Allegany weathers rain, wears down Smithsburg, 33-0
Oct. 2—SMITHSBURG — Behind a dominant defensive performance and two touchdowns each from Cayden Bratton and Brett Patterson, Allegany wore down Smithsburg, 33-0, to spoil the Leopards' Homecoming on Friday night.
"I was really impressed defensively," Allegany head coach Bryan Hansel said. "We came out hot, we played well. We started slow offensively, so that was big for us. Overall, I just thought we played really well."
Playing under less-than-ideal conditions on the natural grass at Coach Carroll Reid Field, both teams spent the opening 24 minutes finding their footing on the slick surface.
The Campers were opportunistic in taking a 5-0 lead into halftime. Dae Dae Smith broke the ice by blocking a Smithsburg punt for a safety with 10:18 left in the first quarter, and Blake Powell drilled a 37-yard field goal with 3:30 on the clock in the second.
"I tell our coaches, if our offense is sputtering, we need to find a way to generate points," Hansel said. "That was Dae Dae's best game so far, he was really aggressive. That blocked punt was huge for us."
Allegany's offense was limited vertically after quarterback Brody Williams dinged up his left shoulder making a tackle on the Smithsburg tight end on defense, but the junior standout was able to complete a long pass to Isaiah Fields in the final moments of the half.
The big play set up a 47-yarder for Powell, but the muddy surface affected the long try. Powell is 6 for 7 on field goals and 12 for 13 on extra points for the season.
Allegany made a tactical shift during the second half, which opened up holes for Bratton, Patterson and Williams. The Campers dominated after intermission 28-0.
"The defense kept playing well," Hansel said. "They were blitzing us in the pistol during the first half, so they didn't really have an answer when we went under center. Brett and Cayden went right down at them and we were just the more physical team at that point."
Bratton gave the Campers some breathing room with a 13-yard burst that made it 12-0 Allegany with 7:35 remaining in the third. Alex Kennell recovered a fumble on the next possession after a failed fake punt by Smithsburg, setting up a two-yard touchdown run from Bratton less than two minutes later.
Allegany added two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter to cement the win, both by way of Patterson. His first score came when he recovered a Smithsburg fumble and went 65 yards to the house with 7:14 left.
Patterson tacked on the final touchdown with an eight-yard run with 2:06 left. Powell was a perfect 4 for 4 on extra points.
Smithsburg had its moments during the first half.
The wet conditions caused the Campers to bobble a snap in Smithsburg territory on their opening offensive possession, and Zachary Von Garrell forced a fumble, recovered by Josh Hegbe.
On Smithsburg's best drive of the night, star special teamer Cameron Rejonis missed a long field goal wide left during the first quarter.
The victory is the second straight for Allegany after a dominating 45-8 rout of Albert Gallatin a week ago. The Campers (3-2) now turn to Southern (1-4), which recorded its first win of the season, 53-0 over Hancock, on Friday night.
"We have to go beat Southern, that's our only focus right now," Hansel said. "We have two big games after that (Keyser and Northern) that can really catapult us into Homecoming."
