SENTINELS DEFEAT MOUNTAIN RIDGE 62-0 AT GREENWAY

CUMBERLAND — After back-to-back losses against quality competition, No. 2 Fort Hill looked like its old self on Friday at Greenway Avenue Stadium.

The Sentinels (3-3) won the most lopsided game against Mountain Ridge in the series’ history with a 62-0 shutout victory.

“Really happy with our guys’ performance, they showed a lot of intensity,” Fort Hill head coach Zack Alkire said. “The focus all week long has been to show more intensity throughout the week, show more excitement and they did a really good job with that. It started on Monday, it was a really fiery practice and that led into Tuesday and the rest of the week.”

It only took the Sentinels two plays to find the end zone. Noah House found Jameson Powell-Morris wide open over the middle for a 46-yard touchdown on Fort Hill’s second play from scrimmage.

A quick three-and-out and a 26-yard punt return from Channing Logsdon set up Braelyn Younger for a one-play, 32-yard touchdown on the following play.

The ensuing Miners (2-4) drive stalled on a fumble recovered by Landen Richardson, setting up a one-yard score from Younger to extend the Sentinel lead to 20-0 after one quarter.

“Not a whole lot of things went our way,” Mountain Ridge head coach Nathan Shipe said. “We talked about consistency and that’s something we need to continue to work on. Consistency, compete and then getting our confidence back.”

Younger recorded 11 carries for 90 yards and three touchdowns in the first half and finished with 12 carries for 111 and four scores.

Last week against Bridgeport, the Indians led 14-0 early and won 49-14.

“Not making the key mistakes,” Alkire said of the difference in the start last week compared to Friday. “I thought we played well, especially in the first half against Bridgeport. But we made mistakes at crucial times. We didn’t make as many of those tonight.”

Fort Hill had three penalties early in the second quarter on kickoffs, two on one play that led to a quick punt.

The third was a blindside block on a punt that took away a return inside Mountain Ridge’s 10, but the Sentinels drove down and Carson Bender scored from 32-yards out.

Another quick Miner drive and a 19-yard punt return from Logsdon set up Younger for a five-yard score.

“I think we’re all just trying to find that play or series of plays that work for us,” Shipe said. “Carter (Clites) ran the ball well tonight, and I think that’s something we can continue to build on is the quarterback run. But when we’re behind the sticks, I think there was a lot of that. Whether it was pressure on the quarterback or negative plays, being behind the sticks is a big problem for us. I think a lot of that has to do with confidence.”

Powell-Morris caught a 68-yard touchdown on a deep ball from House late in the first half.

Powell-Morris caught all four of House’s completions in the first half for 131 yards and two touchdowns.

“It starts up front, we’re doing a great job protecting Noah,” Alkire said of the passing game’s success. “Allowing him to do what he does. He does a great job keeping his eyes downfield and finding open receivers.”

Fort Hill led 41-0 at halftime and had 296 total yards with 165 passing and 131 rushing.

Against Bridgeport, the Sentinels were held to 72 yards on 31 carries.

Mountain Ridge had 17 yards of offense in the first half with minus 10 rushing, mostly off of sacks and fumbles.

Powell-Morris returned the opening kickoff of the second half 57 yards to the Miners 21, setting up a Younger touchdown on the next play.

“He’s brought a lot of excitement, it was a little slow start with our passing game the first couple games,” Alkire said of Powell-Morris. “We’ve really come alive and Jameson’s been a big part of it. Expectations are that he’s gonna continue to be a big part of it.”

Chase Lamb broke off on an 82-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter down the left sideline. Lamb finished with 97 yards on two carries.

Owen Walker’s only carry went for a 78-yard, untouched touchdown late in the fourth quarter for the Sentinels. Fort Hill combined for 475 yards on only 28 plays with 344 on the ground.

Mountain Ridge finished with 97 yards on 41 plays. No one had more than 24 yards from scrimmage for the Miners.

“I think the biggest key is our preparation,” Shipe said of turning the season around. “Coming back tomorrow morning and then Monday at practice, being able to prepare in a way that sets us up to compete and win three football games. That’s going to be the key, how we prepare and how the coaches can pull the kids back in and prepare for Northern.”

FRANKFORT USES BIG PLAYS TO DEFEAT MOUNTAIN RIDGE, 41-6

SHORT GAP, W.Va. — Gunnar Bradshaw was the star for Frankfort, scoring four touchdowns in the first half and leading the No. 1 Falcons (6-0) to a 41-6 win over Mountain Ridge on Friday.

“Nice win for us, we started off a little slow,” Frankfort head coach Kevin Whiteman said. “But once we started getting into a rhythm, I thought the kids played hard, we played physical and did a nice job.”

Bradshaw scored four touchdowns in the first half, catching a pair of touchdowns from Blake Jacobs.

The first was from 15 yards out in the first quarter, while the second came from 19 yards away on the opening play of the second quarter.

The second passing touchdown was set up by an interception from Bradyn Tyler to stall the Miners’ (2-3) opening drive.

“We knew that coming into the game, we had to win the mental battle, win the turnover battle and limit explosive plays,” Mountain Ridge head coach Nathan Shipe said. “In the penalty category, we got beat 5-0, in the turnover battle, we got beat 5-0 and in the explosive play battle we got beat 5-0. So that was our big takeaway, it was just plays that were very, very costly.”

