegany is a good football team,” Shipe said. “At this point in the season, records can be very deceiving. We are not confused about what we’re going to see up there with Allegany. They have great football players. It’s a great rivalry game.”

          

Frostburg, Maryland - Mountain Ridge met Catoctin twice last year. Miners quarterback Will Patterson ran for six touchdowns in a 43-12 Week 2 rout, and they pulled away to win 37-17 in the state quarterfinals. ... Mountain Ridge extended its home winning streak to 27 games in Week 1. The Miners led 35-0 after the first period and 42-0 at the half. ... Cobe Penick threw three touchdowns passes, completed 8 of 11 attempts for 82 yards and added 54 yards and a touchdown with his legs. ... Mountain Ridge out-gained the Rams, 250-70, and rushed for 164 yards on 25 attempts. Eli Sibley caught two touchdowns, and Owen McGeady accounted for the other. Kyree Griffin and Levi Clise scored on the ground. Lane Frost had a pick-six. ... Catoctin, the Class 1A state champion in 2009 and '19, was expected to be a possible return participant to the state tournament but was shut out by Boonsboro in Week 1. ... The Cougars will be quarterbacked by senior Shaymus Stull, who took over the job in Week 7 last year after an injury to starter Haydn Mathews and led the team to a Cinderella run. ... Catoctin only lost one offensive starter to graduation, while eight of its 11 starters on defense are back.

   

FROSTBURG — The Nathan Shipe era at Mountain Ridge began with a bang, as the Miners routed Southern, 49-6, on Friday to extend their home winning streak to 27 games.

The Miners (1-0) led 35-0 at the end of the first period and 42-0 at the half, and junior quarterback Cobe Penick threw three touchdown passes. He completed 8 of 11 passes for 82 yards and added 54 yards and a score on five carries.

Mountain Ridge struck first at the 9:36 mark of the first quarter on a 24-yard strike from Penick to Owen McGeady. Penick also completed aerial scores to Eli Sibley from 24 yards out with 8:30 left in the first and again to Sibley from six yards out with 1:19 to play in the half.

Penick added a one-yard scamper for a score with 5:37 to play in the first, and Kyree Griffin also ran for a score from 20 yards away with 1:28 on the first quarter clock.

Lane Frost added a defensive touchdown, a 20-yard pick-six with 5:37 remaining in the first period.

Mountain Ridge mostly played subs in the second half, and Levi Clise scored the team’s seventh touchdown on a two-yard run with 5:15 remaining in the fourth.

Southern’s lone score came by way of a three-yard Brayden Rodeheaver touchdown run with 7:30 left in the third. The Rams missed the extra point.

Mountain Ridge out-gained the Rams, 250-70, and rushed for 164 yards on 25 carries. Southern rushed is 21 times for 38 yards.

Clise had eight carries for 58 yards, and Griffin carried it seven times for 37 yards.

McGeady caught two passes for 35 yards, Sibley made two grabs for 30 yards and Kris Washington had three catches for 20 yards.

Mountain Ridge place kicker Tyler Cook was a perfect 7 for 7 on extra points. McGeady, Sibley and Elijah Rafferty recovered Southern fumbles.

Mountain Ridge combined for 10 tackles for loss. Daniel Swindle led the Miners with four total tackles.

Jacob Brown led Southern gaining 22 yards on four carries.

Mountain Ridge hosts Catoctin on Friday, and Southern (0-1) hosts Hancock.

   

Frostburg, Maryland - Mountain Ridge has outscored Southern, 202-7, over the past three seasons. The Miners' 84-0 rout of the Rams in 2021 during that span is believed to be the most-lopsided contest in the history of Maryland high school football. The next-closest contender was in 1952, when Allegany, coached by Ray Lester, defeated Ridgeley, 81-0, at Fort Hill stadium. ... Tonight will be the debut of two head coaches inheriting programs in very different situations. ... The Miners turn to Nathan Shipe, who takes over for Ryan Patterson. Patterson finished as the winningest coach in Mountain Ridge history and led the Miners to a 34-5 record, three straight 10-win seasons and three straight state championship games over his final three years. Shipe previously coached the Miners' junior varsity program. ... Southern begins a new era under Dave McLaughlin, whose hiring has renewed life into a program that was forced to disband its varsity team after two games in 2023. The Rams now have more than 50 players in their program. McLaughlin coached the 2014 Oakland Rams to the Cumberland Area Youth Football League championship. ... Mountain Ridge will field a mostly new team after losing 16 seniors, including 2023 co-Offensive Player of the Year Will Patterson, who participated in 40 touchdowns for the Miners at quarterback and is now at Shepherd. Junior Cobe Penick is slated to be the next signal-caller. ... Eli Sibley and Owen Bannon are back at receivers in the Miners' spread offense. The duo combined for 439 yards and seven scores last year.