×

Sentinels cash in on Tiger TO’s

CUMBERLAND, Md. — Playing against a team that has put up 40- and 50-plus points on them a majority of the time in the past, the Hollidaysburg Golden Tigers caught the Fort Hill (Md.) Sentinels in probably their most vulnerable stage ever in the history of the series between the two schools.

Still, even though the Tigers’ defense held Fort Hill to just six points on offense, the Tigers’ offense gave up two touchdowns in the form of pick 6s by Anthony Smith that led to a 19-7 win Friday night over Hollidaysburg.

“At times we made plays, but we just need to execute better on offense,” Hollidaysburg coach Homer DeLattre said. “If we could run the ball a little bit better, that would open some things up for us more.”

Fort Hill did have three touchdowns called back because of penalties, but both teams were each hit 10 times for 100 yards in penalties. Two of Fort Hill’s touchdowns that were called back were on punt returns by Smith and Tyreke Powell.

“I am not going to blame anyone because I know on that first punt return, we did some bad things,” Fort Hill coach Todd Appel said. “We will look at the film, and if we did some things wrong, we will correct that, but if not, I don’t know what you do then.”

Hollidaysburg (2-3) managed just two first downs in the first half as the Sentinels (3-0) held quarterback Brady Walters to 1 yard rushing on seven carries and just 13 yards passing on two completions. The Tiger defense did its part, holding Fort Hill to a 40-yard field goal by Danny King, a junior who is being recruited by Michigan, Alabama and West Virginia.

“There is a reason why he is ranked as the No. 1 high school kicker in the country,” said DeLattre of the junior, who put every kickoff in the back of the end zone. “Every time we had to drive 80 yards, and that can put your offense in a bind.”

The turnovers did that, too. Smith picked off Walters on a pass that went off the hands of Jacob Sensenig at 7:21 of the second quarter. He returned it 20 yards for a score and a 10-0 lead at the time.

“I don’t think they’ve scored less than 20 points in a game this year, and for some reason, our defense was out on the field a lot. I bet they lost 10 pounds in just fluids alone in this one,” Appel said.

The Tigers’ defense continued its bend-but-don’t break mode in the third quarter, shutting out the Sentinels as they went into the fourth, down 10-0. Hollidaysburg, however, punted on its only two possessions of the third quarter.

Things changed in the final frame. On their first possession of the quarter, Walters marched them 80 yards in 10 plays, scoring on a fourth-down-and-8 from the 13 when he hit tight end Gus Dellinger for a touchdown. The Ethan Pinter kick made it 13-7 with 6:50 to go in the game.

“We did a sprintout throwback on that score and Brady executed it and Gus made the kid on him miss him. That was a big play,” DeLattre said.

Hollidaysburg then got the ball back when the Sentinels fumbled on their next possession with 4:43 to go in the game, giving the Tigers new life. However, four plays later, Walters was picked off again by Smith, who returned it 22 yards for a touchdown. The PAT kick was blocked, but the Tigers trailed, 19-7 with 3:37 to go in the game.

Even though the Tigers managed just 170 yards of offense, DeLattre found solace in the fact that he held the Sentinels’ high-powered offense to less than 300 yards, something they are not used to doing.

“The last two times we played them, they scored something like 42 and 55 points on us,” he said. “All three of their running backs are good, and they are tough to defend and we held them to six points. We just need to put all three phases of the game (offense, defense, special teams) together. If we can do that, we are a pretty good team.”

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Hollidaysburg 0 0 0 7 — 7

Fort Hill 0 10 0 9 — 19

Second Quarter

FH–King 40 FG, 11:49

FH–Smith 20 interception return (King kick), 7:21

Fourth Quarter

FH–King 29 FG, 10:33

H–Dellinger 13 pass from Walters (Pinter kick), 6:50

FH–Smith 22 interception return (kick blocked), 3:37

TEAM STATISTICS H FH

First downs 9 10

Total yards 170 270

Rushes-yards 30-48 44-259

Yards passing 122 11

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 9-22-2 2-4-0

Punts-avg. 4-31.5 5-39.2

Fumbles-lost 2-1 2-2

Penalties-yards 10-100 10-100

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–Hollidaysburg, Fisher 10-35, Walters 17-2, Barr 2-12, Shawley 1-(-1). Fort Hill, Swan 14-54, Powell 12-41, Askins 10-159, Beal 7-3, Lamb 1-2.

PASSING–Hollidaysburg, Walters 9-22-2-122. Fort Hill, Beal 2-4-0-11.

RECEIVING–Hollidaysburg, Sensenig 4-68, Martellacci 1-7, Moss 1-29, Drass 2-5, Dellinger 1-13. Fort Hill, Smith 1-4, Askins 1-7.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

COMMENTS

Starting at $4.39/week.

Subscribe Today