MOUNTAIN RIDGE MINER FOOTBALL

 WILLIAMSPORT, Md. — Mountain Ridge pulled to within 34-27 early in the fourth quarter, but two final big plays pushed Williamsport over the finish line.

A long return and a penalty gave the Wildcats a short field, and one play later, Masiah Martin sprung free for a 40-yard touchdown reception. On the Miners’ next series, Landen McAllister returned an interception 45 yards for six more to seal the result.

The Wildcats scored five touchdowns of 30 or more yards, talented receiver Ceonta Wilmore racked up 181 yards and three scores and Williamsport had two pick-sixes to topple No. 3 Mountain Ridge, 47-27, on Thursday night.

None of that seemed to matter at the end, however.

The game was called with 17 seconds remaining after Mountain Ridge’s Owen McGeady was the victim of a blindside hit. McGeady, who had two first-half interceptions, suffered a neck injury and left in an ambulance.

Mountain Ridge head coach Nathan Shipe said McGeady was able to move all of his limbs and had feeling, but he was taken to the hospital out of precaution.

“Our prayers are with Owen and a couple of players injured tonight,” Shipe said. “As far as football goes, we knew coming down here that we had to limit their explosive plays with their athletes. We weren’t able to do that. The scoreboard reflects that.”

The loss drops Mountain Ridge to 4-4 heading into its regular-season finale against Keyser. Williamsport improves to 5-3.

Mountain Ridge did well to defend the Wildcats other than its defense of Wilmore, who was able to break off receptions of 51, 43, 34 and 34 yards, often after contact.

Williamsport had just 76 yards of offense other than Wilmore.

“We knew once he was able to get going, feel good and get involved in the game, that that would be a problem for us,” Shipe said. “The goal was to try to change our coverages up to try to confuse the quarterback. ... We weren’t able to do that.”

Williamsport quarterback Gabriel Parker completed 11 of 15 passes for 215 yards, four touchdowns and one interception.

He threw touchdowns of 43, 34 and 14 yards to Wilmore and the 40-yarder to Martin. Martin also intercepted a pass 60 yards for a touchdown in the first half.

Mountain Ridge trailed 13-3 after the first quarter, 19-11 at the half and 34-19 after three periods.

Miners quarterback Carter Clites completed 17 of 28 passes for 172 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. He also ran for a 10-yard score in the fourth.

The Miners’ Eli Sibley caught seven passes for 81 yards, including a five-yard pass for a score in the second quarter. Cobe Penick hauled in five passes for 55 yards. Kyree Griffin caught a nine-yard touchdown in the third period, and he also rushed for 98 yards on 25 carries.

Penick entered at quarterback for the Miners’ final series after Clites was injured. Levi Clise also exited after sustaining an arm injury early in the game. Both of their statuses are unknown.

Tyler Cook made a 22-yard field goal for Mountain Ridge in the first quarter.

Mountain Ridge was 3 for 3 on two-point conversions. Sibley ran one in and Clites completed passes to Sibley and Penick.

Williamsport’s Tae-myj Boyce-Brown scored the game’s first points on a two-yard run. His touchdown was set up by a fumble recovery and return by Wilmore.

Mountain Ridge will play for a fourth straight winning season next Friday when it heads to Keyser (3-4) in a 7 p.m. kickoff.

   

ACCIDENT — On a chilly evening at Half-Mile High Stadium on Friday, Accident was treated to an instant classic.

No. 3 Mountain Ridge (4-3) was either trailing or tied with Northern for 48 minutes and then some but found a way to stun the Huskies for a 21-20 overtime victory. It was the Miners’ 100th victory since the school opened its doors in 2007.

“Just an unbelievable effort by our kids, unbelievable effort by Northern,” Mountain Ridge head coach Nathan Shipe said. “That was a classic football game, can’t say enough about our kids. We had a lot of kids that weren’t 100%, they played like gladiators tonight.”

The Huskies (3-4) couldn’t have asked for a better start.

“Those are tough ones, I’ve coached a long time, haven’t had many gut-wrenching losses like that,” Northern head coach Phil Carr said. “Our kids played their absolute hearts out. We executed pretty much to a T, except one or two things. I can’t say enough about the effort my guys gave tonight.”

After receiving the opening kickoff, Northern drained the clock and ran 19 plays for 80 yards.

