Damascus

COLLEGE PARK -- Close no more. After falling one run short of a state title last year, the Chesapeake-Anne Arundel softball team was on a season-long mission to make things right this spring. Sophomore pitcher Lauren Gibson made sure with a dominating performance on the mound, throwing a no-hitter, and second baseman Kelly Hickman provided a two-run double in the first inning that gave the No. 2 Cougars a 2-0 Class 4A state title win over Damascus. It's the sixth state championship and first since 1993 for the Cougars, who have reached the title game in three of the past four years.

Tonight's games CLASS 3A Lackey (7-5) @ No. 5 Hereford (12-0) When -- 7 Outlook -- Hereford is undefeated behind an explosive wing T, triple-option offense that has scored 555 points and is averaging 46.3 points behind running backs Lonnie Liggins, D.J. Wacker, Hasani Cromwell, Nick Depaola and Eric Hemmeter, who each have scored at least four TDs. Liggins leads the attack with 1,103 rushing yards, 20 rushing TDs, two kick-return TDs and an interception return...

DAMASCUS -- Wilde Lake moved the ball nicely on the first drive of last night's Class 3A state semifinal game. The Wildecats made two first downs and used up more than four minutes before being forced to punt. But No. 12 Wilde Lake couldn't do much else after that, needing nearly two quarters to make another first down. The aggressive Damascus defense shut down the Wildecats, and the Swarmin' Hornets made a string of big plays on offense to take command en route to a 35-6 victory. Damacus (12-1)

Matchup -- No. 5 Hereford (13-0) vs. Damascus (12-1) Site -- M&T Bank Stadium Time -- 7:30 How they got here -- Damascus: def. Kennedy, 49-0; def. Seneca Valley, 48-26; def. Wilde Lake, 35-6. Hereford: def. Mervo, 63-0; def. Catonsville, 49-3; def. Lackey, 35-20. State titles -- Hereford 3 (1997, 2001, 2002), Damascus 6 (1981, 1992, 1993, 1996, 2003, 2005) Hereford offense vs. Damascus defense -- The Swarmin' Hornets' 3-4 defense has given up 123 points, an average of 9.5 per game.

DAMASCUS -- Franklin wants what Damascus owns: the state 3A-4A championship.Damascus got that message loud and clear yesterday as the fifth-ranked Indians beat the highly regarded Hornets, 204-197, for second place in the Damascus Holiday Tournament.Although Caesar Rodney of Dover, Del., -- with two individual titlists -- won the team crown by a 47-point margin, two of the five Franklin wrestlers in the finals emerged with championships, while Damascus finished with one titlist."Our main goal was to beat Damascus," said Indians senior Stan Wagner, who edged Caesar Rodney's Darnell Custis, 6-5, for the 125-pound crown.

DAMASCUS -- Damascus did something no other team had done this season when it routed visiting South Carroll, 42-25, in a battle of unbeatens in the semifinals of the Class 3A-4A state dual-meet championships yesterday afternoon.Arundel defeated Calvert in the other semifinal, 31-26, and last night, Damascus won the championship by defeating Arundel, 31-24.Damascus won the dual-meet title in 1995 and state titles in 1994 and 1996.Damascus and South Carroll entered their match with 16-0 records, but three successive pins at 135, 140 and 145 pounds enabled the Hornets to improve their lead to 33-7, and all but clinch the match.

FiresMount Airy: Firefighters assisted Montgomery County at 9: 28 a.m. Tuesday, responding to a leaking propane tank near Damascus Fire Department. Units were out 45 minutes.Mount Airy: Firefighters responded at 4: 49 p.m. Tuesday to investigate burning furniture outside a home on Bennett Branch Drive near Old National Pike. Units were out 15 minutes.

Damascus, playing behind almost from the outset, took a one-point lead in the final three minutes and used the confidence borne of success to put away a homestanding Liberty team that is still working on that phase of its game.Favored Damascus (19-5) did not expect to have to climb out of an early 17-6 deficit, but the Hornets were there at the end for a 39-36 victory over the Lions (13-10) in the first Class 3A, West Region action for both teams.The Lions must be wondering how their shooting touches could have collectively evaporated, going from 70 percent in the first quarter to practically zero for the last eight minutes.

Old Mill looked primed to win the title going into the weekend and surprising South Carroll had the lead after the first day, but Damascus was the team that saved its best wrestling for last.The Green Hornets of Montgomery County, with three second-place finishers and two thirds, claimed the Class 3A-4A state title sweep yesterday at Western Maryland College by a 112-95 1/2 margin over runner-up South Carroll.Old Mill, which brought a state-high nine wrestlers to the tournament, finished a disappointing fifth with 68 points.

Within a month, Patterson Park's Utz Twardowicz Field should have an underground irrigation system and a new scoreboard. By next fall, a press box is scheduled to be installed, as well as additional bleachers and new signs directing traffic to the field.The renovations are being paid for by a $100,000 grant from the NFL as part of its program to promote youth football in the league's cities.Mary Roby, a community organizer with the South East Community Organization, said SECO and the Friends of Patterson Park organization applied jointly last summer at the suggestion of the United Way of Central Maryland.

