Bulldogs

Bowie coach Scott Chadwick knew that for his team to beat North Carroll, the Bulldogs would have to slow down Panthers running back Steve Suter.They did just that, en route to a 21-6 victory in a battle of unbeatens at North Carroll last night.Suter rushed for 109 yards and one touchdown on 31 carries to lead the Panthers (2-1). Jarrett Randall led the Bulldogs (3-0) with 101 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 17 carries."He's a great back," Chadwick said of Suter. "We had great field position and that helped.

During the luncheon for the state semifinals on Tuesday Southern coach Meredith Smith said he was surprised to be playing Paint Branch instead of Springbrook or Montgomery Blair.It didn't make a difference last night.The No. 3 Bulldogs overwhelmed the Panthers of Montgomery County, ranked No. 20 in the Washington area, 74-35, in a state 4A semifinal at the University of Maryland. John Hemsley led all scorers with 22 points for Southern (23-3) and Dedric Galloway added 20. Larry Williams led Paint Branch (14-9)

Experience pays.That cliche never proved more meaningful than yesterday at the UMBC Fieldhouse, where a veteran UNC-Asheville team used a 10-2 run in the last three minutes to overcome a five-point deficit and beat freshmen-dominated UMBC, 71-68, in the Big South Conference opener for both teams.If nothing else, the Retrievers (5-6) earned the respect of coach Eddie Beidenbach and his Bulldogs (6-7), who were preseason favorites to win the conference title."Before the season started, I thought that UMBC would be one of the top three teams in our conference," Beidenbach said.

In 20 seasons, Southern of Anne Arundel coach Buck Gardner has the dubious distinction of being the only coach in the county to lose 100 games.Now his team is a victory away from becoming only the second team in the county to win a state championship.The Bulldogs added another chapter in their storybook season last night, defeating visiting and No. 5 Dunbar, 43-24, in a Class 2A semifinal game.Next weekend at Maryland's Byrd Stadium, Southern (11-1), ranked No. 3 and the fifth seed, will face Damascus, a 21-20 winner over Cambridge in the other semifinal, in the finals.

Meredith Smith could not recall the last time he had coached a Southern-Baltimore boys basketball team to a victory over Dunbar on the Poets' home court. But yesterday's convincing 77-55 rout of the No. 2 Poets -- which earned the seventh-ranked Bulldogs (17-5) the Baltimore City League title -- will be a difficult one for the 19th-year coach to forget. Southern's 6-foot-3 juniors Darshawn Luckey and Melvin Scott scored 29, and, 25 points respectively, including eight, and, 13 points, during a critical second period in which the Bulldogs turned a 12-all first quarter tie into a 35-23 halftime lead.

DENTON -- Sparked by a rally from a 7-0 deficit in the second game, the North Caroline High Bulldogs won the Class 2A East Region Championship, 15-7, 15-12, 9-15, 15-7, over visiting South River yesterday.North Caroline (18-0) moves on to meet another regional champion on Tuesday at Catonsville High School in the Class 2A state semifinals. It was the ninth consecutive regional championship for the Bulldogs and first in Class 2A since 1992.South River's Seahawks finish their season with a 13-3 record.

BOWIE -- Bowie State coach Sanders Shiver walked off the field, quietly spewing words that he felt best described his offense."Inept" was one. "Pathetic" was another.Only its unproductiveness distinguished the offense in Bowie State's 9-0 loss to North Carolina Central (2-1) in a Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association game yesterday that left the Bulldogs winless after three games.Bowie State rushed for 62 yards and passed for 58, for a meager offensive total of 120.Asked where his team must improve before the Bulldogs play Virginia State Saturday, the former Colts linebacker smiled.

Southern continued its amazing run toward a Maryland Scholastic Hockey League title last night, defeating Atholton, 4-2, in a league semifinal at Wells Ice Rink in College Park. The Bulldogs (8-3-1) advance to today's public school final, where they will meet Montgomery County's Sherwood, a 5-2 winner over Walkersville in the other semifinal. The championship will be played at the Gardens Ice House in Laurel at 4 p.m. Rob Durkee, a freshman, paced the Bulldogs with two goals. Of all the obstacles that the Bulldogs had to overcome, the biggest might have come from an unexpected source: referee John Niceli.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- When you come to the big city, take good care of your belongings.Mississippi State didn't last night. The Bulldogs had their pockets picked by Syracuse, which took its run through the NCAA tournament right to tomorrow night's title game with a 77-69 semifinal romp over the Bulldogs before 19,229 at the Meadowlands.The Orangemen, considered the fourth-best team in the Big East Conference heading into the NCAA tournament, will be a heavy underdog against Kentucky, but they don't mind, since Mississippi State was another favorite.

Only eight minutes had elapsed in Friday's Class 2A-1A Region IV semifinal, but Southern girls lacrosse coach Linda Kilpatrick already had seen enough.Her top-seeded Bulldogs had outshot visiting Owings Mills, 12-3, only to allow the Eagles' Michelle Asher to tie the game at 3-3 on her squad's fourth shot of the game.Calling a timeout and huddling her players, Kilpatrick shouted, "We're in the playoffs. There is no tomorrow."And the jump-started Bulldogs (9-4) responded by outscoring the 5-6 Eagles, 6-0, over the next six minutes (13-2 for the half)