HOW
ABOUT THAT! FORT HILL MARYLAND STATE CHAMPS
Cumberland
Sunday Times - November 23, 1975
Sentinels
Romp 34-8
By
Gene Goodrich - Sunday Times Staff Writer
OXON HILL - "If we were to go to war tomorrow,
these are the young men I'd want to fight for me."
There
is no one probably in Cumberland - the South End of
it ast least - who does not feel today as Charlie Lattimer
did here yesterday in the middle of Friendly High School
football field.
Only
minutes before Fort Hills' football team, for the past
17 years the pride and passion of head coach Lattimer,
had staked its claim as perhaps the best schoolboy team
in Maryland by literally thrashing Frederick Douglass
34-8 for the Class "A" state grid championship.
Maryland
Playoffs
CLASS
A
Fort Hill 34, Frederick Douglass 8
CLASS
AA
Arundel 13, Parkside 7
CLASS
B
Paint Branch 28, Howard 3
CLASS
C
Joppatowne 30, Smithsburg 26 |
Talking
amid a virtual ocean of red-and-white dressing, bunting,
streamers and uniforms borne by the well over 3,000
"Big Red" fans on hand, Lattimer heaped unabashed
praise on his charges.
"You
can't say enough for a bunch of young men who are able
to go through an entire season unbeaten," he declared.
"But
12 games? The ability of these young men to go through
12 games undefeated, and topping it all with a state
championship, is without a doubt the crowning achievement
of my coaching career."
Only
a step away from Lattimer, whose words were still barely
audible above the pandemonium of the Sentinel band,
cheering and loud congratulations from well-wishers
swarming the field, was a metropolitan sportswriter
still awestruck by the enthusiasm and pageantry of the
Fort Hill fans.
"I
don't believe it," he told Lattimer. "Douglass
High is only 20 minutes away from here, and you people
bring 3,000 fans and more pageantry than most colleges.
How do you do it?"
"Folks
up our way love a good football team," Lattimer
replied.
The
Yardstick |
Fort
Hill |
|
Douglass |
11 |
First
Downs Rushing |
7 |
2 |
First
Downs Passing |
1 |
0 |
First
Downs Penalty |
0 |
13 |
Total
First Downs |
8 |
2 |
Lost
On Downs |
2 |
10 |
Passes
Attempted |
20 |
3 |
Passes
Completed |
3 |
2 |
Passes
Intercepted By |
1 |
65 |
Yards
On Passes |
36 |
5-13.2 |
Punting
Average |
4-27.5 |
1-0 |
Fumbles-Lost |
3-2 |
9-86 |
Penalties |
3-25 |
325 |
Yards
Gained Rushing |
167 |
16 |
Yards
Lost Rushing |
16 |
390 |
Total
Offense |
187 |
47 |
Total
Rushes |
21 |
|
All
the while the normally gruff Sentinel mentor heaped
uncharacteristic "sugary" plaudits on his
players. Lattimer never once referred to the coaching
points that probably won for the Red Raiders one of
two state championships for Cumberland area fans yesterday.
For
it was on an otherwise unnoticed flaw of the Douglass
game that probably proved the Eagles' undoing against
the Sentinels yesterday, and it was the ever-observant
eyes of Lattimer which pulled it out of a game film
last week. And it paid off in dividends yesterday when
put to use.
When
watching the replay of the game today on television,
watch that first quarter fake punt by Douglass again,
which appeared for all the world to be a bold gamble
at fourth-and-eight near the Eagle 25-yard line.
There
wasn't a soul in the Friendly stadium that didn't think
Eagle coach Rex Holliday hadn't lost his mind when ordering
the fake punt so close to the Fort Hill goal...and so
early in the game.
"The
fact is I didn't order a fake kick," said Holliday.
"Ask Coach Lattimer about it."
Lattimer
explains that big coaching point.
"We
noticed that the Douglass center lifted the ball off
the ground then moved it forward before snapping it
back to the punter," he explained.
That's
a no-no against the "Eagle-eyed" veteran coach
of 71 football wars.
"So
we practiced against their punt formation all week long,
and it worked," he stated.
What
the Sentinels practiced was this; when the Eagle punter
lifted the ball, nose guard Randy Hillegas (number 40
on your screen) was to swing at the ball, hoping to
cause a fumble.
The
5-9, senior Hillegas didn't cause a fumble, but what
happened was just as good.
After
Hillegas swatted the ball, it zipped back not to the
punter, but to a stunned short man in the formation,
Mark Venable, who tried to run the best of the sudden
situation, only to be felled at the 22-yardline by the
alert Sentinel defense.
It
took only two plays for the Big Red Machine to shock
the still-stunned Eagles, Chuck Spangler humiliating
the formerly proud Douglass defense with a 19-yard scoring
quarterback sneak.
Individual
Story |
|
|
Att |
Yds |
TD |
Avg. |
Steve
Trimble |
26 |
152 |
3 |
5.8 |
Lyle
Peck |
7 |
111 |
1 |
15.9 |
Mike
McCullough |
5 |
31 |
0 |
6.1 |
Chuck
Spangler |
7 |
25 |
1 |
3.6 |
Todd
Martin |
2 |
6 |
0 |
3.0 |
FREDERICK
DOUGLASS |
|
Att |
Yds |
TD |
Avg. |
Mark
Foster |
11 |
72 |
0 |
6.5 |
Phil
Wedge |
11 |
17 |
0 |
1.5 |
Bart
Pfautz |
2 |
5 |
0 |
2.5 |
Dave
Wingate |
1 |
3 |
0 |
3.0 |
Mike
Wilson |
2 |
3 |
0 |
1.5 |
Joe
Niosi |
1 |
-8 |
0 |
-- |
|
Att.
