4 Arundel

The rematch is on for 7 p.m. Friday in Gambrills.No. 4 Arundel (10-0), the 10th Anne Arundel County team to finish unbeaten in the regular season since 1960, will play host to Meade (7-3) in the quarterfinals of the 4A state football playoffs.The county and East Region champion Wildcats earned the top seed in the eight-team field with a 36-22 win over Meade on Friday. Meade took the eighth seed and will make its first playoff appearance since 1987.Arundel built a near-insurmountable 34-8 halftime lead to set up the rematch that doesn't have coach Bill Zucco worried.

Arundel's Chavonne Hammond and Severna Park's Jennifer Holmes, opponents during the high school season but teammates in the off-season with the Anne Arundel Hurricanes, are going to be college teammates.Holmes has joined Hammond as a scholarship recipient to Vanderbilt, a team highly ranked in preseason publications. As juniors, the two made All-County and were named preseason honorable-mention All-Americans by Street & Smith's.Hammond announced two weeks ago that she was headed for Nashville to play for the Commodores, and she and Holmes will sign a letter of intent today.

Usually, this time of year, North County, Severna Park and Annapolis would be making runs at the state football playoffs. Things have changed.Instead, No. 4 Arundel (7-0) and No. 15 Meade (6-1) are making playoff runs down the stretch while the aforementioned trio will be hard-pressed to put up winning seasons.North County visits Annapolis tonight with both teams at 4-3 and if either is able to win its last three games and finish 7-3, it appears it still won't be enough to qualify for the playoffs.

Remarkable is a word to describe the football turnaround at Meade.No. 15 Meade has gone from a 1-9 season to 6-1 with a legitimate chance at a county championship and the state playoffs for the first time since 1987. Meade plays host to Chesapeake (2-6) Friday, next week visits North County (4-3) and then closes out the regular season at home against No. 4 Arundel (7-0).Arundel at Meade figures to be the game of the year in Anne Arundel County because it may decide the 4A county championship and the top seed in the 4A East Region.

Speed kills and Shannon Chaney chills opponents.That was the magic formula for fifth-ranked Severna Park again last night as the Falcons turned back fourth-ranked Arundel, 1-0, in an emotion-filled game at Severna Park.The Falcons outran the Wildcats to the ball most of the evening and the home team got another shutout performance in the goal from Chaney to win this neighborhood battle.Chaney, a senior, now has 43 shutouts and has allowed just 17 goals in her 59-game career.Arundel came out very intense in the opening minutes and had an excellent opportunity to score just two minutes into the game when Chaney fell to the ground trying to stop Jill Jones.

Tuesday is the date of the county's girls soccer showdown as No. 4 Arundel (8-0-2) visits No. 5 Severna Park (8-0-1) at 7 p.m.Both teams are well coached by Paul Yannuzzi at Arundel and Joyce Stefancik, the dean of county girls soccer coaches at Severna Park.Arundel's strength is the one-two scoring punch of Kristen Smeby and Jill Jones who will be countered by what Stefancik called in preseason "one of our better defensive teams."Severna Park's Shannon Chaney is considered to be the county's premier goalkeeper.

Pinch-hitter Doug Bast beat out an infield grounder with two outs and Brian Bogle, who had reached on a leadoff double, scored the winning run as host and No. 8 Old Mill edged No. 12 Glen Burnie (2-3), 4-3, yesterday in baseball. Mike Ziegler pitched a complete game and struck out four. Bogle finished with two doubles.* Calvert Hall 12, Curley 4: Kevin Olkowski went 3-for-5 with five RBIs as No. 1 Calvert Hall defeated host Curley. The Cardinals had nine extra-base hits to back Andy Bair, who struck out 11 batters in 5 1/3 innings.

No. 10 Severn School's boys basketball coaches have swapped positions. Wayne Fowler has stepped down as head coach after two seasons and Charles "Tank" Duckett, his top assistant and close friend, is the new head coach."

Have you heard that former Northeast infielder Don Gilbert, All-Metro in 1987 and the Anne Arundel County Sun Player of the Year, was released recently by the Baltimore Orioles?Gilbert signed with the Orioles a couple of years ago and had done well with the rookie team in Bluefield and was expected to play for the club's Single-A affiliate in Frederick this season."It was a surprise because I had heard that he was doing well," said Baltimore Orioles scouting supervisor Jim Gilbert, who is no relation to Don."

1 McDonogh (1-0) -- With the Baltimore Sun's 1992 Player of the Year, pitcher/shortstop Kenny Cloude (13-1, .429), back for his senior year along with 12 returnees, including junior second baseman Ian Hendricks (Elrod's son) from the MSA A Conference Championship team, coach Al Poklemba's Eagles will be tough to beat. The team just returned home from Florida where it got rained on five days and played one game, a win over a team from New Jersey. Last year: (record) 20-7; (ranking): No. 3.2 Old Mill -- Anne Arundel County is loaded with pitching, but the Patriots may have the best in southpaw Lee Haney (6-1)