In case you did not know the annual Homecoming game between Allegany and Fort Hill is this Saturday at noon. With both teams being 9-0, NFL films coming to tape the game and do a story on the long history of this rivalry, and possibly the winner being the next state 1A champion (beat Dunbar); they are expecting to break 15,000 in attendance this year.

I have attached some websites for anyone that is interested. If you are not interested in any please check this one link out it explains it all without words. http://www.allconet.org/forthill/mckinley/...94CrowdPage.htm

Fort Hill's site
http://www.allconet.org/forthill/mckinley/football/

Allegany's site
http://eteamz.active.com/bigbluereview/

NFL films
http://www.abc2news.com/news/state/story.a...18-13606f7e5527

I won't be there, but that is freakin' cool that NFL Films will be there. Keep us updated on what they might produce with the footage.

I may be going with some other coaches. The 1A playoffs are going to be awesome this year too.

Thanks for this post. My parents both graduated from Fort Hill and I can't wait to tell them about this. It's amazing how so many people in Cumberland are really really into high school football -- they decorate their houses for big games the way other towns decorate for Christmas. :-) Very festive!

Yea 1A is going to be pretty awsome. In the top 25 Dunbar is ranked 3rd, Fort Hill 5th, and Allegany 15th. That is for all schools.

This is what a highschool rivalry should be like. They play BIGBOY football up there........
Here it is, North / South week and the talk in the local paper should be about Smithsburg/Boonsboro, and rightfully so.
The highschool football in this city is awful..... JMO.
I remember a time and day when North/South used to play FH/Algny..... They got tired of being destroyed each year so the Hagerstown schools jumped ship.. can't say I blame them

We scrimmaged Allegany at Fort Hill this year and they were "okay". They didn't dominate us by any means. I look for Fort Hill to win this game. I don't know what happened with Mountain Ridge this past weekend, but they'll be in it too. Smithsburg will get whooped by whoever they play so you can count them out. My prediction is Fort Hill and Dunbar.

I am pulling your Smithsburg Alumni card!!!!!!

Dude, I'm just sayin'... yeah SHS is 9-0 but they haven't played anyone the caliber of Allegany, Fort Hill, Dunbar, or Mountain Ridge all year. Neither has any other school in Washington County for that matter. Ever since the leagues got changed, WASHCO won't be sending schools deep into the playoffs as often as they used to. It'll happen, but not as often. Sucks, but that's the way it is. :/

And hey, I would love for SHS to win it all... the seniors on that team are kids that I coached as freshmen.

I grew up in Cumberland, and even though I went to Bishop Walsh, I lived in Fort Hill territory (and my dad is a Fort Hill grad), so I'd always root for FH. Homecoming really is a huge tradition there, and it was a lot of fun getting caught up in the excitement when I was a kid. I'll be interested to see how the NFL film crews present it (hopefully not "look at these rural yahoos getting all wound up about a high school football game").

I did not start the thread to compare Allegany County football with Washington County football because to be honest there is no comparison anywhere in the State of Maryland. I think that a lot has to with coaching and conditioning of the players. Allegany has won eight state championships and I can only think of two players that have made it to a Div I college and see actual playing time. 1988 Randy Wolford and 1990 Shannon Stevens both played for Georgia.

Dunbar and Dematha is brought up year after year and I truly believe that neither team should even be able to play in the playoffs. Dunbar has ruled the 1a basketball and football for a few years now. Why, because they recruit player from all over the country as with Dematha. I remember a few years back that out of the starting five on Dematha's basketball team four were not even from this country.

I think that it would be great if we ended the league play for football and we should end the current football playoffs. I would be great if Allegany and Fort Hill started to play South, North, Smithsburg, ect.... It has picked up a little more with the North because they have had a couple of good teams over the past few years and even beat the hell out of Fort Hill a couple of years back.

As for the playoffs, Maryland should go to a "the best goes to the playoffs" not the best from the regions. This year two teams from the north region will make the playoffs with losing records while teams like Mountain ridge will be knocked out of the playoffs. This set up is detrimental to the west region because it effects them more than any other region. All schools in Garrett, Allegany counties schools are 1a, Williamsport, Hancock, Clear Spring, Boonsboro, and Smithsburg are all 1a.

they have series called "greatest highschool rivalries" or something to that effect. all of the ones i have seen are awesome, so hopefully this turns out something like the ones i have seen in the past . not sure if the ones i saw on espn were done by nfl films.


love me some football.

bwhahhaa.

