Tigers get powerful Sentinels
September 16, 2016
Philip Cmor (pcmor@altoonamirror.com) , The Altoona Mirror
By Philip Cmor
pcmor@altoonamirror.com
There might only be a handful of times in a career in which a football team can lose by 35 points and its coach actually feel there were more things to be happy about than to cause disappointment.
Homer DeLattre seems to have experienced one of those last week. His Hollidaysburg Area High School Golden Tigers were mercy-ruled by visiting State College, and yet he felt that was a combination of a tremendously-athletic opponent hitting all the right buttons while his team committed a few correctable errors.
"They made plays when they needed to, and we (in film session) showed our mistakes and how we could do a little better" DeLattre said. "We talked in practice about how if we got better at those things, those kinds of things won't happen again."
How well Hollidaysburg learned those lessons and whether or not the players' psyches were damaged from the 45-10 loss to State will be on display tonight. The Tigers won't have any time to lick their wounds as they trek down Route 220 this evening to take on three-time reigning Maryland Class 1A champion Fort Hill at 7 p.m. at Greenway Avenue Stadium in Cumberland.
The Tigers will try to even their record at 2-2. Fort Hill is 2-0, having outscored its first two foes by a combined 124-0.
"They're very aggressive on both sides of the ball. They run the Wing-T to near perfection," DeLattre said of the Sentinels. "They're going to line up and, whether you have eight or nine men in the box, they're going to try to run it on you."
That's definitely a reason for concern for DeLattre, who has expressed a need for his Tigers to tackle better, particularly in space, over the first three weeks of the season. In both of Hollidaysburg's losses to Central and State College, the Golden Tigers have surrendered more than 260 yards and five touchdowns on the ground and allowed more than 5 yards per carry.
That's something Fort Hill definitely is capable of exploiting. The Sentinels are keyed by 6-foot-1, 237-pound senior fullback Raen Smith, who is coming off back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons, and halfback Brayden Brown, a Coastal Carolina recruit who is averaging 16.1 yards per carry.
Senior quarterback Nathaniel Graves is 13-0 as a starter, and Fort Hill is averaging more than 400 yards per game.
Defensively, Hollidaysburg has been led by sophomore linebacker Gus Dellinger, who is topping the Tigers in tackles while filling in in the middle for injured Mahki Barnes. Ben Burke, Brock Irvin and Jack Vyborny are tied for the team lead with three tackles for loss, with Irvin also registering four sacks.
Michael Day has intercepted two passes.
Seeing this kind of offense presents special challenges for the Tigers.
"The line of scrimmage is the biggest key, getting penetration and being aggressive on the defensive front, and linebackers and guys in the secondary reading their keys," DeLattre said. "The other part is getting your scout team to be able to run such a different offense."
Defensively, Fort Hill only has allowed 84 yards and has forced 11 turnovers. Hollidaysburg counters with playmakers Cory Storm at running back, Jarrett Cavalet at quarterback and Vyborny at tight end. Storm has 259 yards rushing, Vyborny 11 receptions.
Fort Hill has won 42 of its last 43 games. It's 73-0 season-opening victory against Brunswick was the most lopsided in the history of a program with more than 600 all-time wins. Sentinels coach Todd Appel didn't return multiple phone messages and emails from the Mirror this week, but he told the Cumberland Times-News he was excited in the preseason.
"These kids are anxious to put the positives in the past to put to work to focus on the future," Appel said. "They have experience, and I believe they're anxious to put that to good use and find out what they can do. I'm anxious to find out, too."
The Tigers and Sentinels aren't complete strangers - they've faced each other in freshman football in recent years. This will be the first time the varsity teams have met since a four-game series from 1988-91; Hollidaysburg is one of five schools with a better-than-.500 record against Fort Hill.
In spite of last week's loss, DeLattre said he thought the Tigers would be mentally ready for the challenge Fort Hill poses.
"We were doing things better in that game last Friday than we were doing the previous two games. We always point out the positives and talk about the negatives moving forward," DeLattre said.
