Athletic Association

James Johnson had career highs with 28 points and 18 rebounds to lead No. 13 Wake Forest past North Carolina State last night. Ishmael Smith added a season-high 18 points and Chas McFarland had 15 for the Demon Deacons (21-5, 8-5 Atlantic Coast Conference), who improved to 13-1 at home and won for the third time in four games.Tracy Smith scored 18 points to lead the Wolfpack (15-11, 5-8). Miami 62, Virginia 55: : Jack McClinton (Calvert Hall) scored 11 points, well below his average, but hit a three-pointer with 47 seconds to play to help the Hurricanes (17-10, 6-8)

The Anne Arundel Youth Football Association didn't find much success at the Maryland Youth Football Championships earlier this month. None of the six county teams, each representing a different division, came home with a victory. Each lost in the first game they played. Association Vice President Brian Mackell, who watched the Pasadena Chargers suffer a tough one-point loss to the Howard County Bruins in the unlimited class, said the kids played very well. In the 6- to 8-year-olds' division, the Gambrills Odenton Recreation Council Wildcats got a first-round bye but fell in the second round.

A) Stanford will cheer Nevada, and not just because Cardinal coach Trent Johnson brought Nick Fazekas to Reno. B) Illinois point guard Chester Frazier will track Old Dominion scores. C) West Virginia will root for Winthrop. D) Billy Packer will proclaim the strength of the Missouri Valley Conference. Other than D, those predictions are more likely to be realized than some of the seed lines that you will see attached to your favorite team between now and Selection Sunday, March 11. Conference tournaments began last night, and for the next 10 days, attention must be paid by Stanford and the aforementioned bubble teams.

1 --Ranking in the Boys' Latin senior class held by tackle Dennis Mahoney, who has a 3.99 grade point average. 3-3-5 -- The unorthodox defense that Severna Park plans to run this season, utilizing the Falcons' team speed and ability to blitz. 4 -- Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference titles won by Archbishop Curley in five years before moving up to the A Conference in 2005 and going winless. The Friars played an independent schedule in 2006 and went 9-2. 5 -- State titles won by Baltimore City schools since joining the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association in 1994.

At the height of the summer season in downtown Annapolis, tourists along Main Street are scarfing up T-shirts, coffee mugs and key chains emblazoned with "Navy," "Naval Academy" or pictures of the school mascot, Bill the Goat.Unknown to most shoppers, each of these purchases funnels a handful of pennies into the academy's coffers, where it pays for sports and other extras at the school not covered by its main benefactor, the Pentagon.Academy paraphernalia has long been a staple of downtown Annapolis shops.

Cordis Stanfield has finished in the top four at two cross country meets with large fields this season. He was fourth at the Interstate Classic at Clear Spring High on Sept. 4, and runner-up at the Spiked Shoe at Johns Hopkins last Saturday.There is a problem, however: Stanfield, a 1998 All-Baltimore County/City indoor track team member, is not eligible to compete in high school events.A junior at Mount St. Joseph, Stanfield isn't a member of the Gaels' cross country team as the result of a run-in with the coaching staff involving insubordination last spring, according to Gaels assistant coach Gene Constantine.

When Rick Brocato steps down as St. Paul's lacrosse coach at season's end, his mentor, Mitch Whiteley, will regain the post he turned over to Brocato in 1994.Whiteley, 47, vacated the position after six seasons to devote more time to his family. His 69-18 record included a 37-game winning streak and two Maryland Scholastic Athletic Association A Conference titles.Brocato, 36, has 47 wins and two runner-up finishes in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference title game over five seasons.

Feb. 9: Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association State Dual Meet regionalsFeb. 11-12: Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association Tournament championshipsFeb. 12: MPSSAA State Dual Meet championshipsFeb. 18-19: Public school county and district championships; Maryland Private and Independent State TournamentFeb. 24-26: National Preps Tournament at Lehigh UniversityFeb. 25-26: Regional tournamentsMarch 3-4: MPSSAA State Wrestling Tournament, Western Maryland College

DID YOU SEE THE toxic waste dump at Rockburn Branch Park last year?Made of barrels, with waterfalls and soapsuds, the display at the Haunted Halloween event tilted to one side as wagonloads of thrill-seekers approached.It was probably Rick Lanciotti's best idea, said Ken Webster, a volunteer with Elkridge Adult Athletic Association and an employee of Howard County Department of Recreation and Parks, the two organizations sponsoring the event.Webster points to Lanciotti as the source for the ghoulish ideas used by the athletic association to transform an abandoned property in Rockburn Branch Park into a haunted house.

AFTER 20 YEARS trying to get the ball rolling -- literally and figuratively -- the Riva Athletic Association expects to wrap up plans soon for a $2.5 million park at the corner of Riva Road and Route 214."We're excited this is finally going to happen," said Bill Autrey, president of the Riva Athletic Association.The association, founded about 35 years ago, provides about 1,000 children ages 5 to 16 with the chance to play in baseball, basketball and soccer leagues.Tentative plans for the county-funded park call for a nature trail; four baseball fields, three of which will be lighted; three multipurpose fields, one lighted; an outdoor basketball court; an outdoor roller hockey court; and an outdoor volleyball court.

