Cougars

Laugh all you want, but Agnes Muhl has no doubts about what she, her husband and her mother saw in the front yard of their Thurmont vacation home eight years ago."It was a cougar," insists the 57-year-old Catonsville woman. "It was sitting there looking at the smoke coming out of our chimney."Mrs. Muhl isn't alone. Over the past 25 years, dozens of Maryland residents have reported cougar encounters, even though wildlife officials insist that mountain lions haven't roamed the state for at least a century.

There wasn't any defining moment or quick string of goals in Wednesday's Class 4A East boys lacrosse region title game featuring defending state champion South River and its Anne Arundel County rival Chesapeake. It was more just South River doing what it does best this time of year. The No. 10 Seahawks controlled play most of the way, methodically finished off scoring chances and clamped down on defense when called upon to earn a thorough 10-3 home win over the No. 13 Cougars and return to the Class 4A-3A state semifinals.

Since Fallston High School opened in 1977, its field hockey program has won 13 state championship titles, an average of one every 2.6 years for those who have a penchant for sports stats. The Cougars did it this year by knocking off the Warriors of Pocomoke City, 4-2, in a game played at Washington College. It was the second state championship for the field hockey team at Fallston under the leadership of coach Megan Grant, who was also at the helm of the 2009 team that won the school its 12th title.

Four days after winning the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference championship, St. Frances is no longer in the Baltimore Catholic League playoffs. Mount Carmel upset the No. 1 Panthers, 59-50, in the BCL quarterfinals on Thursday night. Junior guards Johnny Rhodes and Brian Cunningham led the visiting Cougars offensively, while coach Tom Rose attributed the victory to great team defense. "We just had an outstanding team effort tonight," Rose said. "I mean, we had eight guys who scored tonight for us. We really spread the ball out well.

For most of Saturday night's Class 2A state final at UMBC, fourth-ranked Fallston appeared to have all of the answers for the high-powered offense of No. 2 Marriotts Ridge. The Mustangs, however, kept pressing and finally broke through when Kwadwo Owusu-Boiatey headed in a corner kick from Kyle Mercer with 6:07 left in the first overtime to give Marriotts Ridge a 1-0 victory. It was the Mustangs' first state title and their 16th consecutive victory. The Mustangs have only given up five goals over that stretch.

With the loss of its entire front line from a year ago, it appeared Fallston's two-time defending state champion field hockey team might stumble this season.After all, replacing the nearly 25 goals lost would not be an easy task, considering the Cougars were starting three newcomers on attack.Then again, Fallston never has been a team short on talent and Kate Simon, Carrie Wirth and Danielle Marconi have shown unusual poise for sophomores.Led by Wirth's eight goals, one assist and Simon's seven goals and two assists, the Cougars have scored three goals in a game eight times and through Friday, No. 2 Fallston (9-0, 6-0)

"I always have hopes -- hopes and fears," says Chesapeake girls soccer coach Lin Sullivan. "This year, more of my hopes have come true than my fears."And by a wide margin.Sullivan's team has tip-toed up the metro area rankings, all the way to No. 4 and past such perennial heavyweights as Old Mill (No. 5), St. Mary's (No. 7) and Severna Park (No. 10). The Cougars and Old Mill began the week as the only undefeated county squads.Chesapeake entered the season ranked No. 13, but seven victories later, the Cougars have left other teams in their dust.

It's been a wacky high school baseball season, but Severna Park got just plain whacked yesterday.Chesapeake handed the Falcons a mind-blowing 13-7 loss to avenge an earlier 10-5 setback.To break a 7-7 tie, the Cougars had seven hits, including three of their four triples on the day, and two home runs in a six-run fifth inning.Their 14 hits in the game came against three different pitchers, including the Falcons' No. 2 hurler, John Ritter (6-2).The Falcons were rocked most by senior center fielder Mike O'Brien, who went 3-for-5 with eight RBI, and lacked only a double to hit for the cycle.

Fallston's girls basketball team took everyone in Class 1A by surprise last year, going to the state title game with four freshmen in the lineup.This year, the Cougars won't surprise anyone. With a 16-4 record, the Cougars have won 13 of their last 14 games, including nine in a row.The freshmen phenoms of a year ago -- Candy Credito, Suzy Harrison, Lori Heffley and Jenny Weber -- now are seasoned sophomores. All have started at least a few games along with seniors Pam Toth and Cindy Jenkins.

The race for the county boys soccer title could all come down to Thursday's contest between Fallston and C. Milton Wright.Defending champion Fallston and C. Milton Wright were both undefeated against county foes going into Tuesday night's games.If the Cougars can get past Edgewood and the Mustangs can knock off Joppatowne on Tuesday, they would set up a Thursday night showdownat Fallston at 6:45 p.m.The Mustangs probably face the biggest Tuesday night test, since Joppatowne beat them last year, 2-1. But even if they were to lose to Joppatowne, the Mustangs could complicate the county title race -- and maybe claim a piece of it for themselves -- by knocking off Fallston.

