A battle of 2 great defenses and 2 run first offenses. Low scoring affair and I think Douglass-PG can beat FH, but the Sentinels won’t be unprepared. Christmas came early for the Sentinels today and I think they’ll make the most of the opportunity. 2 programs that have mutual respect and affection for one another, couldn’t be more perfect
FH might have just won the State Championship
- Thread starter camper21502
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I'm sure they did in your eyes. However any team FH beats soundly must be bad. You come across like most all haters.
A longtime Dunbar fan thought HDG could pull the upset. Many others though Mtn Ridge could win. Yet they all got a running clock put on them. Maybe FH is just that good.
Oh, Lags, c'mon. Have a little class. Jeez, were all 8 of those Alco 1A banners garnered by beating titans??
I was unaware that Alco had '8' 1A banners and also went through a 1A FH to get them all.
Besides, I hope you notice that I have purposely withheld any judgment until I watched the Commercial vids. Please note too that I was one of the folks, early on, that posted FH could beat Dunbar.
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Allegany - 6 x B/2A and 2 x 1A
Dunbar - 1 x 2A and 8 x 1A
Fort Hill - 1 x A/3A, 1 x 2A and 4 x 1A
Source: MPSSAA Fall Record Book
Dunbar - 1 x 2A and 8 x 1A
Fort Hill - 1 x A/3A, 1 x 2A and 4 x 1A
Source: MPSSAA Fall Record Book
Whatever. I dont need to have this argument for the billionth time as to whose banners are better. Or what a 1934 basketball banner means. Point is don't belittle anyone's banners Lag. FH is now a mid-size 1A school. Too bad if their program is miles ahead of 98% of the 1A field for the past decade.
No one is belittling the banners. The discussion is what the 'program' really is. FH is the 'Football High' of Cumberland where parents send their athletes to play. It has 3A depth of squad. Whereas, 1A football in the state is sinking to laughable levels. For cripes sake, how many 'no contests' do we have to watch. Even the numbers have caught up with Alco to the point where they used to give FH its best games and now can barely field a freakin' team.
Belittle? You want a good contest? Have FH divide its squad and have them play each other. That would be better than the last two playoff pieces of crap we seen.
I thought Dunbar had 3A title in the late 90s? I remember discussion about them winning the 3A title with only 18 players.
Yes. They won 3A in 95. Beat an undefeated Churchill team in the final.
Well, let's see how it all shakes out this year. If you watch the older vids you can see the decline of play. Dunbar only has one very competitive title(Okay, noticed the above post about the 3A title) and FH has nearly what they do. Frankly, Alco was playing FH when FH was a 3A school on route to Allegany's 6 2A titles. I mention this basically because of the blowouts and poor level of play in 1A.
Explain how Dunbar has only one competitive title?
Several of their titles were highly competitive games against very good teams, two of their titles being barn burner games against FH and with two players from Dunbar in two of those title games ending up in the NFL.
NEWSFLASH: 1A football has always been what it is. Even when Smithsburg and Valley were winning titles 40 years ago there. 1A didn't all of the sudden become less competitve. Dah!
FH played 3A and Alco played 2A for a long time with only about a 150 student population difference. FH sat by and watched Alco never play Dunbar 6 times to win a title. Try that and recount your banners. It wouldn't be 8 of them I can assure you with no doubt. So for any Alco fan to make light of any way FH has to win their titles is laughable.
Yet, FH couldn't beat Alco any of the years Alco won a title. So for any FH fan to say that Allegany only won them by being in the smaller class is repeating straight ignorance.
Snow Hill had a player go to the NFL when Allegany beat them, but that didn't matter when they got called 'Blow Hill'.
You are correct. I missed it when looking at the record book. It was an overtime win.
Can’t we all just get along. Lol. I went to Fort Hill and I’m obviously a fort hill fan, I never understood fans rooting against fort hill or Allegheny once they go to states if your from cumberland. The argument that 1a is weak is ridiculous. If it was true, fort hill or Allegany would win the championship every year. I’ve watched a lot of 2a, 3a and 4a games and the best fort hill or Allegany teams can compete or beat the best of them. Refosco and Gilmore ran some great programs too. The Allegany team with Shanon Stevens had a killer defense.
I think the issue here is that FH has players lined up three deep at every level from a town that has become a FH football town, not a rivalry town. Also, 1A has become a sad-sack to football where FH, with its multi-deep bench, could start any of its players and win a championship - well, until it actually faced Dunbar... or, at least beat any team it has played so far. Cumberland doesn't have a rivalry and MD doesn't have a competitive system for its playoffs.... certainly not in whatever is left in 1A.
Ugh.... no. Football High has become the 1A title wonder, packing in whatever remains of the athletes in the city. I will always want any Cumberland school to win downstate. But I will never be delusional as to how it happens.
