Fort Hill, the three-time reigning Maryland Class 1A state football champions, has forfeited five victories due to an ineligible player.

According to a report by the Cumberland Times-News, Fort Hill received an anonymous report early last week that a player on its varsity football team was not a resident of Allegany County (Md.) which is a violation of Allegany County Public Schools and Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association (MPSSAA) rules. 

The Allegany County school system determined that the student in question was residing in another state, and enrollment information provided to Fort Hill’s administration contained fraudulent information. 

“The investigation didn’t reveal any wrongdoing or lack of diligence by the Fort Hill administration or football coaching staff,” a press release from Allegany County Public Schools said.

The press release stated the school system contacted the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association to report the violation as required by the Code of Maryland Regulations 13A.06.03.05. which requires a school to forfeit all games in which an ineligible player participated.

The Times-News said the player in question did not participate in the Sentinels’ first game of the regular season. 

According to the release, the Allegany County school system was to appeal the penalty to the MPSSAA Appeals Committee Monday. 

The final MPSSAA football point standings along with the postseason brackets were released Monday morning, showing Fort Hill a 2-7 record in the final 1A West Region standings. The Sentinels were 7-2 after defeating league rival Allegany Saturday.

The Cumberland Times-News reported Monday afternoon that there wasn’t enough time for the appeal to be heard before the state playoff brackets were finalized. 

Since 2021, every Maryland public school football team is eligible for the state tournament.

Fort Hill, which was the No. 1 seed in the West Region entering last week, is now the No. 6 seed and will play Allegany Friday evening at Greenway Avenue Stadium, a venue the two Cumberland (Md.) schools play home games.

The winner will play at No. 2 seed Clear Spring next weekend for a spot in the state quarterfinals. 

Barring major upsets in the other 1A region playoffs, Fort Hill, ranked No. 17 in the latest Maryland Top 25 Maryland High School Football State Rankings, will be on the road through the state semifinals, something it hasn’t had to do during its championship run. 

Fort Hill, seeking to match its 1A four-peat run of 2013 to 2016, last played a state postseason road contest in 2010. The Sentinels lost to Dunbar in a 1A state semifinal contest at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute.

Fort Hill may be ready for a new path to the state final at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The Sentinels played Dunbar, the three-time defending 2A/1A champ in Baltimore (Morgan State University) during the regular season and, last season, played at Briar Woods, a Northern Virginia power.

Weeks ago, it seemed likely Maryland men’s soccer’s regular season would end with it hoisting the Big Ten regular season trophy on Ludwig Field. The trophy was hoisted at Ludwig Field Sunday afternoon — but the Terps were the spectators.

“We take a lot of pride in protecting Ludwig and obviously seeing [No. 1 Ohio State’s celebration] is not a great sight, but definitely something we’ll remember,” Max Rogers said.

The Terps failed to overcome two first-half goals, falling to the Buckeyes, 2-1, to close their regular season.

Maryland, who has been without its most important player in Leon Koehl, was even more depleted against Ohio State. Its defensive anchor, William Kulvik, missed the match, likely due to the head collision he sustained at the end of its last match against Rutgers. If that wasn’t enough, head coach Sasho Cirovski was serving a suspension for the red card he received against Rutgers.

The undermanned Terps started strong, though, applying pressure that caused Ohio State’s back four some issues. The Terps generated offensive chances throughout the first 15 minutes, but couldn’t find the net.

Ohio State won a set piece around midfield with 30 minutes remaining in the first half. Its most dangerous playmaker, Michael Adedokun, played a ball into Maryland’s box that Siggi Magnusson played back across the middle for Thomas Gilej, who then tapped it in.

Against the run of play, Maryland found itself down, 1-0. The game remained high-paced and appeared open for both teams to find the second goal.

Maryland almost had a chance to even the score when Sadam Masereka went down in the box, but the referee judged there was not enough contact for a spot kick after a review.

Instead, with around 11 minutes left in the half, Maryland’s deficit doubled. Adedokun picked up the ball on Maryland’s goal line and beat a man. Jace Clark made a tackle, but the ball bounced back in Adedokun’s path and he found Ashton Bilow for an easy tap-in.

The Terps generated more chances in the final 10 minutes of the half, but couldn’t find the net. They went to the break trailing, 2-0.

“Goals change games, but I thought we played very well in the first half. I thought we could have shown a bit more quality in our chances to score, but the guys executed how we wanted them to,” acting head coach Brian Rowland said.

In the second half, the Terps’ luck quickly took a turn for the better.

Rogers had a free kick from the right sideline and surprisingly decided to go for goal. The decision paid off, as Ohio State backup goalie Patrick McLaughlin spilled the shot for a rebound that fell to Luca Costabile, who drilled his first goal as a Terp to pull Maryland within one.

“Great feeling,” Costabile said. “[It’s] been three years now, long wait.”

The Terps had around 40 minutes to find an equalizer — and it was chaotic.

Colin Griffith teed off shots with space from inside the box on two occasions, but Ohio State’s back line made multiple crucial blocks to keep the game at 2-1. Clark also shined in relief of Kulvik, making key defensive interventions to prevent Maryland from conceding a third goal.

Ultimately, the score remained 2-1, with Maryland heading into the postseason on a three-game losing streak.

Three things to know

1. A not-so-bad loss. Many coaches will say there are no good losses. But if Ohio State was a measuring stick for how far Maryland can go in the postseason, it played well without its head coach and two of its best players.

“That was a very, very good soccer team,” Rogers said. “It didn’t feel like they were head and shoulders better than us.”

2. Big Ten tournament seed finalized. The Terps will be the No. 3 seed in the Big Ten Tournament and play either Washington or UCLA in the first round on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. They will need to win three games to win the tournament.

3. Set-piece defense remains an issue. Maryland has struggled with its defense on set pieces all season. This issue reared its head again on Ohio State’s opening goal, as Maryland failed to win the ball twice in the box.