All 19 plays were on the ground, and only one went for more than 10 yards.

The Huskies converted six third downs and a fourth down.

After 10 minutes and 47 seconds, Evan Graham punched it in from the four.

“I think that kinda set the tone a little,” Carr said. “We’re gonna run the football, and we’re gonna be good at it. I think we had a pretty good night. Our offensive line, that’s the best we’ve blocked all year. But that’s a textbook drive when you go 10 minutes off the clock and end up scoring.”

Graham finished with 29 carries for 114 yards and a touchdown.

The Miners offense did not take the field until 1:06 remaining in the first quarter.

Mountain Ridge’s first two drives ended in a punt and an interception by Hunter Livengood.

After Livengood’s pick, Northern took over at the Miners’ 47.

Facing fourth-and-9 at the 30, a pass was too far for the receiver, stalling the drive.

The Huskies took a 7-0 lead into halftime after outgaining Mountain Ridge 119 to 35.

The Miners had four carries for zero yards while Northern had 34 carries for 107.

“I think it impacted the offense, just being cold,” Shipe said of how Northern’s opening drive impacted his offense. “They’re able to grind out a 19-play drive and there’s a minute and change left. It was like we had to restart our offense in the second quarter.”

Mountain Ridge got the ball to start the second half, and a completion from Carter Clites to Eli Sibley went for 23 yards to the Huskies’ 23.

Two plays later, Kyree Griffin took a handoff and broke two tackles.

The ball came out and was recovered in the end zone by a Miner, however, the officials ruled Griffin broke the plane before fumbling, giving him a 24-yard touchdown run.

Tied at 7 late in the third quarter, Landon Yoder intercepted a pass on third down to set Northern up at its own 19.

Four plays later, Ross took a toss 47 yards down the right sideline for a touchdown to give the Huskies a 14-7 lead.

“They made some adjustments, we made some adjustments,” Carr said. “But we answered everything, when they tied the game, we came back and Luke scores.”

Ross finished with 11 carries for 79 yards and a score.

Three plays into the ensuing drive, Clites connected with Levi Clise over the middle for a 55-yard completion.

It set up Griffin’s second touchdown on a wheel route with seven seconds left in the quarter.

The Huskies took over to begin the fourth quarter and drove 54 yards in 16 plays.

Facing fourth down at the 16, Northern missed a field goal.

Mountain Ridge began the ensuing drive with 2:27 left at the 20.

From midfield, Griffin took off down the right sideline for a 40-yard run.

Griffin rushed nine times for 79 yards and a touchdown. 

On the final play of regulation, the Miners lined up for a 22-yard field goal.

The kick sailed wide left, sending the game into overtime.

The Huskies got the ball first in overtime and only needed three plays for Caleb Hinebaugh to score from the three.

However, the extra point missed left, keeping the score 20-14.

“We did a nice job with the line surge and punched it in,” Carr said. “I knew when we missed the extra point, that could be the difference maker.”

The Miners took over and two plays in, an unexpected snap led to a fumble, but the offense recovered for a 15-yard loss.

One play later on third and goal at the 25, Clites lobbed the ball deep to the right side of the end zone.

Clise was wide open for the game-winning touchdown, finishing with two catches for 80 yards.

“I think everyone on the sideline was calling that relay over,” Shipe said. “We knew we had two or three plays that we could choose from. Really the route by Owen McGeady, driving hard, drew the defense to him and opened it up for Levi Clise in the corner of the end zone.“

After missing a chip shot field goal to end regulation, Tyler Cook’s extra point split the upright for the win.

Mountain Ridge outgained Northern 272-264 overall and 237-145 in the second half.

Clites finished 12 of 23 for 195 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.

Last week in a 56-3 loss to No. 1 Fort Hill, Shipe said he was disappointed with how his team failed to overcome adversity.

This time, the Miners overcame adversity when needed most.

“That was something the coaches worked on a lot in practice,” Shipe said. “Making all the little things matter. From wearing the same thing at practice, doing all these little things together. And then when that didn’t happen, there was an immediate correction at practice. I think that paid off today with being able to shake off some perseverance we faced.”

Mountain Ridge heads to Williamsport (4-3) on Thursday at 6 p.m.

Northern travels to No. 4 Allegany (3-4), who defeated Keyser (3-4) 49-14.

