Greenway Friday Night Lights had all the right small town high school feel. Until the rain came in to start the game. And it came down in bands drenching most in attendance not under cover. I know a good many that left the game early once FH jumped to the first half lead. Wet is was, at least in the first hour.
BY THE NUMBERS
The FH numbers are both dominating and mind boggling on both sides of the ball against a Miners team that was no slouch opponent.
In the first half FH rushed for 226 yards. Four scoring drives that went 75, 73, 66 and 65 yards respectively. Other than the 65-yard TD pass thrown by Deshaun Brown to close the first half, none of the drives were one play scores. They were just an impressive display of ground it out football and physical domination. FH finished with 309 yards rushing on 45 attempts (6.9 yards per attempt).
DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS
It wasn't the Fort Hill offense that wowed this spectator the most however. It looked like the team in all red had 24 players on defense. They were flying everywhere. There was much pregame talk about this being a battle of one team being more physical while the other being more speed/finesse. Post-game it was apparent one team had more of both. FH was faster as was extremely evident when the FH defense took the field. If there were an open hole or open man for the Miners it closed quickly. Even Ridge QB Will Patterson found it difficult out running tacklers whether it be outside or inside. You could tell Will was not very comfortable in the shotgun pocket, much the same as the Briar Woods quarterback at 6'2, 200 lbs. looked the week prior.
The defensive numbers were even more mind boggling.
Mountain Ridge had 24 rushing attempts for -25 yards. Yes minus 25 yards.
The area's leading rusher Will Patterson finished with -4 yards rushing. In fact, he was one of four ball carriers that finished with negative yards rushing. Garrett Michaels was the only Miner with positive yards finishing with 2 yards on 6 attempts.
The passing numbers were not much better. 7 of 16 for 74 yards with one of the passes going for a 47-yard TD. Mountain Ridge finished with 49 yards of total offense and 6 first downs.
There was also quite a bit of talk about Mountain Ridge being without their starting center. Probably because that position had to kiss big #77 for FH all night nose to nose. Not mentioned is that FH has been without their starting center since he sprained his ankle at Hollidaysburg. Luckily, FH hopes to have him back any time now.
SECONDARY CONCERNS
Going back to last January everyone on the Hill, coaches included, knew of the daunting task to replace the graduation of Allen, Palmisano, Willis and Wertz in the defensive backfield. There is a fountain of youth there now. Boy howdy have they stepped up. With the area’s best passing QB in town Friday night, Fort Hill went cover zero. That means no safety, mano e mano, tight bump-and-run across the board on four and five receiver sets. It was hard to fathom that the deepest man in a red uniform on defense was only five yards off the ball most of the night. The second level linebackers were as deep as FH got, almost daring the Miners to throw something, anything deep into the wide open green turf pasture. Other than the 47-yard TD pass given up late in the game, no Miner receiver was open. Every pass was challenged. Give a good deal of that credit to a relentless pass rush too. What a difference six weeks of football makes. Sure there was the occasional two deep safety look by FH, but only on dire passing situations. Hats off to the FH coaching staff and these young cover men.
AREA PLAYER OF THE YEAR
I spoke of this on the Commercial Video Broadcast. To start the game, this match up was more than just the two best area teams. This was also a mid-season evaluation of the two best area football players...a game within the game so to speak. That would be Carter Hess for Fort Hill and Will Patterson for Mountain Ridge. At the end of the game it was apparent who took home the Area POY award if it was to be handed out now, that would be the big man, the Big Red Wreaking Ball Hurricane Hess. As his father would say, you know the destruction is coming and you can prepare for it, but nothing stops it. Game after game his highlights are jaw dropping. I don't recall the last time a lineman won the Area POY but this guy is that dude. He doesn’t just get held all night by blockers, they literally tackle him from behind on occasions and continually dive at his knees while engaged with never a flag. More on that another time.
JABRIL DANIELS IF YOU PLEASE
There are certainly more games to be played. With that said, enter running back Jabril Daniels into the POY conversations. The junior ball carrier has been on fire the past three weeks. 146 yards rushing against Hollidaysburg, 190 against Briar Woods, 210 against Mountain Ridge with a combined 8 touchdowns. He is also a presence on defense, picking off Mountain Ridge Friday night with an INT that led to a touchdown. He is the perfect fit for the wing-T complete with power, quickness and super quick cuts in tight spaces.
THE LINE
There are far too many names to mention. Saving the best for last, this FH line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball is just too quick and powerful across the board. The all senior OL is in beast mode and the lightning quick DL is ferocious. Can’t really say more. Gonna be a fun ride win or lose to close out October.
OCTOBER SKY
The Mountain Ridge head coach said in the newspaper that his team looked shell shocked. I don’t believe emotions had anything to do with it however. Fort Hill is fast and physical and their performance was extremely impressive outside of their own self inflicted mistakes. This was a complete mismatch leaving all witnesses shell shocked in a game that could have easily been a 47-0 running clock scoreboard barring four turnovers and 10 penalties for 100 yards. We can continue to discuss the penalty difference disparity the past two years, but none of it mattered this Friday night. Moving forward however...a continued fumble and penalty disparity is not a good combination the next three weeks.
Using hindsight, most every FH fan I know is giddy at this juncture about playing Wadsworth next Saturday afternoon. It’s like, “how good is this FH team?” Let’s find out. From a fan stand point, it sure beats looking forward to Silver Oak or Carrick coming to Greenway with an immanent running clock. Immediately following the team from Ohio is an undefeated Pennsylvania team from Gettysburg coming to town in New Oxford. Suffice to say, Fort Hill will be playing the rest of their season at Greenway in all likelihood with a home game ride for the ages - two months worth of Stadium Pizza and good pigskin. Their next road game may not be until Dec 2 in Annapolis. Enjoy the moment!
