Fort Hill (Md.) football squad named an Army National Guard The Next Greatest Generation Team of the Year

Coming off its fourth straight state title and ninth in 11 years, the Fort Hill (Md.) football team has been honored as one of the Army National Guard Next Greatest Generation Teams of the Year.

The Cumberland-based school finished the 2024 campaign 11-3 (4-0 in its region) and rolled to a 35-0 win in the Maryland Class 1A state title game over Northern Garrett to secure the four-peat.

“It was an honor to be able to recognize our accomplishments along with the Army National Guard and On3,” head coach Zach Alkire said. “Having the opportunity to promote our kids on a national level goes a long way to showing the amount of hard work the kids in our program put in throughout the year. It was amazing to see them be rewarded for that!”

With the four consecutive titles, the Sentinels are now the only program in MPSSAA history to four-peat twice, doing so from 2013-2026 and now 2021-24. They also took home titles in 2018, 1997 and 1975.

Over the past four seasons, Fort Hill has a combined record of 50-4, winning 11 of its 12 region games during that time. Their only losses in 2024 came to Baltimore-area powerhouse Dunbar, a finalist in Class 2A, a forfeit to Pennsylvania powerhouse Hollidaysburg due to the use of an ineligible player, and a defeat at the hands of Virginia Class 5 program Briar Woods.

They join nine other programs who have also received the award this year, including California’s Mater Dei High School, Illinois’ Prospect High, Massachusetts’ Hudson High, Georgia’s Apalachee High School as well as four others.