Alex Rychwalski | An unreal year for Allegany County athletics

May 30—When Fort Hill, Mountain Ridge and Allegany were Nos. 1, 2 and 3 in all of Maryland's Class 1A entering the football postseason, I didn't realize it was foreshadowing.

Yet, here we are, six months later, and Allegany County has just completed three athletic seasons of utter domination.

What better way to enter the summer than Allegany softball winning its first state championship since 2010? The 18-0 season's climax was a stunning upset in the title game, as the Campers ended Patterson Mill's 44-game winning streak.

In baseball, the Allegany baseball team (19-2) began the season 15-0 and nearly had its first undefeated regular season since World War II, and the area's first in 20 years, falling one run short against Clear Spring, the eventual state champions, in the Final Four.

Not much will change next year — both of the Campers' baseball and softball teams return the majority of their production next year.

The county also claimed nine individual outdoor track and field championships over the weekend.

Fort Hill took home four first-place medals: Brooklyne Noel, girls triple jump; Carly Bennett, girls discus; Hannah Custer, girls pole vault; and Carter Hess, boys discus.

Allegany grabbed three: Avery Miller in the girls 800-meter run and long jump; and Brandi Gochenauer, girls shot put.

Allegany may have collected more titles if Miller, the second-leading hitter on the Campers' softball team, was able to compete in the 100m and 400m. However, she was forced to miss those two events helping the softball team win a state title in College Park.

Mountain Ridge won two state championships: Mary Delaney, girls 1600-meter run; and Reis Howard, Casey Culler, Will Stark, Will Haberlein, in the boys 4x800-meter relay.

In the team standings, the Mountain Ridge boys finished second in the state behind Catoctin. In the girls, Fort Hill, Allegany and Mountain Ridge ended fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.

On the tennis court, Allegany and Mountain Ridge both had doubles teams advance to the state semifinals in Class 1A. The Miners' girls doubles squad of Kendall Kirkwood and Eliza Duncan finished fourth and the Campers' boys pairing of Chazz Imes and Aidan Paulman finished third in the state.

The Bishop Walsh girls tennis team finished with an area-best 10-1-1 record.

During the winter season, the Mountain Ridge boys basketball team commanded the No. 1 spot in the Area Top 5 in all but three of the season's 12 weeks, finishing with an area-best record of 18-4. Nathanial Washington and Peyton Miller made the All-Area first team — the Miners had the most representatives of any boys team.

Allegany won 11 of 12 games to end the regular season with a 16-5 mark. With the vast majority of their production returning, the Campers will likely be the preseason No. 1 team in 2023.

At the 60th Alhambra Catholic Invitational Tournament, Bishop Walsh won two games for the first time in history, and it was all thanks to a kid from Cumberland.

Mikey Allen made back-to-back 3-pointers to help the Spartans down Bishop McNamara and Mount St. Joseph, the latter a miracle dagger from well beyond NBA range as time expired.

On the girls side, Fort Hill (17-7) advanced to the state semifinals for the first time since 2012 and only the fourth time in school history. Much like the Alco boys, the Fort Hill girls return the bulk of their scoring.

Allegany (14-7) won eight consecutive games in February and Mountain Ridge (12-7) won 10 of 11 contests late in the year. Both teams were led by underclassmen and All-Area first-team performers: Miller for Alco and Sydney Snyder for Mountain Ridge.

Calvary came just short of its fourth consecutive girls Mason-Dixon Christian Conference championship, but the Eagles capped another impressive campaign with an 18-8 record.

Delaney captured a pair of state titles at the 1A indoor track and field championships in the 800- and 1600-meter runs, and Custer won the pole vault gold medal.

The fall didn't just feature Allegany County supremacy on the gridiron.

The Mountain Ridge volleyball team made the state tournament for the first time in school history, finishing as runner-ups after falling to powerhouse Williamsport in the championship game. The Miners had zero seniors on their entire roster.

Noel won volleyball Area Player of the Year after guiding Fort Hill to an 11-4 finish. The star senior had 278 kills and 38 blocks. Calvary captured its third consecutive MDCC title and loses just one player to graduation.

The Mountain Ridge boys soccer team finished 14-2 and placed an area-best five players on the All-Area first team. Allegany upset the Miners in the West Region finals and defeated Kent County in the state quarterfinals, eventually falling to Brunswick, 2-1, in the Final Four.

The Mountain Ridge girls also advanced to the state semifinals and were the No. 1 seed in Class 1A. The Miners narrowly fell to Brunswick in extra time, 2-1.

And let's not forget about the county's private schools — Calvary and Bishop Walsh boasted the area's top two goal scorers. The Eagles' Isaac Scritchfield won area boys soccer Player of the year, and the Spartans' Ale Puerto was area girls soccer Player of the Year.

Just last week, Calvary orchestrated a stunning upset of Shalom, 3-2, in the MDCC girls soccer title game, ending the Flames' two-year winning streak. Before facing the Eagles, Shalom had allowed three goals all season.

And then there's football, where we had an all-Allegany County state championship game for the first time in history.

On that glorious day in Annapolis, Fort Hill got the better of Mountain Ridge, beating the Miners, 51-31, to cap a perfect 12-0 season and equal crosstown rival Allegany with its record eighth state championship.

The Miners finished a record 11-2, and the Campers were 8-3.

Even more impressively, no team outside of Allegany County beat the trio. They finished a combined 26-0 against teams hailing from other counties, with Fort Hill and Mountain Ridge both going 9-0 and Allegany downing all eight of its opponents.

The county also claimed every football award: Blake White, Player of the Year; Bryce Snyder, Offensive Player of the year; TJ Lee, Defensive Player of the Year; Carter Hess, Lineman of the Year; and Zack Alkire, Coach of the Year.

Much to the chagrin of the surrounding counties, and to the rest of the state, not much, if anything, will change during the 2022-23 season. Not only was Allegany County dominant across the board, for the most part, its teams weren't senior-heavy.

Mark your calendars. Part 2 of this column, coming to Sheetz newsstands next year near you on Memorial Day Weekend of 2023.

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