Fort Hill Storms Back In Second Half To Hand Sherando First Loss
Posted: October 24, 2015
By WALT MOODY
STEPHENS CITY — Three minutes is not long in the span of a 48-minute football game, but those 180 seconds erased Sherando’s dominating first half and ended the Warriors’ hope for an unbeaten season.
Fort Hill (Md.) turned a 14-point halftime deficit into a two-point lead in that span to start the second half and road the wave of momentum to a stunning 23-14 triumph against previously unbeaten Sherando on Friday night at Arrowhead Stadium.
Nathaniel Graves threw for a score and ran for two more as the Sentinels (6-1) thrilled their large contingent of fans from Cumberland, Md., with the victory and handed the Warriors (7-1) their initial loss.
“The biggest thing I’m proud of is they kept their heads up at halftime,” said Fort Hill coach Todd Appel, whose team won the Maryland Class 1A championship last season. “Down 14-0, that usually doesn’t happen to us, but they believed in themselves. And boy in that third quarter, we bum-rushed them there.”
Sherando had dominated the first 24 minutes, scoring twice and having two more opportunities end deep in Fort Hill territory on failed fourth downs.
But the contest changed abruptly, when Markel Spencer took the second-half kickoff back 61 yards to the Sherando 28. One play later, Graves hit a wide-open Brayden Brown near the left corner of the end zone and the Sentinels suddenly were within a touchdown just 22 seconds into the half.
It would get worse for the Warriors thanks to a fluke play. On the ensuing kickoff, Joseph Doleman slipped while backpedaling to catch the ball near the goal line. Initially ruled a touchback, the ball was placed at the 1 after a discussion by the officials.
Sherando coach Bill Hall said he sent the offense out with a play thinking the ball was going to be on the 20. That play, a run to D.J. Myers, resulted with Myers being tackled in the end zone for a safety.
That made the score 14-9 just 32 seconds into the half.
A nice return by Brown on the ensuing free kick, gave Fort Hill the ball at the Sherando 38. Graves capped a short drive with a 14-yard bolt up the middle and 2:58 into the second half the Sentinels had the lead.
“That was huge,” Hall said. “It was a huge momentum swing right there. Obviously, we would have liked to respond better in that situation. It was a valuable learning experience for our guys.”
“It flipped the game,” Warrior linebacker Tyler Tinsman said. “... We didn’t come out ready and it was tough.”
Sherando, which had controlled the ball the first half, struggled offensively from there. And with Fort Hill moving the ball and milking the clock in its wing-T offense, the Warriors had only four second-half possessions after the safety.
The key was Graves’ passing out of the offense which is designed to rack up big rushing yards. Graves completed 11 of 14 passes for 139 yards for the game.
“We had to loosen them up,” said Appel, whose team had just three first downs (one on a fake punt) in the first half. “They were all over our running game.”
“We did not expect it as much as they did,” Hall said of Graves’ passing. “We were doing a very good job with their run game and obviously that was their counter.”
“We had stopped up the run all night and that’s all that they’ve done,” said Tinsman, who was in on a game-high 16 tackles. “We thought they would come back with it and they came out with the pass.”
Still the Warriors had a chance thanks to one of those Fort Hill passes. Linebacker David Eppard picked off a Graves toss over the middle and returned it to the Sentinel 31 early in the fourth quarter.
But after a sack, Myers grabbed a bobbled handoff and bolted up the middle. As he struggled for extra yardage near the first down Myers was popped from behind, fumbled and the Sentinels recovered at the 23.
“We get the turnover and we turn it right back over,” Hall said. “Obviously that’s a huge play in the second half.”
Hall said his team had other opportunities in the half, too.
“They did some more man coverage and reduced their front down a little bit,” he said of the Sentinels defense. “We had some opportunities there with shots and we just missed them and there was a lot of pressure on the quarterback, so we didn’t have enough time to take advantage of those opportunities.”
After the Myers fumble, the Sentinels took over and ground more than six minutes off the clock. All but one of the plays on a 77-yard march came on the ground. On fourth and inches from the Warriors 3, Graves capped the 14-play march by diving over the goal line to make it 23-14 with 1:14 left.
“The run game came back again a little bit when we needed it,” Appel said. “Thank God for that.”
Myers led a ground game that was dominant for the Warriors in the first half.
Sherando took the opening kickoff and drove 75 yards in 10 plays. Dylan Rivers capped the march with a 3-yard run.
Later in the half after a 17-yard punt return from Cordell Peterson with a personal foul tacked on, the Warriors needed just two Myers runs to go 18 yards. Myers bowled over two tacklers at the goal line for a six-yard score.
Myers led all ballcarriers with 106 yards on 18 carries. Patrick Minteer was 8 of 16 for 92 yards and an interception.
The Warriors return to action next week at Skyline and Hall doesn’t expect lingering effects of a first loss.
“Oh, they will respond,” he said of his players. “We have a good tradition here and we haven’t been in that situation a lot, but that’s one of those things you learn from and we’ll teach more tomorrow morning when we come in at 8 a.m. and watch the film.”
“We’ll be fine,” Tinsman said. “[The Sentinels] played phenomenal in the second half, but we made mistakes that we don’t usually make. It’s a part of the game, you mess up sometimes.”
Note: Penn State linebackers coach Brent Pry was on the sidelines watching Rivers, who has been offered a scholarship by the Nittany Lions. Penn State plays Maryland in Baltimore this afternoon.
