No time for Allegany to sulk after Homecoming defeat

CUMBERLAND — After another Homecoming defeat, there's no time for Allegany to sulk.

"I told the guys, 'I'm showing up Monday, I'm going to work,'" Allegany head coach Bryan Hansel said following Saturday's 42-3 loss to Fort Hill. "We're going to be in the weight room, I'm going to go out on the practice field, I'm going to have a practice scheduled, we're going to go to work. And if you don't want to go to work, then it's like (the movie) Friday, you got fired on your day off.

"So if you don't want to go to work with me, I'll work with whoever wants to go to work. And I'm going to work, so please show up and go to work. If you don't want to, then you're fired and it's OK. Our goal is to go win a playoff game and see what happens after that."

The loss secured the No. 4 spot for the Campers in Class 1A West and a home playoff meeting with Southern.

It will be a rematch from Oct. 9 in Oakland, where Allegany won comfortably on the scoreboard, but not so comfortably on the field.

The Rams stayed in the contest through three quarters, closing a halftime 14-3 deficit to 14-9 by the end of the frame.

Following an Alex Spriggs interception late in the third, Khiante Bible scored the third of his five touchdowns less than a minute into the fourth and opened up a 58-21 romp.

On Saturday, Allegany won the coin toss and elected to receive.

After Maddox Hensel runs of four and two yards, the Campers had some early momentum when Fort Hill was called for encroachment to move the chains.

Hensel gained another yard on the next play, but the air was completely sucked out of the blue and white side of Greenway Avenue Stadium on the ensuing play when Fort Hill's Harley Twigg forced a fumble and Melo Palmisano scooped it up and returned it 25 yards for a score.

Things went from bad to worse on the ensuing drive when an errant punt from the Allegany 45 bounced near the Fort Hill 40 and took a Sentinel bounce, ultimately laying to rest at the Alco 49 for a four-yard punt.

The Sentinels capped off the ensuing drive with a touchdown on third-and-13.

They later scored on a third-and-8, and were 3 for 4 on third down on the day.

Allegany, meanwhile, was 0 for 6 on third down.

Trailing 28-0 with less than a minute to go in the opening half, Maddox Hensel gave the Campers some life when he intercepted a pass and returned it to the Fort Hill 30.

Allegany quarterback Dylan Blank rushed 21 yards on first down to get to the Fort Hill 9.

It was the only time the Campers got inside the 10 all day.

The Fort Hill pass rush forced Allegany to throw the ball away on first and goal.

With eight seconds left, the Allegany field goal unit trotted out on to the field for a 26-yard try, but the Campers were penalized for delay of game.

After moving back five yards, Landon Biser nailed a 31-yarder for Allegany's only points of the day on its sixth drive of the first half.

The Campers possessed the ball for only one minute and 57 seconds in the third quarter and had just two total second-half possessions.

The absence of Bible, whose finger injury two weeks ago against Keyser required surgery, was noticeable on both sides of the ball.

Offensively, the Campers ran for 113 yards on 30 carries.

Allegany entered Saturday on a five-game win streak and had rushing totals of 432, 489, 402, 470 and 328 during that stretch.

Over the previous five games before Homecoming, Bible ran for 173, 243, 278, 141 and 81 yards.

Bible was limited to just two rushing attempts last week against Northern — he ran Allegany's first play from scrimmage 79 yards for a score and then had the Campers' second touchdown on a two-yard carry.

Defensively, the Campers greatly missed their 2025 Defensive Player of the Year, as Fort Hill completed chunk play after chunk play.

Stopping fullback trap was a point of emphasis in Allegany's game plan, but it was unable to — Fort Hill fullback Carson Bender ran 16 times for 128 yards, with seven carries going at least nine yards.

Immediately after Bible's injury prognosis, the hope was that Homecoming was all he would miss, but he's in serious doubt to play against the Rams in the opening playoff round this week.

Hansel said Bible will revisit the doctor Thursday, with a lot of boxes that need to be checked before he can return to the field.

"That break was way worse than anyone realized," Hansel said. "So the doctor is going to check it and, if everything is set right, looks right, and the displacement is gone, then he could have a chance to get a cast and play next week or the following week. But there are a lot of boxes that need to be checked before that can happen.

"What I will say about Khiante is he is trying at all costs to play again this year. I can't fault him for trying. I think at a minimum, it's at least a burst of energy that we bring when he's out there.

"And I think it creates at least an option that you're forcing your opponent to focus on, and maybe opens up someone else to have success. I thought Maddox Hensel played very well in the backfield, but he can only do so much. We had to contribute more today."