Isaiah Black threw a go-ahead 24-yard touchdown pass to Micah Till with 2 minutes, 14 seconds left, and Wise's defense held off a furious late drive by Quince Orchard to capture its first Class 4A football state championship with a 12-7 victory Friday night at M&T Bank Stadium. Black did not attempt a pass in the first half as the Pumas (13-0) from Upper Marlboro stuck to their run-heavy offensive script, but the junior took over at just the right time in a game controlled by two dominant defenses.

In a battle of defending state champions, Fallston ran into Severna Park at the wrong time. After losing to No. 7 Broadneck in its season opener earlier in the week, No. 6 Severna Park wanted to play better Saturday. The Falcons got their wish, using first-half goals from Adley Beairsto and Sam Slattery for a 2-0 victory over No. 14 Fallston in the Sally E. Nyborg Invitational at Roland Park. Fallston won the Class 1A state title last year, and Severna Park was the champion in Class 4A. Both schools are among the most successful field hockey teams in state history, but this game belonged to Severna Park from the start.

For Fallston to win its second state girls lacrosse championship, the Cougars were going to have to get past two-time defending champion Winters Mill for the second time this season. Jenna Mosketti sparked the senior-laden Cougars to a quick three-goal lead and they held Winters Mill scoreless for nearly 23 minutes through the middle of the game to beat the Falcons, 13-9, for the state Class 2A-1A championship Tuesday night at UMBC. "I'm proud of our defense," said Fallston coach Mike McTeague, whose team also won a 2009 state title.

COLLEGE PARK - No. 14 Centennial's season came to an end Thursday afternoon at the Comcast Center with a 69-61 loss to Thomas Stone in the Class 3A state semifinals. Thomas Stone took a 23-22 lead at the halftime buzzer on a 3-pointer by junior guard Michael Briscoe (21 points, five assists), and pulled away for good in the third quarter. "Going into the locker room that was a lot of excitement, knowing we can get above this team," said Thomas Stone senior center Brelin Elliott, who finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.

After suffering their first loss of the season on Friday night, the Havre de Grace Warriors rebounded during Tuesday's tri-meet at Magnolia Middle School for victories over the North Harford Hawks and Harford Tech Cobras. The Warriors came out on top of their matchup with North Harford, 113-75, and topped Harford Tech, 131-57. North Harford also beat Harford Tech, 102-86. Havre de Grace began the meet with a victory, with Hunter Infeld, Robbie Orzewicz, Renz Amato and Daniel Schoeberlein teaming up to win the boys 200-yard medley relay.

The North Harford swim squad picked up an overall victory on Tuesday night, defeating the Joppatowne Mariners 221-112 in a dual meet at North Harford Middle School. The Hawk girls defeated the Mariners 120-49, while the North Harford boys team topped Joppatowne 101-63. Leading the way for the Hawks were Zoey Friedel, who took top honors in the girls 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke, and Robbie Beichler, who raced to first place in the boys 200-yard individual medley and 500-yard freestyle.

There was 41 years worth of ice hockey experience going into the Carroll County Cougars' first year of developmental play in the Maryland Scholastic Hockey League. It came from a total of five players.The rest of the dozen or so players who filled the roster were newcomers to the sport. Most didn't even know what offsides was.There have been other battles for coach Matt Todd and his Cougars, starting with equipment and time slots to play their games.Ice time for practice also is hard to come by, costing around $180 an hour at the closest rinks in Frederick and Columbia.

The scoreboard planted down one end of the Chesapeake softball field serves as a not-so-subtle reminder.It reads, "Home Of The State Champion Cougars.""And until someone proves otherwise, we are," said Coach Dennis Thiele.Chesapeake opened its defense of the 4A state title yesterday by defeating Glen Burnie, 3-0, in the first of three possible meetings between the league rivals.The Cougars travel to Glen Burnie on April 22, and both teams are competing in this weekend's tournament at North County, where they either could clash in the finals or theconsolation round.

Old Mill's Rob Chesson didn't score a touchdown for the first time all season in the state Class 4A championship game Friday night, but the senior running back scored the only two points that mattered in the end. His two-point conversion run in overtime finished off a stunning recovery from 21 points down to give the No. 3 Patriots a 36-35 victory over Quince Orchard that polished off a 14-0 season at M&T Bank Stadium and gave them their second title...

State Championships (At M&T Bank Stadium) Class 4A No. 3 Old Mill (13-0) vs. Quince Orchard (13-0) When: Friday, 7:30 p.m. TV: Ch. 54 Coaches: Chad McCormick, Old Mill; Dave Mencarini, Quince Orchard Outlook: There's no secret to Old Mill's success. Aiming for their second state championship in three years, the Patriots rushed into the title game on the state record-breaking performance of RB Rob Chesson, who scored seven touchdowns in the 49-20 semifinal win over No. 4 and previously-unbeaten Catonsville to bring his season total to 49. That crushed the old record of 43 set by Wicomico's David Brown in 2007.