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CUMBERLAND — Everybody will have danced at least once by last Saturday as the Maryland public schools as well as one West Virginia area public school join the fray with six games on tonight’s schedule and two more slated for tomorrow in area high school football action.
Fort Hill opens at Greenway Avenue Stadium against Surrattsville, while Frankfort plays host to Moorefield and Mountain Ridge is home to take on Jefferson.
Elsewhere, Northern takes to the road to play Smithsburg, Petersburg (1-0) hosts Pendleton County (1-0) and East Hardy (1-0) visits Bath County, Va.
All games kick off at 7 p.m.
On Saturday, 1 p.m., Bishop Walsh (0-1) will play at Blacklick Valley, Pa., while Allegany and Southern will open their seasons Saturday, 7 p.m., at Greenway Avenue Stadium.
Hampshire (1-0) and Keyser (0-1) are idle this week. The Trojans, however, will visit Bishop Walsh on Thursday, while Keyser will host Fort Hill next Saturday.
Surrattsville at Fort Hill
Fort Hill is coming off an 11-1 season in which the Sentinels put together an undefeated regular season before reaching the Maryland Class 1A quarterfinals.
Fort Hill will field a young team that in most areas will be receiving on-the-job training as the season progresses.
“I’ve seen mistakes,” head coach Todd Appel said of his team’s preseason practices and scrimmages. “I’ve seen good things. We run the ball well, we move the ball against teams. We’re young on both sides of the ball, but for early in the season we’ve done okay. I don’t know how we’re going to be because I’m not sure how good the teams we’ve scrimmaged are at this stage themselves.
“We’re progressing. We aren’t stepping back and we’re hopeful we’ll progress through the season.”
The full 2010 Fort Hill season preview book can be found in today’s Times-News.
The Sentinels won at Surrattsville last year in the opener, 37-15.
Moorefield at Frankfort
Moorefield opened the season with a 48-40 win at Bishop Walsh, scoring 36 points in the second half after trailing, 27-12, at the half. Louis Richardson returned an interception 50 yards for a touchdown with 20 seconds left in the game to seal the outcome.
Richardson rushed for 207 yards on 25 carries, including a 97-yard TD run and finished with four touchdowns. Brandon Cassell scored four touchdowns and rushed for 93 yards.
Frankfort opens the season after last year’s 11-2 season, that included the PVC championship and a berth in the West Virginia Class AA semifinals.
Frankfort head coach Kevin Whiteman is counting on experienced players such as All-Area, All-PVC and All-State linebacker Wes Riden, Brian Bills, Joey Luciw, Jerid Davis and Matt Grabenstein to lead the way, citing as the team’s strength at this stage to be the offensive line.
“I feel our strength is our offensive line,” he said. “We have some kids who started last year so I feel like that is our strength. These kids got a lot of experience last year on a good team and they look good this year.”
But, “We’ve got just six kids coming back that played on either side of the ball last year, so there’s a lot of learning to do. Offensively and defensively, we have a lot of kids with not a lot of experience, so we’re working hard on that stuff in getting them prepared.”
Frankfort defeated Moorefield last season, 38-10, in week six.
Jefferson at Mtn. Ridge
The Mountain Ridge Miners, 4-6 last season, are looking to get out of the box this season, having started last year with two setbacks in the first three games, all of which were on the road. Beginning tonight, the Miners’ first three games against the same schools are at home.
“Having the first three games at home is critical and it will give us a chance to start with some momentum,” said head coach Roy DeVore. “Last year we let the game at Jefferson (a 21-13 Cougars victory) slip away. Right now we are only focusing on the first game and winning a game over Jefferson we should have won last year.
“We know we still have a very tough schedule and every game is a challenge. All we can do is play as hard as we can every game and hope to stay healthy.”
Returning on offense are halfback Jarrod Harper (558 yards rushing on 110 carries) and fullback Drew Winter (586 yards and 6 touchdowns on 116 carries) with Pat Livingston at wideout.
Northern at Smithsburg
The Northern Huskies struggled to a 2-7 season last year, but they battled every step and grew every step according to head coach Phil Carr, who believes his team will be better served for the experience this season.
“I think we’re really strong at the skill positions,” he said. “In all of the years I’ve been at Northern I think this might be the best group of skill kids we’ve had. We’re fairly deep. We have three kids who we think can start at quarterback, run the offense and do it well. We’re trying to move them around where they best fit in the offense. We’re trying to get the ball into good players’ hands as much as we can.”
Jake Bosley, last year’s quarterback prior to an injury heading into the season-ending victory over Southern, has moved to halfback and slotback this season. Bosley accounted for nearly 700 yards in all-purpose yardage last year.
Junior Alex Baker led the Huskies in rushing with 928 yards on 150 carries for a 6.2 yards-per-carry average, and returns after scoring 8 touchdowns and 5 two-point conversions. Junior split end Cody Rodeheaver also returns after leading the Huskies in receiving last year, while junior Patrick Sines, who directed Northern’s win over Southern, will be the starting quarterback.
Northern opened the season last year at home with a 20-6 loss to Smithsburg.
Pendleton at Petersburg
Andrew Lofton rushed for 180 yards and three touchdowns to lead Petersburg over Clay-Battelle, 34-8, in the Vikings’ opener. Pendleton County beat Tygarts Valley, 35-6, in its opener.
Pendleton won last year’s meeting, 28-10.
Mike Burke is sports editor of the Cumberland Times-News. Write to him at mburke@times-news.com
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