BALTIMORE — Fort Hill alum Ty Johnson scored his second touchdown in as many weeks Sunday and earned his hometown a national TV shoutout in the process.
Johnson found the end zone on a three-yard carry to bring his Buffalo Bills within 21-10 of the Baltimore Ravens with 11:26 remaining in the third quarter.
The sixth-year man bounced outside on the carry and accelerated with the same speed that dominated area gridirons during his time at Fort Hill.
Johnson’s hometown was mentioned on the national broadcast by NBC commentator Mike Tirico, who stated: “Welcome home to a guy who grew up less than 120 miles from here in Cumberland, Maryland.”
It wasn’t the first time the 27-year-old has taken the field at M&T Bank Stadium.
Johnson led Fort Hill to consecutive Class 1A state championships at the venue beating Douglass, 25-0, in 2013 and again 40-8 in 2014.
Johnson didn’t score in either game, however, gaining 87 yards on 10 carries in his first title game appearance and tallying 78 rushing yards, an interception and a forced fumble before hobbling off the field in the third quarter with an ankle sprain in the rematch.
He rushed for 3,363 yards and 43 touchdowns in his career at Fort Hill, winning two Area Player of the Year awards in the process.
Sunday marked the second straight game that Johnson has scored a touchdown after he caught a 16-yard reception for a score in the Bills’ 47-10 rout of the Jaguars on Sept. 23.
Johnson entered Sunday’s contest with 791 career receiving yards and five touchdowns on 97 receptions and 1,081 rushing yards and four TDs on 244 attempts over his time with the Bills, New York Jets and Detroit Lions. He also has 441 kick return yards.
The Lions were the team that originally drafted the University of Maryland product in the sixth round (186th overall) of the 2019 NFL Draft.
In four years at Maryland, he rushed for 2,635 yards on 348 attempts (7.6 yards per carry), good for fourth all-time on the Terrapins’ rushing yards leaderboard. He also had 318 receiving yards and two touchdowns on 29 catches to go along with four punt returns for 49 yards and 48 kick returns for 1,194 yards and a pair of scores.
He’s one of four players to have 4,000 all-purpose yards at Maryland, joining Stefon Diggs, Torrey Smith and all-time leading rusher LaMont Jordan.