Crusaders

Many high school area boys lacrosse coaches would take an afternoon in a dentist's chair over the prospect of devising a defense to stop St. Paul's run-and-gun offense."

Several opponents have slowed Navy's high-powered offense recently by holding the ball for long possessions, but the Midshipmen made sure Holy Cross could not do that in Sunday's Patriot League women's lacrosse championship. The No. 12 Midshipmen jumped ahead early and kept rolling to an eight-goal halftime lead en route to a 14-4 victory for their fourth straight Patriot League tournament title at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The win ended a string of three-straight one-goal wins, including two in double overtime.

With Jay Carlson and Pat Powderly providing a precise one-two punch on attack and junior goalie Gunner Waldt firmly standing his ground in the net, the No. 3 St. Paul's lacrosse team came away with a 6-3 win over previously undefeated Calvert Hall in a cold and steady rain in Brooklandville on Tuesday. Carlson scored the Crusaders' final four goals covering two-plus quarters - Powderly providing pinpoint passes on the first three - and Waldt finished with 11 saves in the early-season Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference victory.

Those watching No. 3 St. Paul's build a 7-4 halftime lead Tuesday afternoon against No. 8 Loyola might have thought the host Crusaders would be content to settle for a routine margin of victory over a tough boys lacrosse rival. But they would've been mistaken. St. Paul's is looking to make amends for a down year in 2012 during which the Crusaders did not win a conference game and finished a dismal 3-15. To that end, the Crusaders pressed forward at every opportunity to widen the gap in what would become a dominant 19-9 victory over the Dons, who suffered their third consecutive Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference loss.

Just when it looked as if Calvert Hall was about to take a big step forward against Catholic League leader Cardinal Gibbons, the Crusaders refused to let it happen.Led by its trio of seniors Steve Wojciechowski, Ryan Beaumont and Jerard Rucker, No. 8 Gibbons outscored Calvert Hall 10-2 over a two-minute span late in the fourth quarter to capture a 62-59 Catholic League home victory yesterday."We displayed a great deal of poise down the stretch," said Gibbons coach Ray Mullis. "This was a real tough game for us."

When push came to shove, St. Paul's didn't have a push left.For most of the game last night, the No. 19 Crusaders kept fighting back against host Calvert Hall, but the No. 3 Cardinals finally broke free for a 62-49 victory in a Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association non-conference game.Juan Dixon led all scorers with 23 points for Calvert Hall (14-4). Patrick Ngongba added 18. Tiano Brown led St. Paul's (10-1) with 13, all coming in the first half.The Crusaders trailed 29-26 at halftime, before slipping behind by 14 points late in the third quarter.

Cardinal Gibbons competes on the same field where Babe Ruth once played, and the sense of history is not lost on the Crusaders. On Monday, host and sixth-ranked Cardinal Gibbons (18-8) notched a monumental win by qualifying for its first trip to the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference championship with a 7-6 victory over No. 5 Loyola. The win also sets up what Cardinal Gibbons coach Lee Schwarzenberg said is a "David vs. Goliath" title matchup against Calvert Hall on Wednesday at Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen.

For St. Paul's senior attackman Michael Watson, the test of his leadership abilities came in the Crusaders' season-opening game against No. 2 Gilman.With the score tied at 7 just 57 seconds into the second overtime period, Watson, the area's only returning All-Metro boys lacrosse player, scored the game-winning goal.The goal was the All-American's second of the afternoon, securing an 8-7 victory that maintained the top-ranked Crusaders' 26-game winning streak.More important, it was evidence that the speedy 5-foot-9, 165-pounder has accepted the challenge of leading the Crusaders to a third straight Maryland Scholastic Association A Conference crown.

Western coach Tiffany Silver stressed one thing at halftime in yesterday's game against Riverdale Baptist: cutting down on turnovers. Still the turnovers continued to hinder the No. 2 Doves as they gave the ball away 30 times - 15 in each half - in a 55-45 loss to The Washington Post's No. 1 girls team yesterday at the 13th annual Basketball Academy at Morgan State's Hill Field House. "We've got to take care of the ball," Silver said. "We cut the lead from 16 to seven and then, four straight turnovers.

Their under-19 soccer team is called the Columbia Crusaders, but that doesn't stop coaches Roy and Anita Andersch from putting outsiders on the roster.Five Anne Arundel players helped the Howard County-based squad win its fifth straight State Cup title last Sunday with a2-1 victory over the Bethesda Peppers -- last year's under-17 state champions.Amanda Simmons and Kelly Dryden, who just completed their junior seasons at Meade, have played on each of the Crusaders' five State Cup teams, and Chesapeake's Allison Nethen joined the squad three yearsago.

