Crusaders

C. Milton Wright handed Fallston football its first loss of the season Friday, defeating the host Cougars, 19-14. Fallston jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, as running Marc Badger had a rushing touchdown, and receiver Wyatt Alexander caught a scoring pass from quarterback Brendan Weinhold. After blocking a Fallston punt and recovering on the Cougars' 20-yard line in the second quarter, C. Milton Wright got its first points of the game when quarterback Omar Walker hit Will Hazelton with a 15-yard touchdown pass.

When: Friday, 4 p.m. Coaches: Sean Murphy, Archbishop Curley; Paul Bernstorf, St. Paul's Last meeting: Archbishop Curley won, 35-0, last season KEY PLAYERS TO WATCH Archbishop Curley: RB-DE Nik D'Avanzo, Sr. (42 carries, 269 yards, 5 TDs; 22 tackles, 6 sacks, 2 forced fumbles); RB-LB, Kenny Thomas, Sr. (57 carries, 324 yards, 3 TDs); RB-DB Fred Johnson, Jr. (20 carries, 137 yards, 1 TD); RB-DB Nick Farmer, Jr. (16 carries, 103 yards, 3 TDs); QB Cyrus Boardman, Soph.

While Gilman and St. Paul's are only about six miles apart, there was a world of difference in the play of the two teams in the season opener Wednesday afternoon in Roland Park. The Greyhounds rolled to a 4-0 victory over the visiting Crusaders, building a 16-4 shot advantage while scoring three times in the second half in a match between Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A and B Conference foes, respectively. Junior forward Brendan Barger scored twice for Gilman. "We were just physically manhandled in the second half," St. Paul's coach Danny Skelton said.

Gilman football players are used to opening their season with a challenging nonleague schedule, but this year, they're starting in "the Bermuda triangle. " The Greyhounds, last year's Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference champions, travel to meet Ohio powerhouse Archbishop Moeller in Cincinnati on Sunday night for the nationally-televised ESPN High School Football Kickoff. After that, they play at Good Counsel on Aug. 31 and face Don Bosco Prep, from New Jersey, at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on Sept.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, enjoying the freedom that only a final term in office can bring, has proposed banning the sale of soda and other sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces at restaurants, sports venues, delis and food carts, effective next March. If you want your drink super-sized, you will have to buy two - or go back for a refill. And New Yorkers, who never harbor an unexpressed thought for very long, are outraged. Some see this as the nanny state gone wild, and another liberty, like the right to consume trans fats in restaurants, trampled by the health-nut mayor (who has built an edifice to his passion here in Baltimore)

Maryland horse racing got exposed for a lack of oversight Tuesday during an appeal to have the Rick Dutrow-trained King and Crusader reinstated as the winner of the $75,000 Maryland Juvenile Championship at Laurel Park. Dutrow and his horse's owner James Riccio lost the appeal, but Maryland horse racing may have lost more, as officials at Laurel Park were found to have not followed all of the proper procedures on the night of that December race. "I'm stabled at Laurel Park," said John Robb, the trainer of Glib, the second-place finisher who was declared the winner of the Juvenile Championship.

Aberdeen's No. 1 girls basketball team found itself in double jeopardy Tuesday night at nationally ranked Riverdale Baptist. The Eagles managed to climb out of a 10-point first-half hole, but when Riverdale made its run in the third quarter, they weren't able to answer, falling, 72-51, for their first loss of the season to the Crusaders, ranked No. 6 in USA Today's Girls Basketball Super 25 and No. 1 in The Washington Post. "It's a great learning experience," Aberdeen forward TK Fowlkes said.

No. 1 McDonogh earned titles from Jack Clark (145 pounds) and Roman Braglio (285) and captured the team championship at the Maryland Independent Schools state wrestling tournament Saturday, claiming the A Division title for the first time since 2008 by beating No. 3 Archbishop Spalding, 270.5-228.5. But even Eagles coach Pete Welch said it felt like the night belonged to A Division fourth-place finisher St. Paul's, which saw four of its five finalists win championships at the tournament held at McDonogh.

The owner of King and Crusader, the Rick Dutrow-trained horse that was disqualified last week after winning the $75,000 Maryland Juvenile, has appealed and filed a protest with the Maryland Racing Commission. "All they wanted to do at the stewards' hearing was blame Dutrow and the [veterinarians]," James Riccio said in a phone interview Tuesday. "I've filed the appeal and a complaint because the horse should have been scrutinized before the race. They didn't vet him. I'm supposed to get protection, too. I'm not looking to send my horse all the way to Laurel and run him for no reason.

Maryland's horse racing stewards have disqualified the Rick Dutrow-trained King and Crusader and from the Maryland Juvenile Championship and fined Dutrow $500, upholding the protest filed by the connections of the second-, third- and fourth-place finishers in the Dec. 17 race at Laurel Park. According to Maryland regulations, a horse may not be treated for anything within two hours of post time, and the stewards found King and Crusader had been treated within an hour of the race by licensed private veterinarian Brian Delp.