Fort Hill football coach Zack Alkire felt his team had little margin for error in Friday's matchup against Class AAA No. 1 Bridgeport at Wayne Jamison Field.

When the Sentinels committed consecutive false starts and then threw an interception in Tribe territory to erase a promising opening series, it was an indication of what was in store.

"To stay in the game, you have to play a perfect game," Alkire said, "and that was one example of us not playing perfect."

The Indians, meanwhile, scored touchdowns on seven of their eight possessions, including one late in the opening half that allowed the home team to double a seven-point lead and take control of what became a 49-14 victory.

Bridgeport (6-0) has won 20 straight games dating back to the start of 2024. Fort Hill, winners of four straight 1A state championships in Maryland and nine of the last 11, fell to 2-3 with its second straight setback to an out-of-state foe.

"Our kids practice hard. They run hard, which is great, but they block extremely hard for each other, too," Indians' head coach Tyler Phares said. "Very proud of the effort they put out and it was great to see them do what they did tonight."

After Gabe Martin intercepted Noah House to bring an end to Fort Hill's first drive, the Indians set the tone offensively with an eight play, 82-yard drive that featured Gavin Williams' 20-yard run, Martin's 29-yard run and Williams' 16-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-1.

By forcing a three-and-out on Fort Hill's second possession, BHS needed to cover only 52 yards for its second touchdown, that coming on Elijah Knight's 7-yard run that made it 14-0 with 10:38 to play in the first half.

Fort Hill answered with its first of two touchdown drives, a series that featured House's 60-yard pass to Landen Richardson and was capped by the quarterback powering into the end zone on a 1-yard sneak that brought the visitors to within 14-7 with 6:53 remaining in the second quarter.

The Sentinels followed their first scoring drive with their only stop of the outing, and when the Indians' ensuing punt traveled only 5 yards, it allowed Fort Hill to start at the Bridgeport 30.

But the Sentinels' next three plays went for minus-2 yards and Bobby Brauer missed a 50-yard field goal attempt that allowed BHS to maintain its seven-point lead.

"That was huge. At that point, it's a seven-point game, and we finally got a stop and had great field position," Alkire said. "Have to score there."

Following Fort Hill's missed opportunity, the Tribe put together the most important series of the matchup, covering 80 yards in 10 plays and doubling its advantage on Williams' 1-yard touchdown run 21 seconds before halftime. That enabled BHS to lead 21-7 at the break, and directly out of it, Phares' team got a 44-yard touchdown run from Williams for its largest lead to that point.

"Proud of our kids to keep battling through adversity," Phares said. "You know when you play a team the quality of FH that you're going to run into it. They're not going to lay down and it's not going to be an easy win. They proved that again tonight."

Fort Hill answered on its second play from scrimmage of the second half, one that saw House find Braelyn Younger for a 73-yard touchdown pass and a 28-14 deficit.

That was as close as the Sentinels would get.The Indians regained their three touchdown lead when Williams got to the edge and scored from 1 yard out on a fourth-and-goal run to finish off a 13 play drive that took off 7:24 of the third-quarter clock.

"They did some really nice things schematically on defense. Thank God for Hudl Sideline," Phares said. "We're able to look at everything that they're doing. It took some good halftime adjustments and talking between our kids to understand what their defensive scheme was."

House exited the game with an injury on the second-to-last play of the third quarter, and later on that drive, Kasen Baun intercepted Brady Oneal. 

"The defense was huge, especially toward the end of the game," Phares said.

Knight scored his second touchdown on a 2-yard run with 8:16 remaining, and the Indians produced a seventh TD with 2:36 remaining on Landen Gillum's 18-yard run.

The Indians finished with 430 rushing yards and 454 total yards. Williams rushed for 203 yards and four touchdowns on 23 carries and Knight added 97 yards on 12 rushes.

Martin added 75 yards on five carries.

"We knew it was going to be a dogfight and guys would consistently be in our face with great down blocks and guys on the edge," Alkire said. "It was ran exactly who we thought it was going to be run. These guys do a phenomenal job with it."

House completed 6-of-9 passes for 208 yards in defeat. Younger caught two passes for 97 yards and rushed for a team-high 63 yards — all but 15 of the Sentinels' rushing total. Richardson added a pair of receptions for 87 yards. FHHS finished with 322 total yards.