County Championship

Howard held off defending champion Centennial at the 35th annual Howard County Championship meet, April 22 at the Howard Community College pool. Because swimming is not a sport that is sanctioned by the county's high school athletic program, the event is sponsored by the Columbia Clippers club team. Each school had a captain that recruited his or her classmates to form a team. Although Howard County public school swimmers get only one chance a year to represent their high school in the pool, many local swimmers will be continuing in college next year.

With the ball in his stick in overtime of Monday's Anne Arundel County boys lacrosse championship, Arundel junior midfielder Aaron Snyder kept the plan simple. The result was much more than that. Snyder scored 50 seconds into extra play to give the No. 10 Wildcats a 7-6 win over No. 8 South River at Northeast High to capture the program's second county championship - its first since 1999. South River came into the game as the defending county, region and Class 4A-3A state champions, with a 10-6 win over the Wildcats already in the books from the regular season.

The Milford Mill boys track and field team needed the last event of the day in the Baltimore County track championship on Saturday to secure its first title since 1999. Milford Mill trailed Hereford, the two-time county champion, by five points heading into the 1,600 meter relay. Senior Maurice Hawkins outkicked Pikesville's Maury Sall in the final 30 meters to finish third and give Milford Mill just enough overall points to capture the title, 69-68. "I'm shocked," said Milford Mill coach Sharon Johnson, noting she only brought 10 boys to the meet.

On Senior Day, with the county championship on the line, Glenelg's Leah Allen delivered a performance befitting the reigning Howard County Player of the Year. The senior shortstop hit two home runs and made nine putouts in the field, leading the way to a 6-4 victory over No. 5 Atholton that gave the No. 2 Gladiators sole possession of the county title. "As a team we all knew we had to step up today, and being my last regular season home game, there was definitely a little extra motivation," Allen said.

A Meade-Annapolis boys basketball rematch will determine the Anne Arundel County championship at Broadneck at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.But today's blind draw at High Point High in Beltsville for the region playoffs could spoil the party.No. 10 Meade (15-5) knocked off No. 11 Annapolis (16-4) on Feb. 9, 80-70. Unfortunately, it's possible for the two teams to draw each other for the first round of the regional and be forced to play again on Friday.That's the main reason most Anne Arundel coaches would rather scrap the county championship game, as long as it is so close to the playoffs.

When Westminster defeated Urbana nearly three weeks ago, there was no indication that would be the start of something big for the Owls. After all, that win had snapped a six-game losing streak, three of them by one-goal margins.Since then, however, Westminster has won four in a row, and its latest triumph, a 2-1 victory last night at North Carroll (7-5-1, 1-2-1), almost brought it level at 5-6, but more importantly earned it the county championship with a 4-0 record. A loss would have given Liberty a fifth successive title at 4-1.While North Carroll was doing everything but taking advantage of its opportunities, an "opportunistic" (in coach Mick Ferraro's opinion)

Who can tell me what's more fun than having the opportunity to beat a backyard rival? That's basically what these county championship games and matches come down to. It's a big deal, but it is only part of the benefit that comes from them. There are coaches, even coaches who have won county championship games, who don't like them. Why? They say it can wipe out an entire season of work, the way it did River Hill's 13-0 golf record a couple of weeks ago. Or in a sport like baseball, it can be less than a classic matchup because one team might hold back its No. 1 pitcher because of a coming regional playoff game.

South River earned its first-ever trip to the Anne Arundel County boys soccer championship on an "own goal" with 12 seconds left in the first overtime for a 2-1 victory over Old Mill in Edgewater last night. Lucky for the Seahawks (12-1-1 overall), who won the county regular season at 10-1 while Old Mill (9-4-1) finished 8-3, the eighth county championship game was already set up for 7:15 p.m. Tuesday at South River. The Hawks' opponent will be Chesapeake. who were scheduled to play at Glen Burnie tonight, but late last night the Gophers forfeited due to a rules violation.

High school county championship games for many of the fall sports are upon us, and while they might bring extra excitement and another good game to watch, I have come across some situations over the years that provide an argument as to why they should not be played. One example that stands out came in 2006 when Howard County first introduced championship games and Centennial and Glenelg reached the inaugural field hockey title game. Centennial came into the game with a perfect record and had already beaten Glenelg during the season.

There are plenty of teams in a number of sports that simply dominate the county year after year.The South Carroll boys lacrosse team recently won its 10th straight county championship. The Liberty girls made it seven straight this spring.Westminster field hockey co-coaches Sue Hooper and Brenda Baker have trouble keeping count of their team's string of county titles, and the Westminster boys cross country team has a pretty good run going with 12 straight county titles.But none can match the Westminster boys track and field team, which goes after its 15th straight county championship tomorrow afternoon at Western Maryland College.