It's high school football. I hope the people in the stands can keep that in perspective.

NEW: NFL Films gears up for homecoming

Maria Smith
Cumberland Times-News

CUMBERLAND — Rob Gehring had only been in town for about a day but already it reminded him of home.

“There’s so much pride in the community and that’s interesting to me,” Gehring, senior producer for NFL Films, said this morning. “I think a lot of people can identify with that.”

Gehring, originally from a small town in south New Jersey, is part of the crew here to film Saturday’s 71st Homecoming rivalry between Allegany and Fort Hill high schools. It is one of six one-hour shows featuring high school football rivalries that NFL Films will shoot for Versus, a cable network.

The history of the rivalry, the proximity of the schools to each other and the community’s involvement all combined to draw the attention of the Mount Laurel, N.J.-based company. Gehring said Coordinating Producer James Weiner was excited to send a crew here, especially after he learned the city of nearly 21,000 sees more than half of its population pack the stadium in their red and blue.

What also makes this game unique, Gehring said, is that both schools are in the same city. Usually, the focus has been one town against the other.

But the local support and enthusiasm is what strikes him first. A simple walk through the downtown mall shows the red and blue visible from many shop and restaurant windows.

“I think you’re going to see a little history of the rivalry, the buildup to the game and what it means to the town and the kids,” he said of the final production. “Let’s not short change the kids. They’re a big part of this and there’s a lot of interesting stories. We want to showcase these kids and how much it means to them. ... We’ll tell the story just like we would an NFL game.”

The crew arrived Tuesday and “did a little scouting and got our bearings really,” Gehring said.

They already checked out Greenway Avenue Stadium and both schools. A trip to Keyser, W.Va., put them in touch with the Preaskorn family. Allegany’s head football coach, Tom Preaskorn, is a major in the West Virginia Army National Guard who is serving in Iraq.

Preaskorn and his wife, Diane, have five children — Hunter, Parker, Toby, Samantha and Andy — and NFL Films met them all.

“The family is awesome and the kids are great,” Gehring said.

An interview with Times-News Sports Editor Mike Burke, plans to attend tonight’s Hometown Proud rally in the city’s Town Centre and the filming of each school’s football practice are additional highlights for the crew.

Two crews will be in town Friday, with one stationed at each school filming the pep rallies, Powder Puff games and anything else that may relate to Homecoming. On Saturday, five crews arrive to man the game.

“In between the rain drops, we’ll just spend a little time in the town doing ‘man on the street’ type interviews and pop our heads in different places to get people’s off-the-cuff thoughts on the game,” Gehring said.

After conducting final interviews following Saturday’s game, the crews will head back to the studio.

Although a firm air date has not been set, the production will be shown on Versus, formerly the Outdoor Life Network.

Kickoff for the 71st annual rivalry is 12:30 p.m. And, by the way, both teams are 9-0.

9-0 is impressive.

As for the coaching, sure, it has something to do with it... but it really comes down to the athletes on your team and a change in attitude. When I think back to the teams we had at SHS when I was in school, we would've destroyed schools in Cumberland today, but the guys on the teams back then were much more focused on football than they are now. In Cumberland, high school football is still serious business. In Washington County, for many of the kids, its just an extracurricular activity. I know because I coach some of them. They just don't take it as serious as they used to.

Also, the WCBOE doesn't help much either, for several reasons.

How seriously should they take it?

I believe the Washington County youth football league had over 1000 kids this season. Some of these kids in high school started playing football in the 3rd grade. By the time they reach Smithsburg or any other county or city school they have been playing organized ball for 6 years already.

Also football isn't the only game in town anymore. You would be amazed at how many kids are playing lacrosse or other sports now.

My team went 7-0 this year. We had one team cancel on us and the Clear Spring game wasn't rescheduled. Since its such a nice accomplishment, we're getting t-shirts made for the kids and there are the parents are putting together a big party.

will there be "pin the tail on the center?"

But you didn't answer my question. How seriously should high school students take football? I'd like to hear a coaches perspective.

Coma- Did you have any major issue with kids being ineligible after the first report cards? I heard SHS had 15 out of 40 on the freshman team ruled ineligible.

