Ranking Fort Hill's 10 Most Disappointing Losses Since 1990

[Seasoned Lettuce]

This is a totally subjective list. Feel free to add, subtract, or rearrange. My thoughts only:

10) 1991 21-17 Homecoming Loss to Allegany.
**Who could forget this memorable game. Fort Hill falls 4 points short of going 5-5 on the year, but most importantly, of beating would want end up being an 11-1 Allegany team that would go on to win the Class 2A State Championship over Middletown. This upset would have made the season for FH.

9) 2015 48-41 Loss to Keyser at Greenway.
**Honestly, many, myself included, might say that this loss was just what the Doctor ordered for the Sentinels to figure some things out and get their heads right, making it possible for them to go on and win 3 in a row. But, it's still a loss, and the only pock mark on what would be 55 straight victories. Plus, it's Keyser, who wants to lose to the neighbors?

8) 1994 30-15 Loss to Dunbar in the State Championship Game at Hagerstown
**Ali Culpepper (Syracuse) and Tommy Polley (Florida State and the NFL).......and turnovers, yep, that's all you need to remember. Dunbar just had that elite level talent, and the shame of it all is that the 1994 Fort Hill Sentinels were an unbelievably talented group themselves. This is the year of the biggest Homecoming crowd ever and the follow up playoff game that saw Fort Hill beat an INCREDIBLE Allegany team twice. This State Championship, had it been won, might have capped off would COULD HAVE BEEN considered the biggest season ever for the Sentinels, considering that Allegany was just so damn good as well.

7) 2010 20-14 Loss to Dunbar at Poly
**Who can forget that tiny quarterback from Dunbar literally getting thrown over the pile or pushed into the endzone in the waning seconds of this thriller in BMore. Personally I think the touchdown shouldn't have counted but the refs disagreed and Dunbar went on the next week to win another 1A title.

6) 1992 20-19 Loss to Walkersville in State Semi-Finals at Greenway
**In the mud, as I recall, Fort Hill's extra point attempt in overtime sails wide and Walkersville upends a very talented Fort Hill team. The Sentinels would finish 10-2 on the year with their other loss being by 1 point to Martinsburg at Martinsburg. Some great Senior leaders but also very talented Juniors and Sophomore Shannon Trimble led the Sentinels to a great season with a disappointing ending. Damascus would go on to defeat Walkersville for the 2A title. Damascus, as you will see, would knock Fort Hill out of the playoffs the next year by 1 point.

5) 1993 13-12 Loss to Damascus at Damascus in State Quarterfinals
**A very talented Sentinel squad would finish 9-2 on the year after losing to defending 2A State Champion Damascus at Damascus by 1 point. Damascus would go on to win back to back 2A State Championships that year. Fort Hill's only other loss on the year was another 1 point loss in double overtime to a stout Hedgesville squad. Oh, and Damascus' starting quarterback would go on to start at Penn State.

4) 1990 10-9 Loss to Damascus at Greenway in State Quarterfinals
**What a great, great Fort Hill team. 10-0 regular season, and obliterated most of their opponents, but Allegany, beating the Campers 7-0 the week before. Damascus kicker kicks a 40 plus yard field goal handing the Sentinels a 1 point playoff loss, and ending a season of high hopes prematurely. Big names on that Fort Hill roster, this game will still rip your guts out if you think about it.

3) 2011 Loss to Perryville at Greenway in State Semi-Finals
**This was the year, I mean this absolutely was the year that Fort Hill was going to finally get the monkey off their back and win a State Title after a 14 year drought. All the talent in the world, things looked so promising, and then Perryville rolled into town with that big ole quarterback. Lots of second guessing to this day about that game, but the bottom line, NOBODY expected this loss, NOBODY. Ugh.

