Mike Burke
CUMBERLAND — Historically speaking, the Allegany Campers find themselves on familiar terrain, although in the present day, it is terrain not many people other than the Campers themselves believed they’d be holding at this stage of the season.
Allegany survived a 14-0 deficit to undefeated Fort Hill, barely dodged a three-touchdown deficit, them came roaring back before the half to defeat the Sentinels going away, 35-14, to win the West Region championship and advance to the Maryland Class 1A semifinals to play the Joppatowne Mariners, the top-seeded team in the class, Friday, 7 p.m., at Joppatowne High School.
The winner of Friday’s game between fourth-seeded Allegany (9-3) and Joppatowne (12-0) will face the winner of second-seeded Catoctin (12-0) and three-time defending champion Dunbar (11-1), the third-seeded team of the final four teams. Catoctin takes on the Poets Friday, 7 p.m., at Catoctin.
Running back Dustin Wharton took in a screen pass from quarterback Drew O’Neal and took it 48 yards along the left sideline through the Fort Hill secondary to bring Allegany to within 14-7 with 3.1 seconds left in the first half. Before that play, the Campers had managed to gain just 22 yards of offense on Fort Hill, but the second half was entirely different as running back J.D. Hook scored touchdowns on runs of 37 and 23 yards and finished with 113 on 18 carries after being held to three yards on four carries before the break. Wharton returned a punt 40 yards for the tying touchdown and rushed 82 yards on 14 carries. The Campers finished with 204 yards on 38 carries and had 63 yards through the air.
Wharton, a 6-foot, 197-pound senior, also had an outstanding game from his linebacker spot on defense with some key stops. Trey O’Baker and Aaron Murphy recovered fumbles.
In 11 games, Hook has rushed for 1,140 yards and 16 touchdowns on 134 carries, averaging 8.5 yards a carry and 103 yards per game. His longest gain of the season is 79 yards.
Wharton has rushed for 1,010 yards (7.95 per carry) and 17 touchdowns in 12 games. His longest rush of the season has been 87 yards. But Wharton has nearly twice as many all-purpose yards, taking in 524 yards receiving, 348 on punt returns, 162 on kickoff returns and passing for 15 yards to total 2,059 for an average of 172 all-purpose yards per game. Wharton has caught 25 passes for a 23-yard per-catch average, his longest gain on a pass play being 48 yards.
For Allegany, which has won 602 games dating back to 1926, this will mark the 16th state semifinal game in history as the Campers have won 11 of their previous 15. Two of their previous semifinal games were played against Joppatowne — a 30-0 loss at Joppatowne in 2004, and a 27-21 win two seasons ago at Greenway.
Allegany is 37-11 overall in the Maryland state playoffs and 8-3 in state championship games.
Joppatowne defeated Havre de Grace, 22-14, to advance to the semifinals, where they fell last year to Fort Hill at Greenway, 28-0. Senior quarterback Dominic Harper had a hand in all three touchdowns, running for one and passing for two. He gained 173 of his team’s 241 yards of total offense.
Joppatowne averages 31 points to its opponents’ average of 8. Allegany, on the other hand, holds a 39-13 edge over opponents. This marks the third straight season for Coach Bill Waibel’s Mariners to have reached the state semifinals. Joppatowne won the title in 2003.
Joppatowne defeated Bohemia Manor, 49-30, in the first round of the playoffs. Offensively, the M’s were led by junior running Epe Henriques, who ran for 292 yards and four touchdowns on 25 carries.
Waibel, who is in his 24th season of coaching, is in his sixth year as the Joppatowne head football coach. He is the son of the late Baltimore Poly coach Augie Waibel, the legendary coach who retired with a record of 280-75 and 11 Maryland Scholastic Association A Conference crowns. Augie Waibel was the Baltimore Ravens’ first High School Coach of the Year in 1997, the year he retired.
Mike Burke is sports editor of the Cumberland Times-News. Contact Mike Burke at mburke@times-news.com.
