Mountain Ridge, Fort Hill bring suffocating defenses to Annapolis

Dec. 2—It's easy to see the eye-popping offensive production and forget that Mountain Ridge and Fort Hill boast two of the state's best defenses.

The Miners have scored at least 40 points in 10 of 12 games and at least 30 in each one, averaging 46.9 a night, and Fort Hill enters the Class 1A title game with an average of 56 points a contest during its postseason run.

Yet, when the two Class 1A juggernauts — who are a combined 44-0 against every other team on their schedules over the past two years — met in October, it was a defensive battle.

They say defense travels, and with so little separating top-seeded Mountain Ridge (12-0) and second-seeded Fort Hill (12-1), both teams will need to bring those same hard-hitting units that have suffocated the opposition all season to Annapolis on Saturday afternoon.

For Mountain Ridge, which allowed 10.5 points per game this season, it begins with the preparation of defensive coordinator Adam Patterson, and the quick learning of his players.

"(Adam Patterson) is just so methodical, he's so detail-oriented, and he comes up with such a good game plan for us," Mountain Ridge head coach Ryan Patterson said. "From there, now you have to teach it. He's so patient with our kids. ... Gets our kids lined up in the right spot. They know their assignment.

"Then it's a matter of the kids playing like your hair's on fire. We do drills with this all the time with pursuit, working our defensive linemen down the line, not getting too deep on our penetration. It's just something we drill all the time and every day."

It's not often that teams play fearlessly against Fort Hill, and that's exactly what Mountain Ridge did in its 30-8 win over the Sentinels on Oct. 7.

The Miners shut out Fort Hill for three quarters, and both defenses performed well in a game that was deadlocked at 17-8 in favor of Mountain Ridge with 5:45 left before a pair of late scores.

Mountain Ridge's turnover-free offense has been a topic of conversation throughout with just six giveaways all year, but its 32 turnovers caused (20 fumble recoveries, 12 interceptions) has also been an integral part of the team's success.

In the teams' first meeting, a pair of fumbles after halftime — forced by Hunter Clise and Jacob Tinsley and recovered by David Miller and Uma Pua'auli — resulted in 10 points.

"We work at a technique we call tomahawking the ball," Patterson said. "And if the tomahawk doesn't work, we rip at the hands and the ball, too, and we have a secure tackle. We teach an uppercut technique around here that sometimes leads to punching the ball out.

"Interceptions, we had two big ones last week against Brunswick, we have some good athletes covering guys back there. If the ball is in the air we expect them to attack it."

The Mountain Ridge offensive output was a little deceiving of how much of a defensive struggle the first bout was, as Fort Hill outgained the Miners, 395-262. Three turnovers and 10 penalties by the Sentinels were too much for their similar stout defensive outing to overcome.

"The statistics don't support the 30 points that we gave up," Fort Hill head coach Zack Alkire said. "The defense still played well, they did everything they possibly could to win that game, the offense didn't show up. ... That's the only game that we gave up multiple scores."

Clise leads the Miners' defense with 106 total tackles, followed by Carson Bradley (60), Jaden Rosales (52) and Tinsley (52). Tinsley has recovered three fumbles, and Will Patterson has picked off three passes.

Rosales was key in limiting Fort Hill's inside running game, stuffing the Sentinels on the inside in a way reminiscent of how the Sentinels have done with Carter Hess over the last two months.

Fort Hill, which allows just 7.3 points a contest, has been on a warpath since falling to the Miners, outscoring its last seven opponents 315-20. In five of those games, the defense hasn't allowed a point.

Part of that domination stems from the positioning of Hess, who has moved down to nose tackle in a five-front, offset by Chevy Perkins and Darrin Weller and with Landen Keech and Shane Welsh on the ends.

The decision by defensive coordinator Chad Knippenberg and defensive line coach Toby Main has paid dividends.

"That's the start of every play," Alkire says of putting Hess at tackle. "The behemoth that he is, he's essentially pushing that center back every play, causing double teams to happen, which allows our other kids to be one-on-one blocking instead of double-teamed.

"Because they're a little bit lighter than traditional defensive linemen, they're able to use their quickness to make plays."

Keech has made the most of his space, racking up 106 tackles, 10 tackles for loss and four fumble recoveries, and Welsh has 104 stops and six tackles for loss. Perkins leads the Sentinels with 6.5 sacks, and Weller has 37 tackles, five for loss.

With the line dominating nearly every opposing O-line, linebackers Bryson Metz (136 tackles) and Steven Spencer (73.5 tackles) are able to fly to the football.

"Steven Spencer is a kid that doesn't get talked about, and he's one of the best defensive players we've had," Alkire said. "He's good against the run, he's good in coverage."

Fort Hill has been able to stack the box by and large because of the exceptional play of its secondary, which has allowed only 48.8 yards passing a game.

Tavin Willis (75 tackles, two interceptions), Mikey Allen (54 tackles, four interceptions), Tony Palmisano (43 tackles, four interceptions) and Tanner Wertz (70 tackles) have all impressed in coverage.

"If we don't have kids that can cover the way that they cover, we could not do this," Alkire said. "We're essentially going with no safeties, putting them on islands and saying, 'Do what you do best.'"

When the two teams take the field on Saturday, a lot of attention will be paid to Pua'auli and Jaden Lee, and Allen and Willis, but the defenses of Mountain Ridge and Fort Hill are every bit as good, if not better.

There's a reason they say defense wins championships.

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