2) 2009 35-14 Loss to Allegany in the West Region Finals at Greenway
**Everyone dreaded the year a super talented team that won Homecoming would get upset by the other City School in the playoff rematch, and then it happened. I literally left the game at Halftime to go to another game, I thought the Sentinels had it in the bag. And then, the injury, and then, the collapse. Can you call it anything other than a collapse...I don't know, Fort Hill people call it a collapse, but you have to give credit to Allegany..a bad situation was made doubly worse by the fact that is was Allegany.

1) 2008 20-19 Loss to Dunbar in the State Championship Game in Baltimore
**Tavon stretches across the line for the 2 point conversion victory. Dunbar rolls the dice but knowing they had the momentum at that point and the Greatest High School Running Back in Maryland History, opt to go for the win and not the tie. Of course, we all know Dunbar doesn't kick. This is the granddaddy of them all, Fort Hill had TAVON and the Poets beat, had it in the bag. But, as we already knew, you couldn't give Dunbar the ball with ANY TIME on the clock, even if they had to drive the length of the field. This one will forever sting, I can't talk about it anymore, lol.

 

[towpath94]

ironically 1, 2 and 3 were the first games to come to my mind when I read the title

personally 8 still tugs at my heart and my ring finger

 

[mccoke]

#6...I still get steamed when I think about Walkersville's coach stating in the paper the next day "We would have beaten Fort Hill by 3 or 4 touchdowns on a dry field!"

GGGrrr!!!

 

[Waggle Pass]

As far as #1, it was Poet's QB who really won the game. He hadn't completed a pass till that last drive. All his completions on that drive were for 1st downs, thus stopping the clock. Since they had no timeouts if any of his passes were short, Fort Hill wins the game.

 

[4inarowtopthat]

As far as #1, it was Poet's QB who really won the game. He hadn't completed a pass till that last drive. All his completions on that drive were for 1st downs, thus stopping the clock. Since they had no timeouts if any of his passes were short, Fort Hill wins the game.

don't forget he hit one of our defenders in the numbers at the beginning of the drive and he dropped it....game over.

 

[Waggle Pass]

don't forget he hit one of our defenders in the numbers at the beginning of the drive and he dropped it....game over.

Yeah, I didn't want to remind people of that.......

 

[4inarowtopthat]

I have an all time great one! I think it was 1981, so it goes back a way, but....Allegany was a heavy favorite, we were trailing 6-0 and had a first and goal at the one with only a minute to go. Four tries later, and there's some dispute as to whether or not the second and third down were over the goal or not, but no td, alco took a safety, and it stung!

 

[mccoke]

That 6-2 loss to Alco was in 1982. My senior year! Talk about a heart breaker! Two field goals to a safety! Now there's a question for trivia night!

 

[FHHSAHS]

#10 --ugh-- because half of the city believes with 100% faith that there was a fumble and TD return for Fort Hill. The other half of the city is "kinda sure" it was an incomplete forward pass. The refs were also "kinda sure" it was an incomplete pass - thus negating a huge momentum changing defensive TD.

Also my senior year, so I knew all those guys my whole life and believe them completely when they say "that was a fumble." But Perryville tugs at my heart strings the most as it was my son's senior year - he has the entire season on DVD and I STILL refuse to watch that game again. I saw it once and I never will again. lol

 

[theprocessworks]

gotta say linganore 1987. fh 2 to 1 in total offense but lost 14-13 late in the game. that was the 1987 3A semis. toughest loss I ever seen at fh because that was a championship team.

 

[4inarowtopthat]

gotta say linganore 1987. fh 2 to 1 in total offense but lost 14-13 late in the game. that was the 1987 3A semis. toughest loss I ever seen at fh because that was a championship team.

That was the coldest game I've ever been to in my life. I was standing on the track behind the goal post when the extra point was heading down the middle and went wide left as the wind whipped across the field and just took it and carried away with the championship dream...you are right, that was a great team.

 

[mccoke]

Yeah, the Linganore loss was a tough one to swallow! It was the coldest game ever! The roads coming home were a bit slick too!

 

[AllRed95]

There are two Martinsburg games, in particular, that sting me, and one that I still think about and am in awe.

