For Douglass' football team, the Class 1A state final wasn't quite a rerun of last season's loss to Fort Hill — at least not until the second half.
The No. 12 Mighty Ducks kept it close for a while, but struggled on offense while the Sentinels rolled to a 40-8 victory behind a punishing rushing game in a steady rain Saturday at M&T Bank Stadium. Fort Hill (14-0) won their second straight Class 1A state championship and 28th straight game, the longest active winning streak in Maryland high school football.
Douglass (12-2) had allowed just 60 points all season and their defense had not given up a point in the playoffs, but Fort Hill's three-pronged rushing attack of Raen Smith (23 carries, 122 yards), Maryland-bound Ty Johnson (10 carries, 78 yards) and Alex Barnes (17 carries, 50 yards) helped the Sentinels outgain the Mighty Ducks 250 yards to 36 on the ground.
"Playing against a team like Fort Hill when they have a dominant run game like that, you have to score points and ultimately, we didn't," Douglass coach Elwood Townsend said. "We didn't score the points we needed to keep pace. It could easily have been a shootout. For the most part, being a little inexperienced at the quarterback position, it hurt us late."
The Sentinels scored the first two touchdowns on Smith's 3-yard run and Rashaan Shives' 5-yard scoring pass to his twin brother, Ryan, for a 14-0 lead with 6:37 left in the first half.
The Mighty Ducks, who had hoped to win their first state football championship, couldn't get anything going offensively until the end of the half. They managed just 24 yards of offense before sophomore quarterback Dariun Miller (5-for-15, 128 yards) connected with Jordan Wilkes on a 30-yard pass with about 6:20 left in the first half.
That was only the second first down for the Ducks and their first since the opening drive. It finally sparked the offense. Two plays later, Miller hit Wilkes with a 16-yard scoring pass to pull the Ducks within 14-8.
Starting their final drive of the half on their own 9-yard line with 41 seconds left, the Ducks took a shot at tying the game and almost made it. They had three big plays — a 20-yard run by Miller, a 32-yard run by Azariah Bratton-Bey and a 41-yard pass from Miller to Wilkes — but Wilkes was tackled at the Fort Hill 4-yard line as time ran out.
After the break, Douglass held the Sentinels on the first drive, but the Mighty Ducks, who turned the ball over three times, then lost possession on a fumble and Fort Hill made them pay. Austin Farrell's 20-yard field goal extended the lead to 17-8 with 6:54 left in the third quarter.
On Douglass' next drive they fumbled two snaps, forcing Tyreek Henderson to punt from his end zone, but the long snap went over his head and the Sentinels downed him for a safety and a 19-8 lead. Then the floodgates opened with 55 seconds left in the third quarter as Smith scored again for a 26-8 lead. Alex Barnes and Smith added fourth-quarter touchdowns.
In the second half, nothing went right for the Mighty Ducks.
"We have a very young quarterback and that kind of haunted you down the line if you're not in sync. It was like we were in quicksand. We tried to claw our way out of it but we couldn't," said Townsend, whose team managed just 39 yards of total offense in the second half and were 0-for-4 on third downs in the game.
Until last season, the Ducks had never won a playoff game, but they surged into the 2013 state final undefeated. That was the first time in school history the Ducks had ever reached the state football final, but the Sentinels spoiled their bid for an undefeated season with a 25-0 victory.
Townsend said after that loss that Douglass would be back in the title game this year. He said it again after they lost to Mervo, 18-8, Sept. 19 in Week 3. Since that loss the Ducks had allowed only one opponent more than six points. In the playoffs, the team had allowed only eight points — on a kick return and a safety.
Douglass won't get another chance at the Class 1A title next season, when they'll move to Class 3A.