Friday night lights: Wildcats post convincing win in county matchup vs. Smithsburg

Williamsport 37, Smithsburg 0

A couple of inches is always the starting point for big yardage.

Unfortunately, for Smithsburg, its couple of inches led to big yardage for visiting Williamsport.

After the Leopards came up just short on a fourth-down measurement, the Wildcats connected on a 74-yard Eli Fleming-to-Ceonta Wilmore touchdown pass on the first play to jumpstart Williamsport for a victory.

The two teams, both entering at 1-0, battled to a scoreless tie for nearly the first 19 minutes of the game. Smithsburg went for fourth-and-4 and when the ball was finally placed, it was just short.

The game of inches was the measure of difference for the Wildcats

Fleming found Wilmore streaking down the right sideline at about the 50 and the sophomore did the rest for the 7-0 lead with 5:06 left in the half.

The big play seemed to deflate the Leopards as Williamsport began creating turnovers. The Wildcats’ defense kept Smithsburg running back Ashton Redman in check and fell back into passing lanes to baffle Leopards quarterback Zac Smith.

Williamsport scored all 37 points in a 21-minute span.

The Wildcats took a 14-0 halftime lead when linebacker Ian Lane picked off a pass and returned it 47 yards for a touchdown with 3:59 remaining before the intermission. Lane, who doubles as an offensive lineman, picked off another pass in the fourth quarter, returning it 63 yards for the last score of the game with 8:20 remaining.

Williamsport moved to a 24-0 lead after three quarters on Cole Kriner’s 25-yard field goal and a 3-yard TD run up the middle by Cole Rourke.

Corry Nelson caught a quick pass from Fleming while cutting through the middle of the Smithsburg defense and took it 25 yards for a TD with 10:54 remaining, just before Lane’s second pick-six.

Spring Mills 48, South Hagerstown 28

The host Cardinals (2-1) built a 20-0 lead in the second quarter, and though the Rebels (0-2) cut the deficit to six points twice in the third, they couldn't keep up with Spring Mills in the end.

Cardinals quarterback Max Anderson ran for two touchdowns, covering 8 and 26 yards, in the first half. Kam Taylor scored on sweeps of 24 yards in the first quarter and 80 yards in the third quarter. Alex Eaton rushed for touchdowns of 30 and 4 yards in the second half.

South got on the board in the second quarter when Lance Ford rolled right away from pressure and fired a 20-yard scoring strike to Jaiden Bowins to cut the deficit to 20-7.

Ford broke free on a keeper up the middle for a 24-yard score to cut the deficit to 20-14 with 9:49 left in the third quarter.

Spring Mills answered on Eaton's 30-yard score with 4:32 left in the period to make it 27-14, but Teriq Morris answered right back with a 75-yard kickoff-return TD up the right sideline to cut it to 27-20.

Taylor's 80-yard sweep came a minute later to give the Cardinals a 34-21 lead. South drove into the red zone, but Eaton picked off a pass and returned it near midfield, setting up a drive Eaton capped with his 4-yard TD to make it 41-21 with 7:35 left in the game.

In the final two minutes, backup quarterback Rylan Swartz ran for a 4-yard score for Spring Mills, and Ford ran 52 yards to cap his three-touchdown night for the Rebels.

Bryan Wagner and Hunter Finkenbinder each had an interception in the second quarter for South.

Southern (Anne Arundel) 24, Clear Spring 13

Quarterback Ace Heinrichs scored on a 3-yard keeper and then ran for the two-point conversion, giving the visiting Bulldogs the lead for good at 15-7 with 3:34 left in the third quarter in the first-ever matchup between the two teams.

Southern (1-1) extended its advantage to 17-7 on a safety later in the period, and then made it 24-7 midway through the fourth as Andrew Cook took a handoff from Heinrichs and passed to Sam McLean for an 18-yard touchdown.

Clear Spring (0-2) — which had four turnovers in Bulldogs territory — capped the scoring with 50 seconds left in the game on a 1-yard TD run by Sam Stonebraker.

Southern went up 7-0 early in the first quarter on a 64-yard TD run by Luke McCoy.

The Blazers tied it at 7 midway through the second as Kenny Nicewarner scored on a 3-yard run.

Manchester Valley 15, North Hagerstown 8

The host Mavericks scored the go-ahead touchdown with 9:03 left in the game and held on to beat the Hubs.

Manchester Valley (1-1) went up 7-0 with 7:40 remaining in the second quarter.

North Hagerstown (1-1) took an 8-7 lead midway through the third as Zach Moore ran 46 yards for a touchdown and then added the two-point conversion.

Moore finished with 95 yards rushing on 19 carries. Also for the Hubs, Luke Kercheval was 5 of 14 passing for 68 yards with an interception, Ryder Johnston had three receptions for 44 yards, Louie Lee had 11 tackles and Mac Stiffler had nine tackles and a sack.

Boonsboro 17, Allegany 3

The Warriors knocked off the Campers (1-1) at Greenway Avenue Stadium to improve to 2-0.

Boonsboro led 7-3 at the end of the first quarter after Matt Summers' 9-yard TD pass to Chance Haga.

After a scoreless second period, Boonsboro extended its advantage to 10-3 on a 35-yard field goal by Owen Hardy in the third quarter.

The Warriors scored their final touchdown in the fourth on Dan Dobson's 20-yard TD run.

Haga was injured in the final minute of the game on an illegal hit by Allegany's Isaiah Fields Jr., who was ejected from the game and will miss the Campers' next contest. Haga was taken off the field on a stretcher at the end of a 30-minute delay.

Halifax 53, Hancock 0

The Panthers dropped to 0-2 with the road loss.

A look back: The top football performers from Week 1

The next up: Introducing the next wave of football players

Saturday

Bullis School 20, Saint James 14

The Saints (1-1) dropped a road test to the Bulldogs.

Rhys Staley and Jayden Yates each threw a touchdown pass to Trevor Owens for the Saints. Staley completed 7 of 9 passes for 83 yards, and Yates completed 8 of 14 passes for 60 yards. Joshua Seaforth-Farquharson rushed nine times for 79 yards.

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This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Maryland high school football scores: Week 2 live updates