1) @Martinsburg: I think all 3 were during the Sowers/Barrett era, but the one that bothers me the most is as follows. It had rained all day. I mean all day, cats and dogs rain. You just knew that as soon as the game began, that field would be trashed. These were the days of natural grass. So, in true FH style, they win the toss and DEFER! I remember thinking, what are we doing? Lo and behold, we kick off, Barrett returns the opening kick for a TD, we lose 7-0 (or maybe it was 10-0). It was a quagmire for the rest of the game.
2) @Martinsburg: Trailing 7-0 nearly the entire game........get a late score, 7-6. Ron Mallow, an excellent kicker, comes in to kick the PAT and instead of placing it on either hash, places it right in the middle of the torn up field (I think it rained again), and if I remember correctly, the hold didn't even get placed, or if it did, he missed poorly. Either hash would have made out for a good spot and probable OT game.
3) I, like so many others, I'm sure, sat in awe as the Sowers/Barrett show was on at Greenway in a 41-2 drubbing. I've never seen a FH team clobbered, manhandled, beat down like that squad was that night. A total mismatch. But, I'm not sure it was unexpected.

When I think back, I have witnessed so many FH games where they have lost by a failed kick on a PAT.

 

[Waggle Pass]

There are two Martinsburg games, in particular, that sting me, and one that I still think about and am in awe.

1) @Martinsburg: I think all 3 were during the Sowers/Barrett era, but the one that bothers me the most is as follows. It had rained all day. I mean all day, cats and dogs rain. You just knew that as soon as the game began, that field would be trashed. These were the days of natural grass. So, in true FH style, they win the toss and DEFER! I remember thinking, what are we doing? Lo and behold, we kick off, Barrett returns the opening kick for a TD, we lose 7-0 (or maybe it was 10-0). It was a quagmire for the rest of the game.
2) @Martinsburg: Trailing 7-0 nearly the entire game........get a late score, 7-6. Ron Mallow, an excellent kicker, comes in to kick the PAT and instead of placing it on either hash, places it right in the middle of the torn up field (I think it rained again), and if I remember correctly, the hold didn't even get placed, or if it did, he missed poorly. Either hash would have made out for a good spot and probable OT game.
3) I, like so many others, I'm sure, sat in awe as the Sowers/Barrett show was on at Greenway in a 41-2 drubbing. I've never seen a FH team clobbered, manhandled, beat down like that squad was that night. A total mismatch. But, I'm not sure it was unexpected.

When I think back, I have witnessed so many FH games where they have lost by a failed kick on a PAT.

I think Mallow also missed one, possibly two field goals in that game.

 

[PWA Docket 7323]

My truck never did drive right after that 7-6 loss. I was not a happy man on the way home. I still get pissed thinking about it now

 

[FHHSAHS]

1) @Martinsburg: I think all 3 were during the Sowers/Barrett era, but the one that bothers me the most is as follows. It had rained all day. I mean all day, cats and dogs rain. You just knew that as soon as the game began, that field would be trashed. These were the days of natural grass. So, in true FH style, they win the toss and DEFER! I remember thinking, what are we doing? Lo and behold, we kick off, Barrett returns the opening kick for a TD, we lose 7-0 (or maybe it was 10-0). It was a quagmire for the rest of the game.
.

FH lost that game 10-0. Interesting thing though, towards the end of that game FH had a late chance to possibly put up a TD to at least avoid a shut out. There was not enough time to surmount a full comeback.

I believe Martinsburg was simply trying to run out the clock with maybe a minute or minute and half left. And instead of just going back and taking a knee, the Dogs either handed off or Sowers ran around a bit...either way the ball was fumbled deep inside their own territory. My memory has faded to the point now where I cant remember if Martinsburg got it back or if FH recovered...but either way that was the pinnacle of excitement for FH in that game. And it still amounted to a goose egg.

 

[camper21502]

Honorable mention: NFL Films although alot of you wont admit it...

 

[Seasoned Lettuce]

I'll admit it.