Curley

Center fielder Michael Floyd went 4-for-4 with a two-run homer, as No. 3 Mount St. Joseph pummeled host Curley, 19-5, yesterday in a Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference game stopped after six innings."

Unknown to Archbishop Curley, last night was a sentimental journey of sorts for the St. Paul's Crusaders.For 10 of their seniors, the Maryland Scholastic Association C Conference semifinal was to be their final home game, and they were determined to go out a winner.By outscoring the Friars 14-0 to open the game, they all but assured that. The Crusaders outshot, out-rebounded and outplayed Curley en route to an 81-53 win."When it came down to playing in this gym for the last time, it meant a lot," said St. Paul's guard Rob Bouse, who scored 20, including five three-pointers.

Archbishop Curley senior Brent Hooper's creativity, skill and smarts helped the Friars rise to No. 1 in The Sun's boys soccer poll last week. He is a third-year starting center midfielder, an Olympic Developmental regional team pool player and former member of July's National champion Casa Mia Bays club team. Hooper has maintained a 3.8 grade-point average in honors and advanced placement courses. He turned down offers from Georgetown, Northwestern and Bucknell for a soccer scholarship to Virginia Tech.

Severn's boys basketball team struggled from the field, but buried the necessary free throws yesterday as it turned away visiting Archbishop Curley, 40-38, in the quarterfinals of the Maryland Scholastic Association C Conference Tournament.The Admirals (15-7) converted only 16 of 49 shots from the floor but netted three of their last four foul shots to advance to tomorrow's 7 p.m. semifinal matchup at St.Paul's.With only seven players dressed for the game, Curley (8-24) welcomed Severn's zone defense.

Officially, there was no winner and no loser, but the post-game reactions told an entirely different story.No. 13 Gilman's players were celebrating while No. 6 Archbishop Curley's were glum after the two schools fought to a 1-1 tie last night in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference title game at UMBC."

Pep Perrella couldn't decide whether to howl or to scowl."I couldn't make up my mind if I should pat them on the back for the first half or chew them out for the second half," said the Archbishop Curley soccer coach.His third-ranked team had pulled a Jekyll-and-Hyde act yesterday in a Maryland Scholastic Association A Conference Tournament quarterfinal, but fortunately for Curley, the good side outweighed the bad.The Friars played crisp, team-oriented soccer to roll to a 3-0 lead, then spent the second half in a survival mode before securing a 3-1 victory at Curley.

Archbishop Curley players call it The Pound, the Friars' soccer pitch, with its uneven terrain and portions devoid of grass."It ain't pretty," said the Friars' striker, Steve Ball. "But we play good soccer here and we're tough to beat on it."It's a field on which the third-ranked Friars (8-1, 8-0) have won 28 straight games counting yesterday's 3-0 victory over No. 12 Loyola in a Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference game.In Loyola (6-3-1, 5-2-1), the Friars downed a team whose only losses were against No. 1 Fallston, 2-0, and by 3-2 against No. 4 Calvert Hall after holding a 1-0 lead.

Archbishop Curley coach Gregg Kessler watched his seventh-ranked Friars wrestling team edge No. 10 Hereford and No. 11 Owings Mills to win the Franklin Invitational yesterday. But Kessler had a little more fun in this tournament than in most. The reason: Kessler was a four-time state champion at Owings Mills in the early 1990s and got a rare chance to compete against his old coach, Guy Pritzker, who won his 400th match last week. Kessler is in his third year as a coach at Curley, and his team earned three individual titles and one second-place finish to score 201.5 points, beating Hereford (196.

Archbishop Curley senior Anthony Celenza says this year's Friars are a team rather than a group of individual players.In yesterday's 5-2 win over visiting Cardinal Gibbons (11-5-2) in the Maryland Scholastic Association A Conference semifinals, Celenza was a team all by himself.Celenza scored four goals to lead the third-ranked Friars (17-1) to the championship game, where they will face No. 2 Calvert Hall on Monday at 3:15 p.m. at Essex Community College. Calvert Hall beat Mount St. Joseph, 4-1, in yesterday's other semifinal.

Archbishop Curley's Andrew Sellers is the consummate athlete. The senior dominated on the football field this season as a middle linebacker, registering 176 total tackles and shattering the school season record by nearly 50 in the process. He wrestled for three varsity seasons, too, but his favorite sport is lacrosse. He helped Curley win a Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference title last year, and the Friars are expected to repeat this year, having reeled off 25 straight B Conference victories.