Posted: October 24, 2015
By WALT MOODY
STEPHENS CITY — Three minutes is not long in the span of a 48-minute football game, but those 180 seconds erased Sherando’s dominating first half and ended the Warriors’ hope for an unbeaten season.
Fort Hill (Md.) turned a 14-point halftime deficit into a two-point lead in that span to start the second half and road the wave of momentum to a stunning 23-14 triumph against previously unbeaten Sherando on Friday night at Arrowhead Stadium.
Nathaniel Graves threw for a score and ran for two more as the Sentinels (6-1) thrilled their large contingent of fans from Cumberland, Md., with the victory and handed the Warriors (7-1) their initial loss.
“The biggest thing I’m proud of is they kept their heads up at halftime,” said Fort Hill coach Todd Appel, whose team won the Maryland Class 1A championship last season. “Down 14-0, that usually doesn’t happen to us, but they believed in themselves. And boy in that third quarter, we bum-rushed them there.”
Sherando had dominated the first 24 minutes, scoring twice and having two more opportunities end deep in Fort Hill territory on failed fourth downs.
But the contest changed abruptly, when Markel Spencer took the second-half kickoff back 61 yards to the Sherando 28. One play later, Graves hit a wide-open Brayden Brown near the left corner of the end zone and the Sentinels suddenly were within a touchdown just 22 seconds into the half.
It would get worse for the Warriors thanks to a fluke play. On the ensuing kickoff, Joseph Doleman slipped while backpedaling to catch the ball near the goal line. Initially ruled a touchback, the ball was placed at the 1 after a discussion by the officials.
Sherando coach Bill Hall said he sent the offense out with a play thinking the ball was going to be on the 20. That play, a run to D.J. Myers, resulted with Myers being tackled in the end zone for a safety.
That made the score 14-9 just 32 seconds into the half.
A nice return by Brown on the ensuing free kick, gave Fort Hill the ball at the Sherando 38. Graves capped a short drive with a 14-yard bolt up the middle and 2:58 into the second half the Sentinels had the lead.
“That was huge,” Hall said. “It was a huge momentum swing right there. Obviously, we would have liked to respond better in that situation. It was a valuable learning experience for our guys.”
“It flipped the game,” Warrior linebacker Tyler Tinsman said. “... We didn’t come out ready and it was tough.”
Sherando, which had controlled the ball the first half, struggled offensively from there. And with Fort Hill moving the ball and milking the clock in its wing-T offense, the Warriors had only four second-half possessions after the safety.
The key was Graves’ passing out of the offense which is designed to rack up big rushing yards. Graves completed 11 of 14 passes for 139 yards for the game.
“We had to loosen them up,” said Appel, whose team had just three first downs (one on a fake punt) in the first half. “They were all over our running game.”
“We did not expect it as much as they did,” Hall said of Graves’ passing. “We were doing a very good job with their run game and obviously that was their counter.”
“We had stopped up the run all night and that’s all that they’ve done,” said Tinsman, who was in on a game-high 16 tackles. “We thought they would come back with it and they came out with the pass.”
Still the Warriors had a chance thanks to one of those Fort Hill passes. Linebacker David Eppard picked off a Graves toss over the middle and returned it to the Sentinel 31 early in the fourth quarter.
But after a sack, Myers grabbed a bobbled handoff and bolted up the middle. As he struggled for extra yardage near the first down Myers was popped from behind, fumbled and the Sentinels recovered at the 23.
“We get the turnover and we turn it right back over,” Hall said. “Obviously that’s a huge play in the second half.”
Hall said his team had other opportunities in the half, too.
“They did some more man coverage and reduced their front down a little bit,” he said of the Sentinels defense. “We had some opportunities there with shots and we just missed them and there was a lot of pressure on the quarterback, so we didn’t have enough time to take advantage of those opportunities.”
After the Myers fumble, the Sentinels took over and ground more than six minutes off the clock. All but one of the plays on a 77-yard march came on the ground. On fourth and inches from the Warriors 3, Graves capped the 14-play march by diving over the goal line to make it 23-14 with 1:14 left.
“The run game came back again a little bit when we needed it,” Appel said. “Thank God for that.”
Myers led a ground game that was dominant for the Warriors in the first half.
Sherando took the opening kickoff and drove 75 yards in 10 plays. Dylan Rivers capped the march with a 3-yard run.
Later in the half after a 17-yard punt return from Cordell Peterson with a personal foul tacked on, the Warriors needed just two Myers runs to go 18 yards. Myers bowled over two tacklers at the goal line for a six-yard score.
Myers led all ballcarriers with 106 yards on 18 carries. Patrick Minteer was 8 of 16 for 92 yards and an interception.
The Warriors return to action next week at Skyline and Hall doesn’t expect lingering effects of a first loss.
“Oh, they will respond,” he said of his players. “We have a good tradition here and we haven’t been in that situation a lot, but that’s one of those things you learn from and we’ll teach more tomorrow morning when we come in at 8 a.m. and watch the film.”
“We’ll be fine,” Tinsman said. “[The Sentinels] played phenomenal in the second half, but we made mistakes that we don’t usually make. It’s a part of the game, you mess up sometimes.”
Note: Penn State linebackers coach Brent Pry was on the sidelines watching Rivers, who has been offered a scholarship by the Nittany Lions. Penn State plays Maryland in Baltimore this afternoon.
