— BALTIMORE — Kevin Estep, the 5-6, 140-pound sophomore quarterback, curled up with the enormous right side of his offensive line the way some people do with a good book, before popping out to his right and into the end zone with three seconds left on the clock to give Dunbar a 20-14 victory over Fort Hill Saturday afternoon in the Maryland Class 1A semifinals at Baltimore Poly’s Lumsden-Scott Stadium.

The victory sends Dunbar (12-1) to the state championship game for the eighth time as the Poets will face Havre de Grace, a 34-14 winner over Brunswick in Friday’s semifinal, in search of their seventh Maryland state title. The loss, yet another final-seconds loss to Dunbar, closes the books on a 9-4 season for the Sentinels.

“Typical Fort Hill-Dunbar game,” said Dunbar head coach Lawrence Smith. “We didn’t want to lose, obviously, and we put together a big drive in the end.

“My hat goes off to Fort Hill. They took us to the limit again. We left too many points on the field, but that’s Fort Hill’s doing, too. Fort Hill kept fighting. They have nothing to hang their heads about.

“It was a dramatic game. You saw (Fort Hill) in ’08, you saw them today. They pushed us around, they pushed us down the field. Our defense was sucking wind.”

Estep’s touchdown came on fourth-and-goal from the Fort Hill one with time running out after it appeared Fort Hill would mount yet another defensive stand inside its five-yard line. But when Estep was ruled in by the near line judge, it capped a 16-play, 65-yard scoring drive that ate all but three seconds of the final 5:58 of regulation.

“It’s been a season of fourth-and-ones,” said Fort Hill head coach Todd Appel. “I didn’t have the vantage point (on Estep’s touchdown), but I thought we held them out. But it’s all about the whistle. Estep is such a little guy and his blockers are so big, I just couldn’t see.”

The loss snaps a four-game winning streak by the Sentinels and prevents them from making their school’s ninth appearance in the state-championship game and denies them a shot at winning the third state title in school history. Appel, however, felt his team, the West Region champion for the fifth time in eight years, had a great season.

“I’m proud of our team,” said the third-year head coach. “I’m proud of the Clay brothers, I’m proud of Joe Howser, I’m proud of our offensive line, I’m proud of all of our kids. They fought hard against a talented team from Dunbar. It was another epic Fort Hill-Dunbar battle. I can’t take a thing away from Dunbar or my kids. They’re the class act of South Cumberland and I’m proud of them.”

Trailing 14-6, the Sentinels tied the score, 14-14, at 5:20 of the third quarter on a 30-yard pop pass from Dylan Clay to tight end Justin Dawson, with Clay, from the wildcat formation, faking a handoff, then faking run, before leaping to find a wide-open Dawson on the left side. Quarterback Joe Howser then found Dawson on the two-point conversion as the Sentinels capped a 12-play, 60-yard drive in continuing to control the tempo of the second half.

Fort Hill then stopped Dunbar’s Epenetus Henriques, who was outstanding all day with 224 yards on 33 carries, on a fourth-and-two at the Sentinels’ 24, before taking the ball at the 23 and controlling the next 6:47 of clock with a 10-play possession.

The Sentinels clipped off three first downs on gains by fullback Garrett Clay (118 yards on 16 carries), halfback Dylan Clay (59 yards, 11 carries) and fullback Ryan Briner.

A motion penalty, however, on third-and-six from the Dunbar 32 pushed the ball back to the 37 for third-and-11. Howser would scramble for seven yards to keep the drive breathing, but Henriques, who was also all over the field from his linebacker position, dragged down Garrett Clay for a five-yard loss, giving the Poets first-and-10 at their 35 to begin the eventual game-winning drive.

The Poets got first downs by Henriques on a fourth-and-one, on a 15-yard Estep completion to Deon’Tay McManus to put the ball at the Fort Hill 32, by Henriques on a second-and-one and then on a third-and three to put the ball at the 10.

On first down, Howser broke up an Estep pass headed into the end zone. On second down Henriques gained nine before Dunbar called its final timeout with 22 seconds left. On third down, fullback Charles Brown was stacked for no gain and with the clock rolling on fourth down Estep went behind his right tackle. Just when it appeared the Fort Hill resistance had stopped the play, the line judge’s arms shot up and the Poets had taken the lead.

An Henriques run for two points was nullified by a facemask penalty, before Fort Hill was hit with an unsportsmanlike penalty. Eventually, the pass for two was incomplete, leaving the Sentinels little to do with the ensuing kickoff other than, beginning from their 20, lateral back-and-forth and pray. The play, the game and Fort Hill’s season would end when Dunbar recovered a fumble.

The Sentinels began the day on their opening possession with an eight-play, 49-yard drive, but Philip Giugliano’s 25-yard field goal try was blocked and Dylan Clay was stopped one yard short of the first at the seven on the recovery.

The Poets then stormed out of the blocks with a 13-play, 93-yard scoring drive, running 6:27 of clock, setting the tone for Henriques’ big day. Estep, who as 6-for-8 passing for 60 yards, hit Ernest Hawkins with an 18-yard touchdown pass at 1:10 of the first quarter. McManus’ run made it 8-0.

Fort Hill came right back when Garrett Clay broke a trap for 65 yards and a touchdown at 11:51 of the second, but the kick sailed wide left and the Sentinels trailed 8-6.

The teams exchange punts before Dunbar took over at the Fort Hill 44 with 4:42 left in the half and put together a 13-play, 42-yard drive. But after having first-and-10 from the Fort Hill 12, the Poets could get no closer than then two as the Sentinels held them out of the end zone as the half ended.

To open the second half, Dunbar needed just two plays to open its lead to 14-6 as Henriques broke a trap for 47 yards to the Fort Hill 10, from where JaQuan Holt went over left tackle at 11:19 of the third quarter. Howser intercepted the pass for two points, setting up the Sentinels’ 12-play, 60-yard scoring drive that would tie the score and send the rest of the afternoon at Lumsden-Scott into yet another Fort Hill-Dunbar final-seconds frenzy, and the Poets to yet another state-championship game.

Mike Burke is sports editor of the Cumberland Times-News. Write to him at mburke@times-news.com