ANNAPOLIS — After spending its entire playoff run at venues across the state, Fort Hill was right at home on Saturday.
Jabril Daniels rushed for 247 yards and three touchdowns, Fort Hill’s defense pitched a shutout and the eighth-seeded Sentinels scored 28 points after halftime to rout seventh-seeded Northern, 35-0, for the Class 1A state title on Saturday at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
Fort Hill is unbeaten in its last four trips to Annapolis, and its fourth consecutive title ties a state record. The Sentinels have 11 championships overall and nine in the past 11 years.
The Sentinels entered the locker room at the break with a narrow 7-0 lead over an upset-minded Northern before blowing the game open.
“They’re a resilient group of kids,” Fort Hill head coach Zack Alkire said. “I wish I could say that we go in there (at halftime) and wave this magic wand, but we really don’t. It’s really up to those guys who are out there playing.
“When their backs are against the wall, they get the job done.”
Fort Hill’s fourth straight title under Alkire equals the mark set by the 2013-16 Sentinels and Urbana (’98-01).
Fort Hill’s crown caps a playoff run that saw four road games and two second-half comebacks to defeat top-seeded Cambridge-South Dorchester, 30-12, and fourth-seeded Perryville, 24-21, in the prior two rounds.
The Sentinels, 12-2 on the field, entered the playoffs with a 2-7 record after forfeiting five games in which an ineligible player participated.
Fort Hill may appeal the vacated victories after the season, but as it stands, the Sentinels finish with a 7-7 record.
Northern, whose five-game winning streak was halted Saturday, ends at 8-6.
Daniels has been on the roster for all four of Fort Hill’s titles since 2021, and his last two performances in Annapolis were among the best of his career.
The senior rushed for 302 yards and five touchdowns in a 45-21 rout of Mountain Ridge in 2023 — his 292 yards set a championship record for a half. That gives him a two-year total of 549 yards and eight scores in the championship game.
“This is my second home,” Daniels said. “It’s not really this field, it’s just me being me. Playing on a college field, it just gives me an extra motor. It just makes me want it more because there are guys here watching that could potentially like what they see.”
Daniels finishes his illustrious career in South Cumberland with 80 touchdowns, the ninth-most in Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association history.
His 4,692 career rushing yardage total is 20th all-time, and his 34 touchdowns this season equal the single-season city record set by himself and Allegany’s Karson Robinette (2017).
Daniels surpassed Josh Page’s 2,274 yards rushed in the 1996 season for a school and area record for one season (2,294).
Fort Hill led 7-0 at halftime on the strength of a 14-yard touchdown run by Daniels with 9:35 to play in the half.
Northern kept tabs thanks to a muffed punt by Fort Hill, two stops and a 14:21-9:39 edge in time of possession.
“We had some confidence at halftime,” Northern head coach Phil Carr said. “We felt pretty good about where we were. We made things tough for them, and that’s what we talked about all week and before the game. Don’t let it be easy for them.”
But Fort Hill used another electric special teams play by Tristan Ross to gain the upper hand.
Ross returned a kickoff 77 yards for a touchdown in Fort Hill’s win over Perryville in the semifinals last week, and he took the opening kick after halftime Saturday 54 yards down to the Northern 26.
Four plays later, Daniels danced 11 yards into the end zone.
Northern went three-and-out on its next series, and Fort Hill responded with a new formation, a full-house pistol look with Noah House at quarterback with a sidecar.
On the first play, Daniels ran 51 yards down to the four-yard line.
House dropped back to pass and had Braelyn Younger open in the end zone two plays later but instead opted to take it himself and score from five yards out for a 21-0 Fort Hill lead after three.
“It’s really hard for defenses to set up and prepare for us because we have so many formations,” House said.
After a Northern fumble recovered by Carson Bender and a pair of punts, Fort Hill drove 87 yards on nine plays, with Daniels finishing off his career with one of his greatest runs.
The senior went right but ran into a wall of Huskies, reversed field and accelerated 27 yards into the left side of the end zone for a 28-0 lead with 7:08 to play.
“I congratulated him (after the game) and told him thank God he’s gone,” Carr said of Daniels. “He’s amazing. He bails them out a lot of times. There were times today we had them shut down.
“And you’ve seen it in the films that we’ve watched, you’ve seen it in the games that we played against them prior to today, and he just bails them out sometimes when there’s nothing.
“He just cuts back, jump cuts a little bit and makes a big play. He’ll carry people, he’s a strong kid.”
Chase Lamb capped the Fort Hill scoring with a 24-yard touchdown run in garbage time.
Fort Hill out-gained Northern, 349-153, and had a 15-7 edge in first downs.
The Sentinels’ defense forced three turnovers in the second half, including a pair of interceptions by Younger in the fourth quarter.
On the first, Younger made an over-the-shoulder grab in the end zone and returned it 52 yards to midfield. On the second, he made a one-handed snag to set up a short field for the Sentinels’ final touchdown.
“I was trying to get the turnover chain, keep it for the whole game,” Younger said.
Christian Riley led Fort Hill with 10 tackles, and Nick Willison added seven and 2.5 tackles for loss. Kyler Miller had a sack, and Willison and House had a half-a-sack each.
Fort Hill’s defense pitched its fifth shutout of the season. It shut out Perryville and Cambridge-South Dorchester in the second half in the prior two rounds to help the Sentinels complete comebacks.
“It’s all 11 of us,” Willison said. “Everyone’s flying to the football. Our DBs are covering everyone. Our edges are containing the outside. We’re getting pressure. I think it’s just, we see seams and we take them as fast as we can.”
Fort Hill ran for 349 yards on 43 carries, and Younger rushed for 42 yards.
The Sentinels’ special team unit shined, as kicker Bobby Brauer was 5 for 5 on extra points, had five touchbacks on kickoffs and pinned the Huskies on their 18 on the opening series.
Punter Jacob Bone had a punt down to the five-yard line in the first quarter, which led to Fort Hill having a short field to drive 46 yards on four plays for its first touchdown.
Northern was limited to 64 yards on 30 carries against a Fort Hill defense that stacked the box to take the run away.
The Huskies took to the air in response, and Liam Stewart completed 7 of 13 passes for 89 yards and two interceptions. Caleb Hinebaugh had four receptions for 77 yards.
Nick Riley led the Northern defense with nine tackles, Luke Ross had seven and Hinebaugh six.
Willison said this Fort Hill senior class used its defeats to Northern in the Cumberland Area Youth Football League as motivation in their biggest game of the season. Ross was the MVP in that group’s eighth-grade year.
“This game was really personal for us because back in middle school, we made it to the Super Bowl twice, and we lost to these guys two years in a row,” he said. “Coming out there in a big game in the championship against those guys, it really meant a lot to us.
“We had to execute. We went out there and executed today.”
Fort Hill graduates just eight seniors and returns the bulk of its roster next season, including the entire offensive line. The Sentinels will have their sights on setting the consecutive state championship record with a fifth in a row.
For Northern, Saturday was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, both for its senior class and coach Carr, who led his alma mater to its maiden championship appearance in his 28th season.
“I’ve been to the semifinals several times, but to get these kids to here, it’s amazing,” Carr said. “An experience I won’t forget, and I’m sure they won’t either.”