Allegany defeats Keyser, 31-14, on Senior Night

Oct. 16—CUMBERLAND, Md. — Entering the Allegany-Keyser matchup on Friday night, the two head coaches had two different keys to the game: for Bryan Hansel, it was line play, and for Derek Stephen, it was finishing drives.

Both head coaches were onto something.

The Campers' innumerable rushing options pranced through gaping holes, while the Golden Tornado averaged just 3.4 yards a carry and struggled to end series with points.

Behind big nights by Brody Williams and Braylon White, and a sure-tackling defensive effort, Allegany wore Keyser down, 31-14, on Senior Night to improve to 6-1.

"I thought our kids met (their) physicality," Hansel said. "That's a good football team, I know they're on a rough stretch of three losses. They're physical. .... I think our kids, all night, were physical and really aggressive.

"That's what we wanted to do. That was our focus all week. Be the more physical team, and I thought we were."

The game's inflection point was delivered by the Allegany defense out of halftime.

The unit was a brick wall, and Keyser could do little to scale it as the Campers forced back-to-back three-and-outs.

Allegany's first two possessions of the half? A 38-yard Blake Powell field goal and a 59-yard rushing touchdown by Williams. Just like that, a 14-7 lead became 24-7.

"I told the kids afterward, 'We have to sustain and finish and finish and finish,'" Stephen said. "I think we're getting better at it, we just have to do it consistently."

No matter who was in the backfield for Allegany, the runners had no trouble finding holes. As a team, the Campers rushed it 40 times for 264 yards.

White, the team's leading rusher entering Friday, had just one carry in the second half — due to cramping — after rushing for 73 yards and a TD during the first half.

It didn't matter, Allegany had a next-man-up mentality: Williams exploded for 90 yards and a score and Brett Patterson tallied 45 and a TD after the intermission.

With the smaller roster of the two and against a fast-paced offense that often tires opposing defenses, the Campers were the team that got stronger as the game wore on.

Allegany outscored Keyser, 17-7, after halftime.

"Our kids stayed with us all week, we told them it was going to be fast," Hansel said of Keyser's offense. "Our kids just responded. After half, Braylon (White) was cramping a little bit. We pulled him out of offense and ran Brett (Patterson). Brendan Hogamier had some issues at halftime. ... It's nice to be able to sub guys out and still succeed."

"It doesn't matter who's touching the ball," Stephen said of Allegany's weapons out of the backfield. "They have four or five guys that can tote it, that can catch it and put the ball in play. They're rolling right now. That was vintage Allegany. They play hard-nosed, they ran the ball downhill, smash-mouth stuff. I think they're getting back to their ways."

Despite the late-game deficit, Keyser didn't stop playing. Benny Oates scored from two yards out with 5:25 left in the fourth, cutting the deficit to 24-14. However, Alco answered with a 14-yard Patterson scamper, capping a seven-play, 53-yard drive to ice the contest.

Allegany's defense was solid throughout, holding Keyser's offense to just 181 yards rushing on 53 carries.

The Campers rarely let a Golden Tornado runner get into the second level.

"We focus on fundamentals," Hansel said. "We've been working on our tackling, hitting full-speed and non-contact stuff, that's been the focus for us. If we can block and tackle, we'll be okay. And I think our kids are responding. It's nice when practice reps can come out in front of you on the field. You feel good about it."

Keyser star running back Sammy Bradfield finished with a game-high 97 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries and added 41 more yards through the air.

After halfitme, Bradfield seemed to be struggling physically, which resulted in fewer touches for the back who had success out of the Wildcat.

"It affected our Wildcat package a little bit," Stephen said. "Sammy got banged up during the game, so that limited the number of touches that he had. But we still have guys that can tote the ball, and we still have to open up holes up front. We can say that's something that hindered us, but we have to play with whoever is there."

Other than Bradfield, Chayse Evans ended with 51 yards, Hunter VanPelt with 19 and Oates with 18.

Allegany was successful in throwing the ball on short swing passes into the flat. Williams completed 4 of 7 passes for 53 yards, with Brayden Hedrick — who also picked off a pass on defense — topping the receivers with 40 yards.

But it all came down to the Campers' offensive line that, with the exception of a Gabe Ryan sack during the first half, was dominant.

"I think they're getting better every week," Hansel said. "We saw them earlier in the year struggling. ... I said after our Boonsboro game, if our line keeps getting better each week, then we'll keep getting better as the year goes. And I think that's what we're doing on both sides."

Allegany led Keyser, 14-7, at the half.

The Campers broke a 7-all tie in only two plays and just 17 seconds after Keyser evened the tally. Williams hit Hedrick with a 32-yard swing pass, and White plunged into the end zone on the ensuing play from 27 yards out.

The Golden Tornado had one more first down, 8-7, and more yards, 136-123, at intermission, but their red zone struggles kept them behind the Campers.

Trevor Milburn scored Allegany's first points with a seven-yard touchdown with 6:31 left in the first.

Last week, Keyser had four possessions that yielded no points in a loss to Point Pleasant, and the trend continued at Greenway.

Trailing 14-7 from the Allegany 16 on 4th-and-6, with under a minute remaining in the half, Keyser elected to go for a first down. Quarterback Logan Rotruck bobbled the snap and was forced to fall on the loose ball, giving Alco the ball on downs.

On Keyser's first-half score, Bradfield found the end zone on 4th-and-1 from seven yards out with 5:23 left in the first.

Yet, for the following two quarters, the Allegany defense would hold Keyser off the scoreboard, as the Campers only got stronger to pull away for a 31-14 triumph.

Allegany (6-1) heads up the road to Accident to face Northern (3-4) on Friday night.

Keyser (3-3) hosts Moorefield (6-1) next week.

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