Last year in the playoffs fort hill beat Allegany by 1
Lackey By 1
And lost to Dunbar by 4.That’s pretty competitive.
What else is interesting is that in the last 2 times that Douglass and Dunbar have met in the playoffs
Douglas won by 14 and 38 points
Lackey By 1
And lost to Dunbar by 4.That’s pretty competitive.
What else is interesting is that in the last 2 times that Douglass and Dunbar have met in the playoffs
Douglas won by 14 and 38 points
Interesting point. Allegany had a once-in-a-multi-generational player in Robinette. Had FH had him, they would have won the championship by two scores. Try as you might, you cannot fudge the numbers of FH players from freshman, JV and varsity when Allegany can barely field a varsity team.
And Robinette should have went to FH by his address. Nobody cried. At least 3 players that either lived in FH district or played for FH the year prior played for Allegany this year. Hell, maybe when Alco was the in school and winning titles, how many kids jumped ship from FH territory? You act like it's something new. It's ok that it provided Alco their most prolific runner but... But...
Really, Lags?
Whose problem is it that FH has a solid football program and other schools do not? I will guarantee that other schools in the area do not commit the time that Fort Hill coaches, players, etc. put into their respective football programs. When one looks at the whole of a program, FH is willing to make the sacrifices that others are not - simple as that.
One only has to look at the dominating feeder programs over the last ten years to realize there are quality programs at the younger levels feeding into FH, especially when you look at the Patriots in the CAYFL. Coach A. has been there for many years, and has followed the footsteps of the late Roy Manges, Don Decker, Fred Meeks, etc. - all alumni of FH.
Many of the coaches at the pee-wee level played at FH within the last 15-20 years, and, yes, this includes FH graduates who are engineers at Northrop Grumman, local law enforcement officials, or those who have since retired from their chosen professions.
As has been previously mentioned, one only has to look at other sports to see that FH is not dominant and other schools are...Allegany in boys' basketball; Southern in girls' basketball; Mountain Ridge in boys' and girls' soccer; Southern in boys' cross country; etc.
Heck, in baseball Northern can compete with any school in the area on a consistent basis. Last I heard, a starting line-up in baseball only requires two less players than a starting line-up on the offensive or defensive side of the ball in football.
If I'm correct, you, Lags, have proudly, and rightfully so, mentioned from time-to-time on this message board that your sons are graduates of VMI. If true, why did they commit to VMI - a military school - and not to your typical state-run college/university in VA? I'm 100% confident there was a very good reason.
Furthermore, why is there such a disproportionate number of male student-athletes who go to a school such as Dunbar in Charm City? Why don't they go to Douglass of Baltimore City, Baltimore Poly, Reginald Lewis, etc.?
Parents choose to send their children to a specific school for a variety of reasons.
Let me say, too, that FH currently has an academic reputation that is solid as any other comprehensive high school in Allegany County, so there are other reasons parents choose to send their children to FH other than to play football.
Yes, FH has recent graduates who have graduated and/or are currently attending University of MD Medical School, WVU Medical School, Harvard (undergrad and grad), Yale, Case Western University, Rose Hulman Institute of Technology, Duquesne, Marist, Binghamton University, Towson, Frostburg, UMBC, Salisbury, ACM, Waynesburg, Union Apprenticeship Programs, etc. Several recent graduates are in the U. S. Military. In fact, one former FH football player recently became a Ranger.
Similar stories can be said about recent graduates from Allegany, Mountain Ridge and the CCTE.
It is really sad when adults are critical of teenagers committed to a program that emphasizes teamwork and commitment and that includes multiple intangibles built into the program. Without such a program, the alternative for some student-athletes could be much, much worse.
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Correct. But the years FH did beat Alco and made the playoffs they had to go through a higher class playoff grind. That is the difference. Even in the 1980s when Alco racked up most of their titles, those years FH beat them it was always the case. 3A playoff competition is something Alco never understood.
As I said, Alco played Dunbar one time for a title and the Campers had a real good undefeated team that year but got waxed by Dunbar in the title game. Try playing them 6 times and recount the titles. It would not be 8. FH had the worst luck with playoff draws for decades. Now they dont and people boo hoo. Point being no Alco fan should ever question or boo hoo who someone plays for titles as Lag is attempting.
You make a lot of good points, but I don't understand the last paragraph. What did Lag say that was "critical of teenagers"? Everything Lag said was basically correct. He said FH has superior numbers of kids in their program, he said FH is dominating the rivalry with Alco, and he said that 1A football is largely uncompetitive in the playoffs. That's 100% true. He also said he's rooting for FH to win downstate. Where did he criticize any teenagers? Please debate without the overly dramatic stuff.
First, who is being dramatic?
