PHOTOS: Fort Hill cruises at Homecoming, 42-3

CUMBERLAND — To win at Homecoming, you need to be near-perfect. Fort Hill was that — and then some.

The Sentinels scored on six of their seven drives and piled up over 300 yards of offense, taking down Allegany, 42-3, Saturday afternoon at Greenway Avenue Stadium.

"I'm really happy with our play," said Fort Hill head coach Zack Alkire. "Not that it was flawless, but we did everything that we needed to do to put ourselves in a position to win the game."

After winning the toss and electing to receive, the Campers (5-4) moved the chains with a Fort Hill (9-0) offside penalty for their first of nine first downs — Fort Hill doubled up Allegany's first down total with 18.

Two plays later, the Campers fumbled and Fort Hill's Melo Palmisano scooped and scored from 25 yards out. Bobby Brauer converted the first of his six point-after tries for an early 7-0 lead at 9:16.

"Everything we said we can't do, we did early," said Allegany head coach Bryan Hansel. "We can't fumble and give them seven (points) right off the jump. We talked all week that we can't give anything. They've got to take it from us. Now, don't get me wrong. They did take some things from us, absolutely. But we gave a lot early."

The Sentinels' next drive started at the Allegany 49 following a four-yard punt thanks in part to a huge bounce in Fort Hill's favor.

The Campers appeared to have the Sentinels stopped on the ensuing drive, but Levi House dropped a pass in the bucket to Jameson Powell-Morris for a 26-yard touchdown on third-and-13 to double Fort Hill's lead.

"He's a really confident kid," Alkire said of House, who took over at quarterback full time two weeks ago due to an injury to Brady O'Neal. "He's a very cerebral kid. So it's no surprise he's able to do what he's been able to do. A lot of respect for Levi to be able to come in and really play multiple positions for us on the offensive side of the ball."

A 27-yard punt return in the opening two minutes of the second quarter again gave the Sentinels good field position at the Allegany 33.

Four plays later, Carson Bender darted in from 21 yards out for a 21-0 lead at 8:26. Bender finished with 16 carries for 128 yards and a touchdown en route to being named most valuable player and voted offensive player of the game by area media outlets.

"He's really come a long way," Alkire said of Bender. "He's seeing the field a lot better. Probably most importantly, I'm gonna knock on wood here, but he's getting healthy.

"He has a lot of athletic ability, he has a great burst. He can see the field well. And now that he's able to really utilize that burst, great things are coming."

The Sentinels nabbed another third-and-long touchdown at 3:05 when House hit Neek Taylor for a 21-yard catch-and-run.

"We've had a habit of having big plays on third downs," Alkire said. "We put ourselves behind the chains more than what we like to the last three weeks. And almost every time now we've come away with some big plays to either score or get back to first-and-10."

Fort Hill had a chance to potentially open the second half with a running clock, but Allegany's Maddox Hensel intercepted a pass with 29 ticks to go to set the Campers up at the Fort Hill 30.

Dylan Blank ran 21 yards on first down to get Allegany inside the 10 for the first — and only — time of the day as Hansel called a timeout with 13 seconds on the clock.

Fort Hill got a quick jump on the snap on the ensuing play to force the Campers to throw it away.

After a delay-of-game penalty, Allegany's Landon Biser booted a 31-yard field goal to cut the Campers' halftime deficit to 25, 28-3.

Fort Hill's dominance continued in the third quarter, possessing the ball for 10 minutes and three seconds. Bender scored on a one-yard run at 9:35.

Taylor had the final score with a four-yard carry on the second play of the fourth quarter, which capped off a 14-play, 73-yard drive that lasted eight minutes and 33 seconds.

"I know everybody likes to see the big plays," Alkire said. "But from an offense that's looking to control the ball, and especially in that situation where you already have a lead and you're just trying to put away the game, that's exactly what you're looking for.

"You're looking for, I don't want to say three yards and a cloud of dust, but you want to be able to do what you can do to keep the chains moving and keep the ball in your hands. And we've done that two consecutive weeks now where we've had long drives in the third quarter to seal games for us."

Taylor was Fort Hill's second-leading rusher with 13 carries for 67 yards to go with an eight-yard catch.

The win caps off a Maryland record 22nd undefeated regular season for the Sentinels.

"We'll give the kids some time," Alkire said. "Monday and Tuesday, we'll probably bring them in, watch the game, eat some pizza and wings, do some fun things with them on Monday. Tuesday's Election Day, so we need to be off anyways. And then we'll get back to work on Wednesday."

Allegany's five-game win streak comes to a halt. The Campers have the No. 4 seed in the Class 1A West Region and will host Southern next week to open the playoffs.

"It gets tough to keep fighting, keep pushing," Hansel said.

"We never got in a groove. I thought we had some momentum running the football on some things, and then our motion's too deep, we can't get the handoff, things like that. … Our goal was to drive the ball long, hold the ball, and we didn't do that."

The Sentinels locked up the top seed in the region and the No. 1 overall seed in Class 1A, ensuring home playoff games through the state semifinals if they win out.

Fort Hill will have a bye next week before hosting the Allegany-Southern winner in the co-region final.

"It's always nice to be home," Alkire said.

"You've got potentially three games here. It's much better than having to go on the road. Greenway is a special place and we tend to do a lot of special things here, and hopefully that continues for the next three weeks."