Not to dwell on it, but yes, it was a mistake. The team of Fearless Forecasters unanimously selected Fort Hill to defeat Mountain Ridge, not the other way around as it read in Friday’s weekly forecast in the Times-News. I’d say I received over a dozen calls on the matter; three or four, I would guess, from bookmakers, leaving messages such as, “Please call back at this number and tell us what you know about this,” and, “What do you know about this game that nobody else seems to know? Have there been injuries?”
No injuries, just an honest mistake.
I don’t know if it was because of Halloween or not, but things have been kind of spooked for us here the past couple of weeks. It’s been weird to say the least. Did you read Tom Valentine’s terrific Homecoming column in the Times-News Sports Magazine on Saturday? It was great until the end, right? I have no idea what happened on the break, because I have the proof of the page right here and the column ran to its proper end on it, just the way it’s supposed to do, so don’t ask me. All I can do is highly recommend that you to go our web site at www.times-news.com to read the conclusion of “The view from the fence has been well worth it,” because it will be well worth your time.
Hey, Tom, I know you love a mystery, but this isn’t what we had in mind, is it? Please accept our apologies for the computer glitch.
Something that was not a glitch but certainly caught some of us by surprise was Frankfort’s 22-13 win over Keyser. What a great victory for the Falcons, who certainly aren’t surprised by the outcome. There was nothing but respect for the Golden Tornado, which had won six in a row coming in, around and about Short Gap, but the Falcons truly felt and feel they have the better team. It’s also sweet redemption for last year’s lopsided loss to Keyser, but most importantly it puts Frankfort in awfully good position to play some home games in the upcoming playoffs.
It’s quite likely the Falcons and the Golden Tornado have not seen the last of each other this season.
And speaking of rematches, they haven’t even played the first one yet, but unless something really, really, really weird and unexpected happens, Saturday’s Homecoming Game will be the first of what has now become the annual doubleheader between Fort Hill and Allegany.
I would suspect undefeated Fort Hill enters as the favorite, although I would have to ask the bookmakers to be certain. And anybody who wagers anything more than a friendly bet — a drink, a pizza, some pocket change, etc. — on a high school sporting event has a serious mental illness.
Right off the bat, my feeling is Fort Hill is so strong up front offensively and defensively. Both teams are loaded in the backfield, and both teams have terrific linebackers.
Though it was more by necessity, the Sentinels really scheduled up this season, taking on three 4A teams: Mount. St. Joseph, Martinsburg and Thomas Johnson. I felt at the beginning of the year if they could win two of the three they’d have a great season. Well, they beat all three and enter Homecoming undefeated.
I also feel the Sentinels are playing with a chip on their collective team shoulder each week, with a few issues possibly coming into play: last year’s last-second loss to Dunbar in the state championship game, an Us Against The World approach they were forced to adopt last season, not to mention picking up the Friday morning newspaper to read they are a unanimous underdog to a .500 team while being a 1.000 team themselves. Hey, it was an honest mistake. If I should apologize to anybody it would be Roy DeVore.
Allegany, too, can stick a chip on its shoulder, as well, having lost two very difficult ballgames to Fort Hill last season, both of which came right down to the wire. The Campers are their strongest in the backfield. How can you not love the direct running of J.D. Hook and Dustin Wharton coming out as a receiver? And, of course, senior kicker John Carpenter is one of the most valuable weapons in area football.
But the Sentinels’ backfield is the deepest it’s been in years: Dakota Welsh, Sam Walker, Kwam Kassim, Shawn Metheny and, of course, quarterback Devin Lee, who helped Fort Hill to last season’s last-second Homecoming victory as a receiver. Lee is such a fine football player, he could play any position and excel.
There is so much, quote-unquote, star power in this game that I would expect a pretty high score, which for Allegany will be important, because unless they can keep their linebackers spotless all day, I believe the Campers are simply going to have to outscore Fort Hill to win.
How the second one plays out is anybody’s guess, of course, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Saturday’s game is going to be one to savor.
Contact Mike Burke at mburke@times-news.com.
Mike Burke - Sports
Halloween, Homecoming weirdness have set in
- Mike Burke - Sports
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Somewhere over the rainbow starts here
During a break in the program Sunday night, former Pittsburgh Pirates slugger Bob Robertson sat at a table backstage sharing some stories from the day when he played some of the finest defensive first base and hit some of the longest home runs in the major leagues in helping the Bucs to the 1971 world championship.
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Ronnie Cage’s life was deeds, not words
It was right they observed a moment of silence at the Allegany-Fort Hill basketball game. And I hope they observed a moment of silence at all of the games this week — boys and girls, men’s and women’s — in all the area gyms — Maryland and West Virginia.
That’s because Ronnie Cage worked them all. And before that he played them all. -
No plus-one would have come out of this Orange
Having never been what one would call a big West Virginia fan, I nevertheless find myself entertained by Mountaineers head football coach Dana Holgorsen whenever I take in a WVU game.
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Daumie No. 51
It’s difficult and it’s unsettling — something we’re not ready to come to terms with, really — when we lose Larger than Life.
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At Fort Hill, they’re all in it together
They still decorate their homes and neighborhoods with red and white streamers and signs. They hang football helmets with jersey numbers on telephone poles and trees, and they leave them there until it’s pretty much time to decorate for Christmas.
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Let’s keep lips zipped and just go about our business
The worst part about snow, other than shoveling it, of course, is being surrounded by all the moaning and groaning about how much it’s going to snow before a flake even touches earth and then having to put up with the same moaning and groaning once it begins to snow.
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There are no queens on the sports page
Some high school football seasons it is easier to tell when big things have happened and when big things are ahead by some of the phone calls and letters we receive here in the Times-News sports department. There just seems to be more of a chippiness some years than in others, and this year has been one of those years.
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K.C. latest Laffey Tour over America destination
As of now it appears Aaron Laffey will be wearing royal blue again — Kansas City Royals blue, that is — as the Royals acquired the former Allegany High School left-hander from the New York Yankees in a waivers claim on Tuesday.
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In America ...
Of course you remember where you were when you heard.
What you really remember is how you felt when you realized it wasn’t just a bad pilot or an airplane malfunction when you saw the second plane go into the second tower.
Until the day we are no longer here, the realization that we had just been attacked — somehow, by somebody — will stay with us and move us. -
Keyser, Fort Hill clash tonight
Fort Hill and Keyser, both coming off lopsided season-opening victories, will square off at Greenway Avenue Stadium, while Frankfort entertains Grafton in the Falcons’ home opener in two of seven high school football games featuring nine area teams taking place tonight.
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