Betty Olean Rogers A memorial service will be held on April 14th at 7 P.M. at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, 27015 Ridge Road, Damascus, Md 20872. The family will receive friends and family before and immediately following the service.

DAMASCUS - Sure, Brian Wilson can tell you all about his passion for parrots. It is a bond that spurred him to act two weeks ago when he got an emergency request to rescue 81 exotic birds from caged filth at a Gaithersburg townhouse. But the 53-year-old disabled ex-firefighter prefers demonstrating just how well he clicks with these brainy, vocal creatures that can live up to a century. He runs a parrot foundation from his Damascus home, though it seems like their house. His existing flock of several dozen macaws, cockatoos, African grays and other parrot types have the run of his living room, dining room, kitchen, back-room aviary and sun-filled garage.

DAMASCUS -A bird rescuer is looking for foster homes for dozens of birds that were, he said, living in filth in a breeder's Montgomery County home. Brian Wilson, founder of the Damascus-based Wilson Parrot Foundation, was with a group that plucked macaws, cockatiels and conures from the home at the end of last month. Thirty of the 81 birds have been placed in foster homes, Wilson said, and the rest have joined the 32 birds already staying at his in-house shelter. Wilson is sorting out the legal issues associated with his midnight rescue, first reported yesterday by the Frederick News Post.

DAMASCUS, Syria - Mystery surrounded a powerful car bomb explosion yesterday that ripped through a residential neighborhood on the outskirts of Damascus, killing at least 17 people and injuring 14 others in the deadliest terrorist attack in Syria in more than two decades. Official Syrian television channels broadcast footage of the blast's aftermath, including a crushed car and the mangled facade of an apartment block with windows blown out. One witness told Syrian television that the bomb was packed into a sedan.

On June 20, 2008 MAYOLA E. Survived by two daughters Gwendolyn and Annette. She is also survived by two sisters and a host of other relatives and friends. Friends may call at the Carlton C. Douglass Funeral Service, P.A., 1701 McCulloh St. on Wednesday 1 to 9 P.M. Family will receive friends on Thursday from 11 to 11:30 A.M. at the Mt. Carmel C.C. Church, 2900 W. North Ave. at Poplar Grove. Interment Saturday in Damascus Cemetery, Alachua, Fla.

On February 11, 2008, MARIA (nee Noto) CASALENA; beloved wife of the late Eliseo Casalena; devoted mother of Elio Casalena, Renato Casalena, Ezio Casalena, Anthony Casalena, Paula Tickler and Sergio Casalena. Also survived by many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Friends may call on Thursday from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M., at the Eline Funeral Home, 934 S. Main Street, Hampstead. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Friday at 10 A.M., at St. Paul's Catholic Church, 9240 Damascus Road, Damascus , MD, 20872.

Watch this weekend's state championship football games at M&T Bank Stadium and you'll see tears of joy closely intertwined with tears of disappointment. You'll see how Maryland awards trophies to winners in four classifications. What you won't see - but which is undeniably true - is how the outcome on the field is being indelibly burned into the minds of those athletes for years (and perhaps decades) to come, whether it is the satisfaction of a dream finally fulfilled or the sting and regret of how it could have somehow been different.

The atmosphere was electric. After jogging onto the field, the Hereford football players threw their hands up and were showered by cheers from their fans. The bright lights were shining off their maroon helmets, and the cheerleaders were bundled up, shouting out support for the Bulls. It was Hereford's Class 3A state title game against Damascus of Montgomery County at M&T Bank Stadium. The Bulls played hard for 48 minutes but just didn't have enough to overcome the powerful Hornets, falling, 40-20.

Matchup -- No. 5 Hereford (13-0) vs. Damascus (12-1) Site -- M&T Bank Stadium Time -- 7:30 How they got here -- Damascus: def. Kennedy, 49-0; def. Seneca Valley, 48-26; def. Wilde Lake, 35-6. Hereford: def. Mervo, 63-0; def. Catonsville, 49-3; def. Lackey, 35-20. State titles -- Hereford 3 (1997, 2001, 2002), Damascus 6 (1981, 1992, 1993, 1996, 2003, 2005) Hereford offense vs. Damascus defense -- The Swarmin' Hornets' 3-4 defense has given up 123 points, an average of 9.5 per game.

This weekend is the reason every high school football player decided to put on shoulder pads, cleats and a jersey. M&T Bank Stadium will play host to the high school football state finals, and five undefeated area teams have qualified for the biggest games of the year. The Class 3A championship game will take place at 7 p.m. Thursday with No. 5 Hereford (13-0) looking for its fourth state title and first since 2002. The Bulls will take on Damascus (12-1), a team that is no stranger to playoff football either.