 

FROSTBURG — No. 1 Fort Hill lost a second game in the regular season last week for the first time since 2012, falling 28-7 to Briar Woods.

The Sentinels (4-2, 3-0 WestMAC) came out with something to prove on Friday, defeating No. 3 Mountain Ridge 56-3.

“I’m really happy with the way we played tonight,” Fort Hill head coach Zack Alkire said. “Came out with a lot of fire, came out with a lot of aggression. Lot of excitement, and the kids played really well tonight.”

It’s the most lopsided game in the series since 2018, when Fort Hill won 56-0 in Cumberland.

“My biggest takeaway was our team’s inability to persevere and overcome adversity,” Mountain Ridge head coach Nathan Shipe said. “That lack of mental toughness falls solely on my shoulders. We have to get more mentally tough and be able to overcome adversity. The difference between of that being a football game and a blowout was our inability to persevere through some of the adversity we faced.”

On Fort Hill’s opening drive, the Sentinels faced a third-and-three.

The Miners (3-3, 2-1 WestMAC) appeared to get a stop, however, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty gave Fort Hill a first down.

The Sentinels face fourth-and-seven at the 37, and Nash Cassell got eight yards on a keeper to move the chains.

On the next play, Carson Bender scored on a 25-yard counter.

“It’s a big tone setter,” Alkire said. “That’s something we typically do, it’s kinda our fashion. Try and instill confidence in our guys, and they were able to come through. The confidence grew from there.”

Mountain Ridge had several costly penalties that derailed offensive drives and gave second life to Fort Hill.

In the first half, the Miners committed seven for 80 yards, all but one either cost 10 or 15 yards.

“It was a little bit of loss of composure and a little bit of the emotions of the game, losing composure and letting the emotions kinda take over,” Shipe said. “I didn’t feel anything was over the top, it was just emotional outbursts that we have to be able to control.”

Late in the first quarter, Mountain Ridge drove to the Fort Hill 11 after consecutive gains of over 20 yards by Kyree Griffin and Levi Clise.

Jabril Daniels rushed the quarterback on the next play and broke up a pass, but was immediately injured and left the game on a gurney.

Alkire said it was an arm injury. He said the ball hit him in a spot that caused some swelling.

However, he returned for the final defensive drive of the first half.

The Miners drive ended on the opening play of the second quarter when Tyler Cook drilled a 35-yard field goal.

From there, it was all Sentinels, led by Braelyn Younger.

Taking over after Daniels left the game, Younger scored touchdowns on three straight drives.

The first was a 74-yard run right up the middle, where he was untouched for the final 60 yards.

“It’s huge. Braelyn was a man horse tonight,” Alkire said. “When Jabril went down, there’s a lot of long looks. He wasn’t one them, he had the look of desire and want to.”

The second was at the five, Younger ran into a wall of Miners, but somehow fought his way into the end zone.

He completed a first-half hat trick with a six-yard scamper and finished with eight carries for 104 yards and three touchdowns.

On Fort Hill’s final drive of the half, the Sentinels broke out a trick play.

Bender took a toss from Cassell, then fired down the right side to a wide open Wyatt Ranker.

Ranker did the rest, sprinting 60 yards to the house.

Fort Hill led 35-3 at halftime and outgained Mountain Ridge 267-148 in the first half and out rushed the Miners 188-44.

Mountain Ridge had six drives in the first half, three ended in punts while two others ended on a lost fumble and interception.

“We struggled to run the football and struggled to protect Cobe (Penick),” Shipe said. “And the penalties, when it’s first-and-20, there’s not a lot in the playbook for first-and-20. So you’re kinda limited in what you can do, and then first-and-20 turns into second-and-15.”

In the third quarter, Daniels scored a pair of touchdown runs.

Both were breakaways down the left sideline for 79 and 54 yards.

Daniels only had six carries for 27 yards at halftime, but finished with 161 yards on nine carries for two scores.

Amhad Saunders ended the scoring with a nine-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Friday’s game marked the first time in the 23-game history of the rivalry that both teams entered off a loss.

Fort Hill’s first loss was against Dunbar 26-13 in week two, while Mountain Ridge fell the previous two weeks to Frederick (28-23) and Frankfort (49-12).