Comp. Int. |
Yds. |
TD |
Chuck
Spangler |
|
3-9-1 |
65 |
0 |
Steve
Trimble |
|
1-0-0 |
0 |
0 |
FREDERICK
DOUGLASS |
Mike
Wilson |
|
3-20-2 |
36 |
0 |
|
|
Rec |
Yds |
TD |
Avg. |
Mike
Hast |
3 |
65 |
0 |
21.3 |
FREDERICK
DOUGLASS |
Kevin
Williams |
2 |
24 |
0 |
12.0 |
Joe
Niosi |
1 |
12 |
0 |
12.0 |
|
|
|
No. |
Yds |
TD |
Randy
Bierman |
|
2 |
0 |
0 |
FREDERICK
DOUGLASS |
Mark
Stalnaker |
|
1 |
8 |
0 |
|
Alan
Wilson booted the first of his four PATs on the day
to launch Fort Hill to a 7-0 lead with only 2:38 gone
in the first quarter.
"We
tried all week not to psyche our kids out against Fort
Hill," said coach Holliday afterwards. "But
after that play, we lost a lot of confidence which us
coaches weren't able to rebuild until the beginning
of the second half."
The
lightning start by the Sentinels sent the Eagles into
a shock, from which they didn't awaken until Fort Hill
was up 28-0.
Taking
over minutes later at midfield, the precisioned unbeaten
machine of Fort Hill struck again, when a Chuck Spangler
to Mike Hast middle screen pass - which last week broke
Northwood's second-half momentum in the classic semifinal
game - set up a second touchdown by Fort Hill. The play,
a surprise by coming on first down, ate up 37 yards
to the Eagle 14. And it took all-state candidate Steve
Trimble only three carries to make it 14-0.
The
5-11 senior Trimble who has virtually smashed every
scoring and rushing record in the area this season,
scored his 30th TD of the season on an eight-yard burst
behind a devastating block by Lyle Peck with just a
minute to go in the first period.
And
on his very next carry, he was rushing 43 yards in the
other direction for the Sentinel's third score with
just seconds gone in the second quarter. That run, coming
after the Fort Hill defense stopped Douglass stone cold
on their third straight offensive series, lifted the
Big Red to what seemed a runaway 21-0 lead.
"We
knew we had to stop Trimble," said Holliday, "but
we knew we couldn't do it by concentrating primarily
on him. Because we knew, too, that Peck was a 9.8 man
in the 100-yard dash, and he could burn us if we didn't
watch our step."
As
it happened, however, the "Dyno-mite" running
back tandem overcame a Douglass defense that had held
its opponents to less than a touchdown a game.
Trimble
couldn't be stopped...again. For the 11th time in 12
games this year, he topped the 100-yard mark, yesterday
doing the trick with 152 yards in 26 carries.
"He
proved to us that he is exactly what we thought he was,"
said Holliday of the 175-pound Trimble. "He's the
best running back we've seen this year, and Fort Hill
is the best team in Maryland in any class."
Trimble's
26 carries ends his senior year with 300 totes, on which
he ripped off a total of 1,677 yards. With another touchdown
in the fourth quarter - Fort Hill's final of the day
on a four-yard run - his 18 points of yesterday gave
him exactly 200 on the season, which is better by 62
points than Lefty Bruce's 25-year record of 138.
Peck,
too, made a shambles of the Eagles' vaunted defense.
Douglass
finally appeared to have stopped the Fort Hill lightning
beginning when Mike Kovac sent his 42-yard punt booming
to the Fort Hill eight-yardline, putting the Sentinels
in the hole despite their 21-0 second quarter lead.
In
an effort to give quarterback Spangler more operating
room, Lattimer ordered a patented Peck dive up the middle,
hoping to set up a second-and-short situation. What
happened this time was even better.
The
6-4, 205 pound bulldozer, who packs speed to spare,
jolted into the line and encountered only one defender
there, whom he bowled over while cutting right to daylight.
Turning
on his "9.8 speed", Peck outran three defenders
to the goalline, passing the entire Eagle bench enroute
to the back-breaking 92-yard run.
That
gallop enabled him to top 100 yards for the second time
this season, and the first since South Hagerstown, in
the second game of the year.
Despite
trailing 28-0, Douglass, in only its third year of football
and smallest Class "A" school in the state
(Fort Hill is the second smallest with nine more students),
came roaring back to open the second half.
After
stopping the Sentinels on their first series to open
the second half, Eagles Mark McLean and Eddy Bunting
broke through to block Hast's punt from his own 46.
Six-foot, 185-pound tackle Tommy Glynn scooped up the
loose ball at the 36 and rambled untouched to the end
zone to ignite the first cheer from the Eagles fans
since the opening kickoff. Mark Foster ran the PAT which
closed the gap to 28-8.
If
that wasn't enough to create second doubts about a runaway
from the Sentinels, then the Eagles' were bound to repeat
the scene. Kevin Kirby, a self-proclaimed "Wildman"
as his helmet attested, broke through the Sentinel specialty
wall only minutes later to block a Hast punt for the
second straight time.
Kirby,
who only yesterday morning was named to the Washington
Star's All-Suburban Maryland squad, recovered his block
himself at the 15-yardline and the Eagles appeared poised
to further close the gap.
But,
two leaping tips by Trimble of Mike Wilson-to-Kevin
Williams passes in the end zone saved the day for Fort
Hill, as the Eagle thrust, and last threat of the game,
died at the five-yard line.
|