In the second quarter, the Falcons returned fumbles on back-to-back Mountain Ridge possessions for touchdowns.

Bradshaw scooped and scored the first off a strip sack from Knox Kimble.

Two plays into the following drive, Cole Shanholtz picked up a fumbled snap and took it to the house.

"Anytime you get something like that, the first one really got the life into our team," Whiteman said. "Got us fired up and going, and then we got another one. When you get that momentum going, it's hard to stop it."

On the ensuing Miner drive, Bradshaw intercepted a pass and returned it 37 yards to the 40.

Four plays later, he caught a 44-yard pass from Jacobs down to the one, setting Bradshaw up for a one-yard touchdown on the next play.

Bradshaw caught three of the four completions from Jacobs for 78 yards and two touchdowns.

"Gunnar just does a phenomenal job," Whiteman said. "You can play him anywhere on the field and he's gonna do a wonderful job. He's a smart kid, he's very athletic and just does a wonderful job."

Mountain Ridge entered Friday with the area’s fourth-best passing offense with 549 yards through four games.

Frankfort held the Miners to 19 passing yards in the first half.

"Our game plan at the beginning of the game was to possess the football, use the clock, keep Frankfort's offense off the field," Shipe said. "Gain some momentum that way by using the clock and using that to our advantage. So that was our plan at the beginning and we had to go away from it relatively quickly."

On the other side, the Falcon passing attack was ranked eighth in the area with 256 yards through five games.

Jacobs had 89 yards in the first half, completing four of five passes with two scores.

"We did expect the passing game, our game plan was to stop the run first," Shipe said of Frankfort's passing success. "I still think they're a run-first team. But a little of the motion confused our defensive secondary. We weren't able to adjust to the man-to-man switches that we needed to make, and it left receivers running wide open." 

Just before the Miners’ second drive was about to begin, the stadium lights went out, resulting in a 16-minute delay. Neither coach felt it impacted their team.

Leading 35-0 at halftime, Bradyn Tyler added to the Falcon lead with a 48-yard scamper midway through the third quarter.

Tyler led Frankfort with 81 rushing yards on six carries.

Levi Clise found Nathan Miller wide open for a four-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter to prevent the shutout for the Miners.

Carter Clites led Mountain Ridge with 52 rushing yards on 10 attempts.

Frankfort's leading rusher Carder Shanholtz did not play on Friday, but Whiteman expects him to return next week.

Shanholtz entered Friday leading the area with eight rushing touchdowns and was fourth with 431 rushing yards.

The Falcons' second-leading rusher Kaiden McKenzie left Friday's game on a stretcher, and Whiteman said it could be a season-ending leg injury.

McKenzie entered Friday with 249 rushing yards and five touchdowns and had three carries for 22 yards against Mountain Ridge.

Both teams are on the road Friday. Mountain Ridge faces No. 2 Fort Hill at 6:30 p.m. while Frankfort plays Brooke at 7 p.m.
The Sentinels (2-3) fell 49-14 at Bridgeport on Friday.

"Our focus is on when we make a mistake, being able to move on to the next play," Shipe said. "Not allowing one bad play, one mistake to turn into two, three, four in a row. So that's gonna be our focus, being able to turn the page and play the next play.

MOUNTAIN RIDGE WELCOMES STRUGGLING BLAZERS TO MINERS' STADIUM LOOKING TO END 2-GAME LOSING STREAK

FROSTBURG, MARYLAND - While Mountain Ridge and Clear Spring have never played, they were supposed to in the first round of the Class 1A West Region playoffs in 2021 before the Blazers opted out of the postseason. ... Mountain Ridge is looking to avoid its first 1-3 start since 2017. ... Junior quarterback Carter Clites is fourth locally at 183 yards per game passing. He's completed 48 fo 74 passes (65%) for 549 yards, five touchdowns and three interceptions. ... Daniel Swindle (207 yards) and Levi Clise (194 yards, one TD) are his top targets. Nathan Miller has caught two touchdowns. ... Clise leads the Mountain Ridge defense with 26 tackles, an interception and a forced fumble. Eli Rafferty has a team-high six tackles for loss. ... The Miners are looking to get the run established for the first time this year. They're averaging 56.3 yards per game on the ground and 2.4 yards per carry. ... That should be possible against a Clear Spring squad that's rebuilding following a 6-4 finish last season. The Blazers are coming off losses to Berkeley Springs, 34-28, and Everett, 41-7 — two teams it handled easily in 2024, 42-14 and 30-6, respectively.

JV MINERS' DEFEAT MUSSLEMAN AT HOME 34-8, REMAIN UNDEFEATED

Frostburg, MD - The Mountain Ridge Miners junior varsity football team remain undefeated, improving to 4-0 on the season with a 34-8 resounding victory over the visitng Musselman Appleman Monday evening.

The Junior Varsity Miners' will be back in action next Monday evening at home against the visiting Southern Rams. Make sure you come out and support the JV Miners'. Kickoff is set for 6pm at Miners' Stadium.

2025 MOUNTAIN RIDGE JUNIOR VARSITY SCHEDULE (6-1)

2025 MOUNTAIN RIDGE VARSITY SCHEDULE (2-4)