MOUNTAIN RIDGE MINER FOOTBALL

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.”