Crusaders

King and Crusader made his first foray into his native state a winning one when he upset eight other Maryland-bred 2-year-olds in the $75,000 Maryland Juvenile Championship on Saturday's closing-day card at Laurel Park. Rick Dutrow trains the son of Lion Heart, who was ridden for the first time by Victor Santiago . They surrendered the front to even-money favorite Glib in midstretch, then reclaimed the lead near the wire to win by 11/4 lengths in 1 minute, 32.09 seconds for the 71/2-furlong distance.

Josh McPhearson and his Annapolis Area Christian football teammates didn't worry when they got off to a slow start Friday night at St. Paul's. The Eagles have a strong finishing kick. McPhearson ran for two fourth-quarter touchdowns and the Eagles scored all of their points in the second half to defeat the Crusaders 29-16 in a Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference game in Brooklandville. "We're used to coming out slow," McPhearson said. "We don't get too worried when we don't come out on fire.

The deadline for submitting sports copy is 9 a.m. on Mondays. We prefer email (howardcountysports@patuxent.com). We do not accept results by phone. When two Howard County teams play, players from both teams (first and last names) must be mentioned in the write-up. Questions? Call 410-332-6578. Basketball Crusader Nation After going 5-1 and reaching the Elite 8 of the Las Vegas "Live" tournament, the Crusader Nation 17-U team went on a 9-0 run to win the Best of the Summer tournament in Los Angeles.

Where the passengers on the tour bus rolling west on North Avenue saw blocks of crumbling and abandoned buildings and overgrown lots, Lou Fields envisioned another Pratt Street in the making. Fields, who heads a nonprofit heritage tourism group, is leading an effort to revitalize what he views as one of the city's most overlooked thoroughfares. Progress is possible, he says, even in tough economic times. "Attention, awareness and appreciation — if you don't have those things going on, nothing's going to happen," said Fields, who views his role as that of "visionary crusader.

If the Cockeysville Black Ice 16-and-under softball team's year could be summed up in a word, it would be steady. The Black Ice - featuring pitcher Sarah Calta, St. Paul's School for Girls; second baseman Kerri Albert, Hereford High; first baseman Anna Jensen, Dulaney; and third baseman Hannah Thomas, Dulaney - won almost 50 games over four months thanks to clutch hitting, sure-handed defense and solid pitching. The proof of their success came in three tournament championships: the Emily Burke Memorial Tournament, in Eldersburg; the Black Eyed Susan, in Emmitsburg; and the Winter Slide, in Wikes Barre, Pa. "We were more consistent," said Black Ice coach Keith Calta, whose team went 48-18.

Forget hope and change; victimization is in. Dropped by the president and dismissed as a racist by many Americans, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright still draws crowds with his sometimes crotch-grabbing, always riveting soliloquies about black oppression. The former pastor of Barack Obama drew thousands last week to the 8,000-member Empowerment Temple in Baltimore City. Overflow lots at the church were filled, and five blocks on either side of the massive stadium-like stucco building in Park Heights - a part of town where Orthodox Jews mix sometimes uneasily with blacks - were wall to wall with cars.

The pen may be mighty, but the new graphic warning labels the Food and Drug Administration has unveiled for cigarette packs and ads on Tuesday demonstrate that photographs can be even more powerful. Finally, the FDA is turning the tables and using the kind of modern advertising techniques that tobacco companies have long used to spread addiction. A close-up of a mouth with a cancer lesion, a corpse with its chest stitched up, a child reacting to cigarette smoke, an older man smoking through a tracheal hole, a shriveled and diseased lung, these images are far more wrenching then a few easily overlooked words of warning attributed to the U.S. Surgeon General.

One of the adjectives most used to describe the Calvert Hall lacrosse team at the start of the season was "talented. " The second one that always quickly followed was "young. " With one game left in the season, the more appropriate words are "polished" and "primed. " The No. 1 Cardinals continued their season-long roll Tuesday, comfortably taking out defending Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference champion and No. 3 St. Paul's in the league tournament semifinals, 11-4, at Towson University's Johnny Unitas Stadium.

St. Paul's senior goalie Gunnar Waldt has another tough act to follow this lacrosse season. Last year, it was returning to the goal for the first time since his middle school days to replace former Crusaders standout Harry Krieger , a mainstay who went on to start as a freshman at Harvard. This year's task is even tougher. How can you top turning an early-season concern into one of the team's biggest strengths, leading the Crusaders to the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference championship?

If Tuesday's fourth quarter against visiting Georgetown Prep is any indication, the No. 2 St. Paul's boys lacrosse team is poised to begin defense of its Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference championship. With junior Spencer Parks taking over in the game's final four minutes, scoring three unanswered goals, the Crusaders were able to get past Georgetown Prep, 11-8, in their final game before league play. After a season-opening loss to Haverford (Pa.), the Crusaders have won four straight, with their league opener set for Friday at Severn.