Fort Meade wins defensive showdown over Tenoroc

FORT MEADE — The Fort Meade football program has been going through some rough times on and off the field since mid-August, but the Miners finally have something to feel good about.

The Miners capitalized on two turnovers to score it first points of the season and upended Tenoroc, 14-7, on Friday night at Frank S. Battle Field.

Fort Meade (1-3) remained undefeated in 12 games vs. Tenoroc with the victory. It was a game where whichever team didn’t self-destruct would come out on top.

The Miners overcame three fumbles, including fumbles on back-to-back possessions in the first half, and didn’t score an offensive touchdown until there were less than two minutes remaining in the game.

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Fort Meade couldn’t generate any offense for most of the game, finishing with just 93 yards of total offense with 32 yards coming on one pass play. Still, Fort Meade nursed an 8-7 lead for much of the game after Jaydyn Dennis scored on an 80-yard interception return in the first quarter then made the two-point conversion.

The Miners finally got their first offensive touchdown of the season after recovering a punt at the Fort Meade 25 after it deflected off a Fort Meade player as it was bouncing around.

Dennis had a pair of runs for 18 yards, and Jesus Perez scored from the 7 with 1:37 to play.

Tenoroc took over at the 23 after the ensuing kickoff but managed just 10 yards before the clock ran out.

Initially, the Titans, who finished with 113 yards of offense, had some success offensively to start the game. After returning the opening kickoff to midfield, they drove 50 yards on eight plays and scored on Zamarion Smith’s 3-yard run.

Tenoroc took over on its next possession at the Fort Meade and reached the 36 after converting on fourth down. However, Dennis came up with the pick-six on the next play.

Tenoroc began its third possession at midfield and drove to the 14 before penalties and a sack pushed the Titans back to the 35 where they turned it over on downs.

The Titans then recovered fumbles on back-to-back possessions. The first possession ended with a three-and-out, and they punted from the Fort Meade 45.

On the next possession after a fumble recovery, Tenoroc drove from the Fort Meade 21 to the 9. Fort Meade then came up with its second interception, this time off a deflection.

Tenoroc managed 83 yards of offense in the first half but just 30 yards in the second half.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Fort Meade wins defensive showdown over Tenoroc