CUMBERLAND — Fort Hill and Bishop Walsh played an even game for 20 minutes. In the end, the Spartans couldn’t find an answer for Liam Hamilton.
The reigning Co-Offensive Player of the Year played a part in all four of Fort Hill goals with well-placed crosses, corner kicks and long throw-ins.
He even showed a touch of flair, backheeling a through ball to set up an Anthony Palumbo goal during the second half — one of the better assists you’ll see on a high school soccer field.
Fort Hill has had missing pieces throughout the early stage of the season, but they started to come together Monday as the Sentinels downed Bishop Walsh, 4-1, in an emotional contest typical of the city soccer circuit.
“Total domination by Big Red,” Fort Hill head coach Zach Steckman said. “We were physical, we were faster and we were just better than them tonight. That’s all it was.”
Fort Hill (3-2-1) improved to 1-1 in the Cumberland City League with the victory, and Bishop Walsh fell to 2-4 overall and 0-1 in the city.
Hamilton, Palumbo, Sam Spencer and Jacob Bone had a goal each. Hamilton had two assists and Bone and Hunter Raines had one each for the Sentinels.
Enoch Zheng scored Bishop Walsh’s goal off a putback.
Bishop Walsh had the better of the chances early on, but Fort Hill keeper Leland Garcia, who finished with 11 saves, robbed David DiNola of goals in the 14th and 21st minutes.
Bishop Walsh had open goals twice before halftime and drew post and missed wide left.
“I thought we were a little unlucky,” Bishop Walsh head coach Ryan Dunn said. “There were large parts of the game where we were clearly the better team. I think the game was won in the box. It was set pieces and throw-ins that kind of killed us.
“Their goalkeeper made some incredible saves. That was the difference. Some unbelievable saves and kinda getting a feel for (Liam) Hamilton.”
The return of junior Jacob Bone to the Fort Hill lineup played a significant role in Fort Hill’s threat in the box. He didn’t play in Fort Hill’s 3-0 loss to Allegany last Tuesday.
Fort Hill was still without senior captain Lucas Evans on Monday.
“He’s a big body in there,” Steckman said of Bone. “He’s aggressive at the ball. Having him back is huge. He was still a little shaky on Saturday. He missed about a week of gameplay and practice being sick. He’s a huge difference. We still aren’t fully healthy.”
Fort Hill tallied the game’s first goal with 20:46 to play in the opening half when Hamilton served a cross to Spencer in front of the goalmouth. Spencer took a touch with his chest to pull the keeper out and placed the ball into the open goal.
The Sentinels found their second score on continued play after a corner kick, which Bishop Walsh was unable to clear.
Hamilton directed a low shot through a host of bodies in the box, and the ball clipped off the right post, rolled along the goal line and hit the left post and into the net. The goal for a 2-0 lead was with 2:38 remaining before halftime.
Palumbo buried Hamilton’s backheel low into the corner with 33:13 to play, and Bone headed a service by Raines into the net with 19:30 left.
The sequence that led to Bone’s goal began with a long throw-in by Hamilton.
Steckman was pleased with his team’s improved intensity following a lackluster performance against Northern over the weekend.
“We were kind of flat on Saturday against Northern, so we ripped them a little bit after the game,” he said. “We tried to fire them up a little bit in a different way, we’re not really screamers over here.
“They came out and they dominated the game tonight. We gave up a crummy goal with 15 to 20 minutes left, we had already subbed some guys out at that point.”
Bishop Walsh didn’t quit despite the deficit, finding a goal with 14:24 remaining. A shot by Cohen-Inbar was blocked, and Zheng was there for the putback.
“I’m proud of them,” Dunn said. “I think this group’s been a little guilty of getting down on themselves. The whole week and weekend leading up to this game was high energy. We knew that was something we had to work on, playing two halves. … We did a really good job of that today.”
Bishop Walsh out-shot Fort Hill, 20-17, but the Sentinels took more corners, 6-2. Keeper JJ Pacsuta had two saves for the Spartans.
Fort Hill will have the week off before it looks to keep its good form going at Keyser (1-8) on Monday at 5 p.m.
Bishop Walsh can force a three-way tie in the highly competitive city league when it hosts Allegany (2-2 overall, 1-0 city) on Thursday at 4 p.m.
After the game was over Monday, a player from Bishop Walsh and coaches and players from Fort Hill exchanged heated words. The extracurriculars extended to the postgame handshake line.
Moments like that show how much city games still mean to the players.
“These games are always intense,” Steckman said. “Everyone could see that. It was intense out there. It was physical. That’s how these city games always are. It doesn’t matter what your record or your skill is, they’re always competitive.”