Also, are you going to be there Friday night? If your'e wearing your Boonsboro hat and shirt please don't let anyone see you near me..

I'll look for you

Snoopy, scholastics always come first and its okay to have a life outside of football; I do too, obviously. When I say that kids don't take it serious enough, I'm mainly speaking of not showing up to practices, goofing off in practice, etc. All I ask is that they show up to practice and give me 2 hours of their attention. If they need to stay after school for tutoring or makeup tests, that was always excused.

Samy, I'll look for you. Where do you usually hang at? Our team didn't have any issues with ineligibility, not sure about the freshman. My kids had grade sheets that needed to be filled out and signed by a teacher each week so we knew if there were kids that had any issues.

Snoopy not sure where you are going with the question about "how serious should they take it?" IMHO they should take it VERY serious or they should not play. I played for Allegany when we won 3 state championships; 1988, 1989, and 1991. We all took this very serious. I learned a lot on the field and probably much more than I did in High school itself. I actually believe that if it were not for football I would not have graduated high school, let alone college. Football as with all sports and activities can be an opportunity to teach life lessons. For example, how to work as a team, how to work with others, how to win with dignity, how to lose with dignity, how to help others, pride, leadership, how to take orders, how to put yourself second, to work for a common goal, memorization, determination, how to focus and I could go on and on. I am not sure if things changed since I was in school but if COMA if all you are asking for is 2 hours you are not asking for much. As for staying after school to get caught up on work, hell we would have been kicked off the team. I also could wish that practice only lasted 2 hours. Goofing off are you kidding me, one f'up and we all would have been running at least a mile. Of course scholastics are always first because if they are not you don't get on the field.

i watched the "high school rivalries" on VS last night... ( some midwest schools) and it was again, very cool. can't wait to see some local kids on there.

Christine, is there any way that you could record the Allegany vs. Fort Hill series when it is played. I don't think I get this channel or do we? I have antietam cable, if so what channel?

not sure, i have Dish Network... but yes i would be willing to DVR it... its on VS, which used to be the Outdoor Channel.

Thank you I would really appreciate it and am willing to pay for whatever it cost for the DVR and your time.

I don't think we get that channel.

pffft. don't worry about it.

Coma -- your definition of "seriously" sounds reasonable.

Hag -- not so much. If you would be kicked off the team for staying late for extra help/tutoring on academics then your coach should not be a coach, IMO. Academics must come first -- football is supposed to be "extracurricular". Apparently some coaches and parents don't get that.

BTW -- I am not anti HS sports. My son played local HS football and baseball, started in most games, and his team was in the playoffs for both sports, won one playoff game in one sport, took it all in another. But there were a few parents and coaches who were a**holes, pure and simple.

I hate to break the news to you but you can go out to a 6 year olds T-ball game and find some A$$hat that swears his kid is the next A-Rod! And of course every pee-wee league has some idiot that thinks he is Lombardi reincarnated! As a parent its my job to make sure that doesn't effect my child in a negative way.

On a whole I know I enjoyed my time from 6-18 in organized sports and it taught me some valuable lessons that I might not have learned otherwise.

I would never push my kid into playing anything but if they ask me if its ok I would let them try anything.

Oh yeah, things changed alright. We are only ALLOWED 2 hours of practice, that's it. When we step on the field, we have 2 hours and then we have to be finished. That's one of the things I was talking about with the WCBOE. Yeah, when you and I were in school, we practiced until the coaches were satisfied. I remember coaches and parents pulling their cars up with their headlights on so we could practice later for the playoffs. And, like you, if we goofed off or screwed around, we ran/crabbed/crawled the monstrous hill 30 times or until we needed to be carried off. You can't do that today... you'll have parents and the school all over you for it. As far as staying after school for tutoring, I have no problem with that. After all, a kid that is ineligible or has his parents pull him off the team because his grades aren't good is no good to me.

But yeah, things are a lot different than they used to be, that's for sure.

Wow!!!! I wonder if they have changed in Cumberland also, have to ask around this weekend. I remember at the close of each practice running plays from one end zone to the other against the second string defense. We had to get at least 5 yards per play or we started over. I remember a few times running that drill in 15 minutes; I remember others taking 2 hours and it would be pitch black out while we ran these plays. I remember a line up of parents not only supporting the coaches with this discipline but encouraging it. I remember from August 15th till the start of the start of school three times a day. From 7:30-10:30am; 11:30-2:30pm; and then come back and practice from 5:00pm-8:00pm.