The Miners head to Northern (3-3, 0-1 WestMAC) on Friday at 7 p.m., who defeated Uniontown 58-6.

“We’re gonna need to be able to find a way to play three good football games,” Shipe said. “We wanna be able to feel good going into the playoffs, especially since we have an opportunity to host a football game. But we have to win three football games and that will only happen if we can get some good leadership and as coaches and myself, being able to bring out some of that perseverance out of the players.”

Fort Hill hosts East/World of Inquiry on Saturday at 3 p.m.

East/World of Inquiry (5-1) is based in Rochester, New York, and finished last season 11-2 as state semifinalists in New York’s second largest classification. 

 

FROSTBURG — Frankfort dominated in just about every fashion on a historic night in Miners Stadium.

The No. 2 Falcons (5-0) rumbled for 377 yards on the ground and 170 through the air.

For No. 3 Mountain Ridge (3-2), it was historic for all the wrong reasons.

Frankfort was near-perfect on offense and ferocious on defense, as it snapped the Miners’ 28-game home win streak with a 49-12 victory.

“I’m very proud of the kids,” said Frankfort head coach Kevin Whiteman. “We had a good week of practice. With all that rain and stuff, I was a little scared because we had to practice in a very wet, puddly field. “I’m just proud of their effort. They embraced the game plan, came out and played hard. They were physical. I just thought we played well in all three phases. I thought we were a little slow starting. Mountain Ridge did some things to slow us up. They were in a different look defensively than we expected, so it took us a while to adjust to that. But just very proud of the whole team for their effort tonight.”

Frankfort converted big play after big play, not allowing the Miner defense off the field.

The Falcons finished 6 of 7 on third downs, needing on average 5.7 yards to get past the marker.

Conversely, the Miners finished 2 of 10 and needed 11.2 yards on average for a first.

“Not a whole lot to say other than what the scoreboard said — that was that we got our tails whipped,” Mountain Ridge head coach Nathan Shipe said. “Frankfort was a very good team. We had some opportunities early that we missed. Getting off the field on third down, that was the big thing.

“They hit a couple of big passes early and then some big runs late. And once the gap widened, they did what good teams do. They roll you up. When they got you on the ropes, they’re not going to let you get up. When they knock you down, they’re not going to let you get up. They’re going to knock you out, and that’s what happened.”

The first big Frankfort offensive play came on third-and-9 on its second drive when quarterback Uriah Cutter hit Blake Jacobs for 51 yards on a post route to the Mountain Ridge 3. Two plays later, Julian Pattison rumbled in from four yards out for the first of his three scores. Rhett Sensabaugh booted the PAT.

After the Miners’ ensuing drive ended in three points with a 36-yard field goal by Tyler Cook, the Falcons got double-digit yardage from Pattison for 15, Carder Shanholtz for 13 and a 25-yard pass from Cutter to Jacob Nething before Pattison capped off the drive with a 16-yard TD run and a 14-3 lead at 11:11 in the second.

Cutter showed off his arm on Frankfort’s next drive, throwing a 60-yard dart to Nething for a score. Sensabaugh’s PAT made it 21-3 with 6:32 to go.

The Falcon defense forced their second three-and-out, and the ensuing drive went five plays, each one gaining at least seven yards, with runs of 12, 15 and 17 by Cutter and Shanholtz twice setting up Pattison’s third score on a 12-yard run at the 2:20 mark.

Frankfort had one more shot at a score before halftime, taking over on its own 40 with 47 ticks left, but a fumble was recovered by the Miners with 21 seconds left.

The Miners had a chance to make it a three-score game heading into the locker room, but Cook’s 41-yard field goal try sailed left of the upright.

Mountain Ridge showed its biggest sign of life offensively coming out of halftime, with Levi Clise converting on third-and-7 with a 13-yard run, Mountain Ridge’s first third-down conversion.

Quarterback Carter Clites followed up with a 13-yard gain and, three plays later, lobbed a 22-yard completion to Eli Sibley on third-and-6.

A Sibley catch and a Clise run set up first-and-10 from the Frankfort 12, but a holding call on second down set the Miners back. Passes fell incomplete on second- and third-and-20, leading to a 39-yard field goal by Cook to make it 28-6.

