MOUNTAIN RIDGE MINER FOOTBALL

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.