It's the same quick release and precise aim for Mikey Wynne this season. What's new, however, is the standout attackman's uniform. After two seasons at Glenelg, the junior transferred to St. Paul's last summer and has led the No. 4 Crusaders to a 6-0 record so far this spring. Wynne scored two goals and added three assists as St. Paul's defeated visiting Fallston, 17-8, on Tuesday. The Crusaders host Cape Henlopen (Del.) on Thursday at 4 p.m. The decision to leave Glenelg was difficult for Wynne, who has 30 goals and nine assists for St. Paul's this season.

St. Mary's squandered a 10-point lead Friday and lost, 69-66, to Mary Hardin-Baylor in the NCAA Division III men's basketball quarterfinals in Salem, Va. The 11th-seeded Seahawks, who finished their season 27-4, setting a school record for victories, fell in the Elite Eight for the second time in the past three years. Senior guard James Davenport (Loyola) led St. Mary's with 16 points, 11 of which came in the second half. Sophomore guard Nick LaGuerre (Lansdowne) and first-year forward Troy Spurrier (Glenelg)

When the St. Paul's boys lacrosse team looked back on what went wrong in its disappointing 3-15 season last year, an early overtime loss to Hereford was one of the worst memories. So when the Crusaders found themselves down only two goals to the visiting Bulls after clearly being outplayed in the first half Friday, they once again faced an early crossroads. This time, St. Paul's left the field satisfied. The No. 6 Crusaders dominated No. 8 Hereford in the second half, scoring six unanswered goals after the break for an 8-4 win. Henry Riehl, Carter Flaig and Mikey Wynne each scored two goals for St. Paul's (5-0)

Seconds fly by in a lifetime and most ticks go unnoticed. But St. Paul's junior Jack Mutchnik will never forget the two seconds he enjoyed on the mat during the National Prep wrestling championships at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., on Saturday. Trailing, 4-3, to nationally ranked Judson Preskitt of Pennsylvania's Wyoming Seminary in the championship match of the 126-pound weight class with those two seconds remaining, Mutchnik scored a sudden takedown to earn a thrilling 5-4 decision.

Aberdeen's girls basketball team got off to a quick start Thursday night, scoring the first eight points against nationally ranked Riverdale Baptist, but with the Eagles' lack of a true point guard and the Crusaders' impressive perimeter shooting, it couldn't last. Riverdale Baptist, ranked No. 17 in USA Today's Girls Basketball Super 25 and No. 4 in The Washington Post, hit 14 3-pointers en route to an 85-66 victory at No. 1 Aberdeen, their third win over the Eagles in less than a year.

As St. Paul's went for the game-winning conversion in overtime of Saturday's Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference football final against John Carroll, quarterback Anthony Pino took the snap and turned around to hand the ball to running back Dale Harris, but Harris wasn't there. Pino didn't panic. He rolled away from the John Carroll defense and spotted Rob Suite open in the end zone. Pino hit the senior receiver in the numbers for the conversion. Those two points gave the No. 9 Crusaders their first lead of the game, 28-27, and secured not only their first B Conference title in seven years but an 11-0 season at Towson University's Johnny Unitas Stadium.

When St. Mary's scored its first goal 10 seconds after a 40-minute lightning delay yesterday, one would have thought the momentum had promptly shifted in favor of the visiting and sixth-seeded Saints.Apparently, someone forgot to tell St. Paul's.The third-seeded and No. 3-ranked Crusaders shrugged off the quick score, tacked on five of their own in the third quarter and then skated to an 11-6 victory over the Saints in the first round of the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference playoffs.

It's the same quick release and precise aim for Mikey Wynne this season. What's new, however, is the standout attackman's uniform. After two seasons at Glenelg, the junior transferred to St. Paul's last summer and has led the No. 4 Crusaders to a 6-0 record so far this spring. Wynne scored two goals and added three assists as St. Paul's defeated visiting Fallston, 17-8, on Tuesday. The Crusaders host Cape Henlopen (Del.) on Thursday at 4 p.m. The decision to leave Glenelg was difficult for Wynne, who has 30 goals and nine assists for St. Paul's this season.

In his fourth season as head football coach at St. Paul's, Paul Bernstorf has the No. 9 Crusaders headed into Saturday's MIAA B Conference championship against John Carroll at Towson University's Johnny Unitas Stadium with a 10-0 record. The Crusaders are aiming for their first undefeated season since 1996 -- the last time they won the B Conference outright. In 2002 and 2003, they shared the title. Football coach is just one role Bernstorf has filled in his 18 years at St. Paul's.

At 6 feet 6, 275 pounds, Alec Auwaerter plays a key role on the offensive line for a No. 9 St. Paul's football team with a stellar running game powering its 8-0 season and a shot at the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference title. The offensive guard, who has been selected for the Maryland Crab Bowl senior all-star game, is an Eagle Scout and an International Baccalaureate diploma candidate. Auwaerter has a 3.7 grade-point average and is considering majoring in biology.