“That hurt,” Shipe said of the penalty. “It was just one of those situations where in pass protection, a player got beat. And to try to make up for getting beat, they grabbed on, and that definitely hurt. But there were some other situations too. We had three penalties on that drive, and that just happened to be the one that will stick out because of the down-and-distance situation.”

A 47-yard run on third-and-3 by Shanholtz was the vertical bar on an exclamation point, as Cutter applied the underdot with a 10-yard touchdown run for a 35-6 lead at 4:33 in the third.

Cutter finished 8 of 10 passing — completing his final eight attempts — for 170 yards.

“We have confidence in Uriah to throw the ball,” Whiteman said. “They had the whole box packed up in there, so it didn’t take long to figure out we were going to have to throw some passes. We connected on some big ones simply because they had everything packed up in there.”

Shanholtz capped off a dominant night on the ground with a 66-yard touchdown run later in the third, finishing with 204 yards on just 10 carries.

Frankfort backup QB Gunnar Bradshaw had a 60-yard score in the fourth.

The Miners’ lone touchdown came on a 13-yard run by Clise as the running clock expired.

Frankfort’s dominance on the ground started up front, with blue hats terrorizing the Miners all night.

“Our offensive line, that’s what makes us tick,” Whiteman said. “Our offensive line is big and strong, and they work hard. … When you got guys that big and that strong coming at you, that’s hard to stop.”

Mountain Ridge’s offense was limited to just 259 yards, with 104 coming in the air.

“Our whole defense did a good job,” Whiteman said. “I think our defensive line did a good job. I’ve got to give a lot of credit to our defensive backs. (Mountain Ridge does) chuck the ball around. They have a very unique offense, the way they do things. I thought we did a good job covering the pass, putting a little pressure on the quarterback.”

The win was Frankfort’s fifth straight as it hosts Brooke on Friday.

It was the Falcons’ first win over the Miners since 2019 after Mountain Ridge had won seven of the previous eight matchups.

The loss was Mountain Ridge’s second straight, having fallen 28-23 at Frederick last week. It was also the Miners’ first regular-season loss to a non-Fort Hill team since 2019. The last team to beat Mountain Ridge in Frostburg was Northern in Week 8 in 2019.

“Yeah, we talked about all that before the game,” Whiteman said. “I let them know. The main thing I wanted them to know is that we, the Frankfort Falcons, have not beaten them since 2019. ... We needed a victory against these guys.”

The road doesn’t get much easier for the Miners, as they welcome top-ranked Fort Hill to Miners Stadium next week.

“I think kids are resilient and sometimes even more resilient than the coaches recognize,” Shipe said of getting his team refocused. “So I think that as long as the coaching staff rallies together and works on building the kids, putting the pieces back together, that they’ll get on board with that.

“We have a lot of kids and a lot of good leaders on the team that are 100% behind what we’re trying to do in the program and 100% behind the idea of righting the ship and patching the holes in the ship and moving on to next week. So I think that we’ll be good to go by Monday and have a good week of practice.” 

 

FREDERICK — Mountain Ridge was right there with a more-talented Frederick squad, but mental mistakes and injuries were too much to overcome.

The Miners trimmed their deficit to five points following Eli Sibley’s second touchdown with 7:19 remaining, but they wouldn’t see the ball again as Frederick iced the game behind workhorse back Jordan Bennett.

In the end, three interceptions, two missed field goals — one of which was blocked — and a revolving door of linebackers and defensive linemen doomed the third-ranked Miners to a 28-23 loss to Frederick on Friday night.

“Our kids showed a lot of courage,” Mountain Ridge head coach Nathan Shipe said. “Injuries happened, plugging guys in trying to make it work. But, you can’t make the mistakes we made against a team that’s more talented than you.“When you turn it over three times. Penalty kills a drive. One of those turnovers immediately turns into a touchdown. You aren’t going to beat a team as talented as Frederick.”

The loss was the first of the season for Mountain Ridge (3-1) and the program’s first to a team besides Fort Hill in 38 games.

That streak includes a 27-6 rout of Frederick (2-2) in a monsoon at Miners Stadium last year, a game in which Mountain Ridge used mistake-free football to neutralize the Cadets’ advantages in speed and strength.

Mountain Ridge looked down for the count Friday after Frederick drove 80 yards on six plays late in the third quarter with Bennett — who finished with 205 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries and gashed the Miners for 127 yards after halftime.

