Fort Hill hosts upset-minded Havre de Grace tonight in state quarterfinals

Nov. 17—CUMBERLAND — Fort Hill's quest for a third straight state championship begins tonight, as the top-seeded Sentinels play host to No. 8 Havre de Grace in the quarterfinals.

It would be easy for Fort Hill (10-0) to look past Havre de Grace (4-7), but that'd be unwise. The Warriors have pulled off consecutive three-touchdown comebacks to pull stunning playoff upsets to get this far.

Fort Hill will look to avoid being their third straight victim.

"They're a very dangerous team," Fort Hill head coach Zack Alkire said. "Their record is not an indication of their talent level."

Tonight is a rematch of the 2015 and 2016 Class 1A state championship games — both ending in Fort Hill wins. The Todd Appel coached Sentinels won 44-14 ('15) and 35-14 ('16).

The two squads have met two other times, both in the Class 1A state semifinals. In 2006, Barry Lattimer's group rolled 57-14 to earn a date with Dunbar, a 38-23 defeat, and in 2018, Appel's Sentinels cruised 43-6 en route to a fifth state title in six years.

In the four games, Fort Hill has won by an average of 44.8-12 and 50-10 at home.

"It's a great program," Alkire said. "The fact that we've played championship games, semifinal games. We tend to run into them a good bit. We're playing them after regional play, which means they tend to advance pretty far in the playoffs. Only good programs do that."

Havre de Grace head coach Brian Eberhardt was in his first year in 2016, and he was an assistant on the '15 squad.

He's 44-36 in seven years at the helm. Alkire is 37-2 in his fourth year at Fort Hill.

The Sentinels defeated Northern, 48-6, last Friday in the West Region co-final to clinch the No. 1 seed in the state and extend a bevy of streaks.

The Sentinels have won 19 in a row at home, 18 consecutive games overall and 10 straight playoff games.

Fort Hill hasn't lost a playoff game at Greenway Avenue Stadium in more than a decade, a streak spanning 30 games.

Havre de Grace has had a far murkier season. The Warriors were 4-5 at the end of the regular season. However, they were forced to forfeit wins over Perryville and Aberdeen due to playing with two ineligible players.

The Warriors — who finished 0-10 in 2022 — have gotten hot at the right time, winning four straight, including playoff upsets over Brunswick (8-3) and Boonsboro (8-3).

Both teams would've hosted quarterfinal games if they'd have gotten out of regional play.

Against Brunswick, Havre de Grace trailed 19-0 after the first quarter before coming back to win 35-32. A week later, it fell behind 21-0 to Boonsboro at the half en route to a 35-28 victory.

Dynamic sophomore quarterback Jaylin Solomon is a big reason why, evidenced by his four passing touchdowns and game-winning rushing score against Boonsboro last Friday.

Solomon, who was injured in three of Havre de Grace's losses, began his career at Concordia Prep, where he was the starting junior varsity QB as a freshman. He transferred to Havre de Grace before this year.

"They want to spread you out and make plays with their athleticism," Alkire said. "They seemed to be a little more complete as a team early in the year. The last couple weeks, they seem to just let the quarterback do his thing.

"The quarterback is good. He's dynamic, makes plays and finds open receivers."

Havre de Grace has several different options in the passing game. All four of Solomon's touchdowns were to different receivers last week, with Brandell Stokes having an 80-yard score and Deyshawn Henderson finding the end zone from 45 yards out.

Kevin Kinsey Jr. and Miles Miller also caught TD passes.

Fort Hill is no stranger to spread offenses, defeating Wadsworth (Ohio), Mountain Ridge, Briar Woods (Virginia), New Oxford (Pennsylvania), Hollidaysburg (Pennsylvania) and Coolidge this season — which all primarily operate out of the shotgun or pistol.

The question for Havre de Grace, however, is how will the Warriors' defense fare against Fort Hill's ground and pound offense?

Fort Hill averages nearly 300 rushing yards a night, paced by Jabril Daniels, who has more than 1,200 rushing yards and 24 total touchdowns — both lead the area.

Up front, Fort Hill's offensive line, powered by Fordham commit Carter Hess and four other senior starters, have created gaping holes for the likes of Carson Bender, Tristan Ross and Steven Spencer, among others.

Quarterback Deshaun Brown has seemingly improved every week and has completed nearly 70% of his passes for the season. Last week against Northern, Brown completed 3 of 4 passes for 75 yards and two scores.

As is often the case in state playoff games, neither team knows much about one another. Because of that, records can be deceiving, something Alkire and his staff have stressed to the kids this week as a means to not overlook the Warriors.

"You don't know a whole lot about them, you see their overall record, you see that they were the lowest seed to come out of regional play," Alkire said. "There are all these things to indicate that they aren't a good team. Then the fact that we've played a good schedule doesn't help (the kids' expectations) either.

"We've continued to impress upon them, these kids have rose to their record, especially if you allow them to get turnovers, big plays and build momentum.

"It's not a local team. It's a game that if you lose you go home. Given their ability to come back on teams being down three scores, be it that they have a big-play team, it's important to get out to a big lead early and grind away the rest of the game."

If Fort Hill avoids the upset bug against Havre de Grace, it'll draw the winner of No. 4 Cambridge-South Dorchester (9-2) and No. 5 SEED School (5-4) at home in the state semifinals.

Alex Rychwalski is a sports reporter at the Cumberland Times-News. Follow him on Twitter @arychwal.