College football Towson QB Athens shares CAA's weekly rookie award Freshman quarterback Peter Athens, who led Towson to a home-opening victory Saturday, is co-winner of the Colonial Athletic Association Rookie of the Week. Athens, from Huntington in Calvert County, completed 13 of 18 passes for 132 yards and two touchdowns in a 21-17 win over Coastal Carolina. Athens shared honors with Justin Thorpe, a quarterback from James Madison. Towson (1-1) plays at Morgan State (1-1) on Saturday.

With dozens of games canceled or rescheduled because of rain, Mount Hebron athletic director Jeannie Prevosto said the baseball and softball teams are trying to play the maximum number of games allowed per week so they can get one of the top four seeds in the playoffs. "I've been doing this for 16 years and this is one of the worst," she said. "Our hands are tied, because we have [only] so many games that are allowed to be played each week." In baseball and softball, teams are allowed to play three scheduled games and one makeup per week, according to the Maryland Public Secondary School Athletic Association handbook.

With the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association's state wrestling tournament coming up Friday and Saturday at College Park, teams and individuals are fine-tuning their skills. But unlike other high school sports such as football and basketball, players from different teams can be found practicing with their strongest competition. In Howard County, River Hill, one of three teams in the state sending 11 wrestlers to the state tournament (Owings Mills and La Plata are the other two)

James Johnson had career highs with 28 points and 18 rebounds to lead No. 13 Wake Forest past North Carolina State last night. Ishmael Smith added a season-high 18 points and Chas McFarland had 15 for the Demon Deacons (21-5, 8-5 Atlantic Coast Conference), who improved to 13-1 at home and won for the third time in four games.Tracy Smith scored 18 points to lead the Wolfpack (15-11, 5-8). Miami 62, Virginia 55: : Jack McClinton (Calvert Hall) scored 11 points, well below his average, but hit a three-pointer with 47 seconds to play to help the Hurricanes (17-10, 6-8)

Towson 82, Georgia State 72 -Josh Thornton hit a key three-point basket early in overtime and Jarrel Smith also made an important shot as the Tigers beat the visiting Panthers last night. Towson (9-17, 4-10 Colonial Athletic Association) made all five of its field-goal attempts in overtime to help it outlast Georgia State (7-18, 5-9). With the win, the Tigers avenged an earlier 68-46 loss to the Panthers and ended a three-game skid. After Smith, who scored 18 points, made one of two free throws with 2:16 left, Brian Morris' basket gave Towson a 78-70 edge with 1:56 remaining.

Confusion over the status of St. Frances' first-year football team has resulted in the cancellation of its scheduled game at Calvert Hall on Saturday and several of its freshman and junior varsity games with other Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association schools. "I made the decision about canceling the Calvert Hall game," MIAA executive director Rick Diggs said. "There are some procedural issues and other issues that they [St. Frances' administrators and coaches] were probably unaware of because they put their program together so quickly.

The Joppatowne football team, which last week forfeited its first three games of this season because of an ineligible player, will also forfeit all of last season's games, according to a release from Harford County Public Schools yesterday. That decision, according to the release from the office of Teri Kranefeld, manager of communication for Harford County Public Schools, is "a result of the continued investigation of the ineligible player ... and in compliance with [Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association]

Girls performer of the year Erin Brooks Seton Keough Brooks played a major role in Seton Keough winning a second straight Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland team championship earlier this winter. Brooks, a senior who is headed to Wake Forest, won the triple and long jumps along with the 55 and 300 at the championship meet. She's the only IAAM athlete to ever win four individual events at the meet and score 40 points. Brooks was a team captain the past three seasons and a school record-holder in six different events.

Conference finals 7 p.m. [ESPN, ESPN2] Now, we all know you're supposed to dance with the one who brung ya, but first ya, uh, you have to get to the Big Dance. Four of the Big Dancers will be identified tonight, starting at 7 with the Colonial Athletic Association final on ESPN and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Association final on ESPN2. At about 9, ESPN has the West Coast championship game and ESPN2 carries the Southern final.

Senior guard Ray Barbosa scored a game-high 31 points to lead visiting UMBC to its record-setting 21st victory of the season, an 85-68 win over Maine (7-21, 3-12 America East). The Retrievers (21-7, 13-2) have won nine straight games. Barbosa made seven three-pointers, giving him 75 this season - the fifth most in school history. Women Drexel 68, Towson 63 -- Shanae Baker-Brice scored 17 points, but the visiting Tigers (18-9, 10-6 Colonial Athletic Association) couldn't come back from a 15-point halftime deficit and lost to the Dragons (16-11, 11-5)