After a nine-yard quarterback keeper for a score by Miles Robinson capped the series, Mountain Ridge trailed 28-17 with 1:49 left in the third quarter.

The Miners then missed a 36-yard field goal on the first play of the fourth quarter.

However, Kyree Griffin intercepted a Frederick pass to give the Miners the ball right back, and Mountain Ridge drove 54 yards on seven plays — the final a three-yard run by Sibley out of the Wildcat — to get within five points.

Mountain Ridge had two timeouts but couldn’t get Frederick off the field over the final seven-plus minutes.

The Miners had no answer for Bennett, who iced the game by converting a 4th-and-5 on the Mountain Ridge 19 to allow Frederick to run out the clock.

“He’s been a man for us all season,” Frederick head coach Pat Cadden said of Bennett, who has multiple Division 1 offers. “He’s a battering ram. It’s nice to have to kill the clock and have a guy of Bennett’s size to just pound.”

Frederick rushed for 318 yards on 39 carries, and Robinson added 117 yards on 11 carries in addition to Bennett’s huge night.

It didn’t help that Mountain Ridge lost both of its inside linebackers, Kaiden Lissau and Brody VanMeter, to injury during the course of the game. VanMeter had a sack during the first half.

Defensive lineman Jay Crawford and receiver/defensive back Owen McGeady also were removed with injuries and never returned. Their status will be determined next week.

Mountain Ridge looked like it would enter halftime with a lead following a 27-yard field goal by Tyler Cook that made it 10-7 with 2:25 left in the half.

Frederick answered with a long kick return to near midfield, and three plays and 55 yards later Bennett scampered 29 yards for a touchdown with 1:28 left in the half to make it 14-10 Cadets.

Robinson completed a 27-yard touchdown pass to Darius Eubank for the game’s first score with 6:03 remaining in the first quarter, and Mountain Ridge tied it 7-7 with an Eli Rafferty one-yard score with 10:50 left in the second period.

Sophomore Carter Clites, filling in for starting quarterback Cobe Penick, had his first underclassman jitters of the season, throwing two high passes that were intercepted before halftime.

A third with 6:34 left in the third quarter was returned 32 yards by Eubank for a touchdown to make it 21-10 Frederick. It was Eubank’s second interception, and Cory Martin had the other.

Clites settled in after halftime, completing 19 of 32 passes for 252 yards for the game.

“In the first half, he had some jitters. He sailed the football,” Shipe said. “The offensive line only gave up one sack, but I think it was in his head, the clock to get rid of the football was quicker than it has been the first three games.”

Sibley, who leads the area in receiving touchdowns, didn’t have a catch in the first half, but he had five for 146 yards after halftime. The big target was lethal over the middle of the field for receptions of 52 and 57 yards.

The former went for a touchdown with 4:39 remaining in the third quarter to get the Miners within 21-17.

“We made the decision as coaches, we have to give the ball to Eli Sibley,” Shipe said. “That put us back in position to give us a chance to win.”

Mountain Ridge had prime field position to open the second half after a return by Sibley to near midfield and a late hit out of bounds penalty gave the team the ball at Frederick’s 37.

However, Cook’s field goal was blocked. An assignment was missed by a player filling in for an injured Miner, Shipe said.

While Mountain Ridge moved the ball well through the air and Frederick did so on the ground, both sides struggled in the other phase.

The Miners ran for just 55 yards on 23 carries, led by Griffin’s 39 yards. Mountain Ridge targeted Griffin in the screen game as an extension of their run game, and he made six receptions for 45 yards.

McGeady had seven grabs for 49 yards before his injury.

The Cadets’ QB Miles Robinson completed 9 of 17 passes for only 47 yards and threw an interception.

Frederick had one lost fumble, a botched hand-off in the second quarter that was recovered by the Miners’ Daniel Swindle.

Frederick was penalized seven times for 60 yards, but a punch by a Cadet player on Griffin in the red zone was missed.

Despite the road letdown, Mountain Ridge will aim for a more complete performance that it’ll need to overcome second-ranked Frankfort (4-0) on Friday.

The Miners’ area-best 28-game home winning streak will also be on the line.

“Clean the slate,” Shipe said. “The objective this week is to get healthy physically and mentally.”

   

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 — 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.