I think maybe my view of high school of yesteryear compared to now is different all around. We did not have smart kids on the team but I never remember a kid that needed to stay after or get tutoring. I am sure I would have no problem if I had a kid on the team that needed some extra help but school must really be tough nowadays. Except if you read everything from news or talk to teachers they don't even teach the basics in class anymore. So I guess I would be ok if a kid needed tutoring because the kid is taking Chemistry or Geometry but if they need a tutor because they are a screwoff then they need to RUN RUN RUN. And the best think about sports is if you can’t do it(cope) or you don’t want to(quiter) GET THE HELL OFF THE FIELD. It is an option.

Too many parents and coaches confuse sports with life and death. Sports can be a great part of school, or it can be something put on a pedestal in importance above all else. It is too rare to see sports parents who will take a kid out of sports if their grades suffer as a result, or if other (off field) behavior warrants it. Many parents will say academics come first, until they have to choose. And too many kids know it.

How many parents would have "supported and encouraged" a teacher who required kids to stay 2 hours late to get their grades up to snuff? Would you, Hag?

Snoopy I think that you are passing judgment on me incorrectly. Everyone on my teams always had passing grades or they never made it on the field, to practice or play. What I am saying is that I did not know anyone that needed any extra help in high school. I am not saying that it never happened but I was unaware of it. I also think that high school has become easier and easier to get through and from what Coma is saying so is sports. I would be 100% supportive to have my child stay after for as many hours as possible, however, I would hope that my child would not need this service because I would hope that this is support that I would be able to provide. So again let me say I am an all or nothing type person, if you don't have what it takes to be on the field 1st grades; 2nd determination, 3rd discipline than get off the field. You asked how serious should they take football. My opinion is the same as it would be if they chose hockey, band, karate, or chess; they should give 100% and be 100% prepared or they should not be there. I think that any statistic that you find will prove that kids that participate in activities after school get better grades and I believe it is because the student athlete knows what the expectations are and they try harder.

Heh, summer practices. Yeah, I did the same thing you did... two weeks of those practices.

Know what we had this year? TWO days. The rest of them were 4pm-6pm. So, you can see why its a little frustrating.

Went to the game and of course I thought it was great because I am an Allegany alumni 33-15. But the great thing about the outcome and the Smithsburg, Boonsboro outcome is it has set up a little Allegany County vs. Washington County playoffs. Allegany vs. Boonsboro and Fort Hill vs. Smithsburg it should be a great weekend for football.

Complete high school playoff listing.
http://www.mpssaa.org/fallsports/football/...p?release_id=72

Why are both games being played at Green way? Is it because of win loss record or other reasons?

I think Green Way gives both teams advantage over Wash. Co teams. JMO.

It is based on points and win loss records. Allegany is ranked 1st in 1A west so they play 4th in 1A west which is Boonsboro. Fort Hill is ranked 2nd in 1A west so they play 3rd in 1A west which is Smithsburg. So the higher ranked teams get the homefield advantage. And yes it is an advantage.

Had smithsburg beat boonsboro then they could have hosted their 1st rd playoff game. They should have taken care of business then they would have gotten the home field advantage.

I sat through that game and they looked like they were sleepwalking. I dont know if it was the rain or they just weren't ready but it was disappointing. They had Boonsboro 20-19 with under 2 mins. on the clock and gave up a HUGE reception on 4th and 15!!!! Boonsboro outplayed them the entire game.

Damn shame!

I beg to differ! (BHS alumni )

I wonder what Coach Scott would say about the current limits on practice length, the dedication of the kids today vs "back in the good old days", the focus on athletics vs. academics then and now, etc.

Recap for the football in Western Maryland:

ALLEGANY COUNTY TEAMS 94 - WASHINGTON COUNTY TEAMS 19

Allegany and Fort Hill get to do it again. Should be another great game and don't be surpise if Fort Hill revenges the earlier loss to Allegany. If you are looking for a reason to get away from the family on Friday night Greenway Avenue Stadium should be packed and the game should be great 7:00pm.