Secondly, again, is it FH’s problem that they have an exceptional “football program” while other 1A schools and many schools in other classifications do not? No, FH is only responsible to/for FH.
It is rather easy to infer that Lags is making a point that there is something radically unfair about FH having a freshman, jayvee and varsity squad. If he has said it once, he has said it on multiple occasions. When one criticizes a program - one is criticizing everyone loyal and committed to the program, including the players.
End of story!
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Well, you can 'infer' until you grow fur. I only meant what I posted. FH is not creating its numbers and depth of talent 'out of whole cloth' as say.
I don't expect FH fans to embrace what I see is wrong with 'the system' - not FH in specific. Alco football is practically dead, by its numbers, while FH swells with talent. Why would I expect anybody but an Allegany grad to see an issue there.
To the other point: I attended some decent 1A games in the past. Some of the kids on the opposing teams this year looked like you had to coach them away from a sandwich and a game controller. And all the while FH has talented kids riding the bench while Alco cannot fill it's bench.
Is FH doing something wrong? No. Am I inferring that? No. But something is wrong. Maybe nobody cares if Allegany drops football.
Then again, go back to playing 10 games and hit the books. Things would right themselves pretty quick, methinks. Then too, maybe this would be a nice step for MD education in general where 6 schools failed to have a single student pass the standardized tests in both Math and English.... English!!
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Maybe u guys on the other side of town should get a whole new coaching staff. Thats willing to put in the time to build a program.
You ask "who is being dramatic" then you end your commentary with a dramatic "End of story!" lol
But getting back to the point, I think you are reading way too much into what he said. He never said anything about FH numbers being unfair. And nobody is expecting you or anyone else in the program to apologize for your success. Most people in Cumberland want to see FH win this weekend. And we just have a fundamental disagreement that to criticize the program means to criticize the players. I don't think many people are going to agree with that. Allegany has been criticized in this forum constantly over the last few years (most of the time it was fair criticism) so are you saying people who criticize decisions made by the coaches are also demeaning the players?
When they get talent they do quite well. As FH gets the abundance in talent, it mostly rides the bench. This issue, at least to me, isn't one school against the other. The issue is that both schools (meaning the students not the coaches or admins) are not benefiting from the current situation. Allegany is in danger of losing football while FH simply clobbers teams in an inferior classification.
What school district does all this talent live in? Please point out who lives out of district? Of course, maybe we should do the same for all sports in all schools.
BTW 43 might be close to 50 but so is 27. Alco is larger than Fort Hill, maybe the coach needs to roam the halls of Alco and talk to some kids who may be convinced to play football.
BTW 43 might be close to 50 but so is 27. Alco is larger than Fort Hill, maybe the coach needs to roam the halls of Alco and talk to some kids who may be convinced to play football.
Yea, Boyz, I guess I’m reading too much into what Lags is saying...lol.
Some more drama...
End of Story! + Epilogue!
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"And Robinette should have went to FH by his address. Nobody cried. At least 3 players that either lived in FH district or played for FH the year prior played for Allegany this year. Hell, maybe when Alco was the in school and winning titles, how many kids jumped ship from FH territory? You act like it's something new. It's ok that it provided Alco their most prolific runner but... But..."
Maybe you should read FortHillfan89's post.... good man.... so as to not bring up the district bullshit anymore. There is a systemic problem. But if folks in Cumberland could care less whether there is even a sham of a rivalry.... then who am I to actually give a shit. As I posted a couple weeks ago: give Alco three to five years to end the rivalry and not much after that to end football. I think someone posted that perhaps kids could go to Allegany while playing for FH. You know, keep the 1A thing going a while longer.
"It is really sad when adults are critical of teenagers committed to a program that emphasizes teamwork and commitment and that includes multiple intangibles built into the program. Without such a program, the alternative for some student-athletes could be much, much worse."
Drama? So.... if not for FH's mammoth 1A bench then Cumberland's collapsing buildings and rampant drug problem would be worse?
You know.. the only thing that I figure would be worse is that if Appel doesn't get his crown this year, his media interview might possibly rip the players and the town. Come to think of it, the only person who publicly rips the FH athletes is their own coach.
Crown or no crown, Appel has done wonders with these kids. I hope that what he has taught will stick with them.
The numbers that everyone is referring to start at the Pee Wee level. If you have one team for your area, sure you win plenty at that level. But as the kids mature, not everyone will continue playing football. Pat wouldn't get 70 kids for his Patriot teams if he didn't have three and a half feeder teams coming to his program. This all matters.
The numbers that everyone is referring to start at the Pee Wee level. If you have one team for your area, sure you win plenty at that level. But as the kids mature, not everyone will continue playing football. Pat wouldn't get 70 kids for his Patriot teams if he didn't have three and a half feeder teams coming to his program. This all matters.