September 16, 2016
Philip Cmor (pcmor@altoonamirror.com) , The Altoona Mirror
By Philip Cmor
pcmor@altoonamirror.com
There might only be a handful of times in a career in which a football team can lose by 35 points and its coach actually feel there were more things to be happy about than to cause disappointment.
Homer DeLattre seems to have experienced one of those last week. His Hollidaysburg Area High School Golden Tigers were mercy-ruled by visiting State College, and yet he felt that was a combination of a tremendously-athletic opponent hitting all the right buttons while his team committed a few correctable errors.
"They made plays when they needed to, and we (in film session) showed our mistakes and how we could do a little better" DeLattre said. "We talked in practice about how if we got better at those things, those kinds of things won't happen again."
How well Hollidaysburg learned those lessons and whether or not the players' psyches were damaged from the 45-10 loss to State will be on display tonight. The Tigers won't have any time to lick their wounds as they trek down Route 220 this evening to take on three-time reigning Maryland Class 1A champion Fort Hill at 7 p.m. at Greenway Avenue Stadium in Cumberland.
The Tigers will try to even their record at 2-2. Fort Hill is 2-0, having outscored its first two foes by a combined 124-0.
"They're very aggressive on both sides of the ball. They run the Wing-T to near perfection," DeLattre said of the Sentinels. "They're going to line up and, whether you have eight or nine men in the box, they're going to try to run it on you."
That's definitely a reason for concern for DeLattre, who has expressed a need for his Tigers to tackle better, particularly in space, over the first three weeks of the season. In both of Hollidaysburg's losses to Central and State College, the Golden Tigers have surrendered more than 260 yards and five touchdowns on the ground and allowed more than 5 yards per carry.
That's something Fort Hill definitely is capable of exploiting. The Sentinels are keyed by 6-foot-1, 237-pound senior fullback Raen Smith, who is coming off back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons, and halfback Brayden Brown, a Coastal Carolina recruit who is averaging 16.1 yards per carry.
Senior quarterback Nathaniel Graves is 13-0 as a starter, and Fort Hill is averaging more than 400 yards per game.
Defensively, Hollidaysburg has been led by sophomore linebacker Gus Dellinger, who is topping the Tigers in tackles while filling in in the middle for injured Mahki Barnes. Ben Burke, Brock Irvin and Jack Vyborny are tied for the team lead with three tackles for loss, with Irvin also registering four sacks.
Michael Day has intercepted two passes.
Seeing this kind of offense presents special challenges for the Tigers.
"The line of scrimmage is the biggest key, getting penetration and being aggressive on the defensive front, and linebackers and guys in the secondary reading their keys," DeLattre said. "The other part is getting your scout team to be able to run such a different offense."
Defensively, Fort Hill only has allowed 84 yards and has forced 11 turnovers. Hollidaysburg counters with playmakers Cory Storm at running back, Jarrett Cavalet at quarterback and Vyborny at tight end. Storm has 259 yards rushing, Vyborny 11 receptions.
Fort Hill has won 42 of its last 43 games. It's 73-0 season-opening victory against Brunswick was the most lopsided in the history of a program with more than 600 all-time wins. Sentinels coach Todd Appel didn't return multiple phone messages and emails from the Mirror this week, but he told the Cumberland Times-News he was excited in the preseason.
"These kids are anxious to put the positives in the past to put to work to focus on the future," Appel said. "They have experience, and I believe they're anxious to put that to good use and find out what they can do. I'm anxious to find out, too."
The Tigers and Sentinels aren't complete strangers - they've faced each other in freshman football in recent years. This will be the first time the varsity teams have met since a four-game series from 1988-91; Hollidaysburg is one of five schools with a better-than-.500 record against Fort Hill.
In spite of last week's loss, DeLattre said he thought the Tigers would be mentally ready for the challenge Fort Hill poses.
"We were doing things better in that game last Friday than we were doing the previous two games. We always point out the positives and talk about the negatives moving forward," DeLattre said.