It took No. 9 Arundel nearly four quarters Wednesday night to establish what looked to be a secure lead in the final moments of the Anne Arundel County boys basketball championship game against Annapolis. It took Panthers junior Juan Brown one flick of the wrist to swipe it right back. Brown's steal, length-of-the-court drive and layup as time expired capped a stunning 8-0 run to give the Panthers a 51-49 win against the regular-season county champions at Chesapeake. Tied at 49, the Wildcats inbounded the ball with 12 seconds left, looking to finish off a game they had led by six with under two minutes to play.

The senior continued his breakout season at the Howard County wrestling championships last weekend, dominating the 170-pound weight class with three first-period pins to win the Outstanding Wrestler award at the tournament. In improving to 33-0 with 21 pins this season, Morakinyo needed a combined three minutes, 34 seconds to pin his three opponents for his first county championship. He pinned Centennial's Bradley Fasulo in 1:09 to open the tournament, beat River Hill's Sebastian Ames in 1:19 in the semifinals and topped Glenelg's Anthony Pagnotta for the championship.

New Town's Tiana Davis made two high-arcing free throws with 9.9 seconds left and the visiting Titans watched a desperation 3-point attempt go wide at the buzzer as they held on for a 48-45 victory over host Western Tech's girls basketball team Friday night. The win advanced the Titans (16-5, 11-0) to the Baltimore County title game for the second straight year. "We had to get that win and we had to make those foul shots," said Davis, whose only three points came from the foul line in the final 1:28.

In Friday night's pregame huddle, Milford Mill's girls basketball team let loose with their best impression of the Ravens' "Seven Nation Army" cheer and then emulated their football heroes by taking a big first-half lead and holding off a second-half run from Catonsville. The No. 6 Millers used their quickness and speed to fuel second- and fourth-quarter bursts to run by the Comets, 65-36, and clinch the Baltimore County Class 4A-3A division title. They will go after their second straight county championship on Feb. 19 against the 2A-1A division winner.

The No. 5 Severna Park girls and Old Mill boys showed their local rivals the importance of depth Tuesday as both cruised to repeat team titles in the Anne Arundel County indoor track championship meet at the Prince George's Sports and Learning Complex. This was the third consecutive county championship for the Old Mill boys, while the Severna Park girls have won two in a row - their first two in school history. In the boys meet, Old Mill finished with 122 points to easily beat out No. 9 Severna Park, which finished in second place with 83. The Falcons did even better in the girls meet, scoring 135 points to run away from No. 7 Broadneck (88)

The Westminster High football team had two goals in mind when it entered Ruby Field on Friday night: beat longtime rival South Carroll for the county title, and complete the first undefeated and untied regular season in school history. With those accomplishments now in hand, the Owls can move on to their main goal of winning the school's first state football championship. Westminster effectively mixed its running and passing games and unleashed the county's best defense in a 42-7 romp over the Cavaliers on Friday night at Ruby Field.  Coach Brad Wilson's team completed the first undefeated regular season in program history, while earning its second consecutive county championship.

Top-ranked Arundel erupted for six runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and went on to win its third Anne Arundel County championship game, but 16th overall, by 12-3 over No. 7 Northeast at Joe Cannon Stadium in Harmans last night. Nick Pleyo had three hits and three RBIs for the Wildcats (19-2) while Joey Frykman had a bases-clearing double in the crucial fifth inning to spoil the first appearance by Northeast (15-6) in the county final. Junior right-hander Jason Lively (7-0) scattered nine hits, struck out four and walked one in going the distance on 104 pitches.

Third-ranked Dulaney blocked any hopes of No. 12 Towson pulling an upset in the Baltimore County championship, cruising to a 15-4, 15-3, 15-1 victory.The visiting Lions (15-0) won their third straight title and finished the season without losing a game to a county opponent. The last time the Lions lost to a county team was Nov. 8, 1997, when Perry Hall upset them in their Class 4A regional final.Monday night, the Generals (12-3) hung with the Lions before falling, 15-13, 15-10, 15-2. Last night's match was different.

The Arundel girls soccer team made it a priority to drive hard to the goal in Friday's Class 4A East regional semifinal against Anne Arundel County rival Broadneck. The No. 4 Wildcats' reward was impressive connections for goals in each half, producing a sturdy 2-0 win over the No. 13 Bruins in Gambrills. Clarissa Kirsch-Downs set up Allison Shaner on the first goal and then scored the insurance goal in the second half. The Wildcats (16-1) next face South River in the region title game.

For Katelyn Goodhart and Winters Mill, Thursday was a banner night. Literally. "We were practicing in [our] gym, and we looked at the banners," Goodhart said. "We noticed that none of them said anything about volleyball. " Later this year, there will be one that does. The No. 6 Falcons (10-0) used some timely serving and a bend-but-not-break defense to defeat host and 10th-ranked Francis Scott Key (11-1), 25-22, 25-16, 25-22. The win gives Winters Mill its first ever Carroll County volleyball title, putting the team on a banner in the school's gym. "Katelyn really gave us a lift with her serving.