Eagles

At least now we know why Maryland coach Mark Turgeon had been so reluctant to speculate about Maryland's NCAA prospects. Even after the Duke win, Turgeon sensed there was far too much basketball left -- too much room for error -- to assume that his team had somehow turned a corner and was pointed toward the field of 68. After watching Maryland's 69-58 loss to Boston College, you get the sense the Terps are a team that can get ahead of itself....

McDonogh junior midfielder George Campbell, an All-Metro first-team selection, has been named the 2012-13 Gatorade Maryland Boys Soccer Player of the Year.  In his third varsity season, Campbell finished with six goals and nine assists as the playmaking catalyst for the Eagles. Campbell becomes the fifth McDonogh standout to win the award, joining Jon Cole (1998-99), Mike Marchiano (2004-05), Chris Agorsor (2007-08) and Marquez Fernandez (twice in 2008-09 and 2009-10). Agorsor went on to to be named the Gatorade National Player of the Year.  Campbell is still weighing his college options and has narrowed his choices to North Carolina, Maryland, Wake Forest, Louisville and Duke.

Ryan Gartland, a freshman at Harker Heights High School in Texas and the grandson of Gary and Alice Boettcher of Churchville, has achieved Scouting's highest rank. He completed his final rank requirement by passing an Eagle Board of Review on Dec. 14, 2012, and achieved his goal of becoming an Eagle Scout during the 100th anniversary year of Eagle Scouts. Ryan started his Scouting adventure in 2004 with Pack 255 in Harker Heights. He continued with the pack and earned his Arrow of Light prior to crossing over to Troop 255, in Harker Heights in 2009.

For a few minutes on Saturday afternoon, St. Vincent Pallotti's Antonio Santoro was the most popular person on McDonogh's campus. Unfortunately for him and the No. 1 Eagles, it didn't last. Santoro lost a 6-1 decision in the championship match at 285 pounds to Good Counsel's Jemal Averette, giving the Falcons the three points they needed to pass host McDonogh to win their first-ever A Division team championship at the Maryland Independent Schools state tournament. The Falcons accumulated 266 points en route to the win, besting McDonogh's total of 264.5 points.

Quarterback Dennis Dixon , who spent this past season on the Ravens' practice squad, has signed a two-year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles, the team and his agent announced this afternoon. The much-anticipated move reunites Dixon with Eagles coach Chip Kelly , who Dixon played under at the University of Oregon. Dixon, 28, will join a quarterback competition that also includes Michael Vick and  Nick Foles . Vick agreed to a restructured three-year deal with the Eagles earlier this week, but he he has not been guaranteed the starting job. The Ravens initially tried out Dixon last spring, but opted to sign Curtis Painter over both Dixon and Kyle Boller . However, Painter was released in the Ravens' final roster cutdown before the start of the season, and the Ravens ultimately signed Dixon to their practice squad.

At times this season, Archbishop Spalding's girls basketball team has gone away from its inside strength, but the No. 1 Cavaliers used their physical advantage with 5-foot-11 Camille Calhoun and 6-foot Jade Scaife to earn their fourth straight trip to the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference championship. Calhoun scored eight of her 14 points in the first quarter and had 15 rebounds in the game, while Scaife finished with 17 points and five rebounds as the host Cavaliers won their semifinal Thursday, 61-52, over No. 5 Roland Park in a game that was much closer than the final score.

Morgan State and Coppin State are separated by about six miles in Baltimore City, and they are also neighbors in the bottom half of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference men's basketball standings. In the 74th meeting between the two schools on Saturday, the Bears separated themselves a bit from the Eagles with a dominant 80-51 victory before an announced 2,516 at the Coppin State Physical Education Complex. Morgan State snapped a three-game losing streak, while Coppin State suffered its fifth consecutive loss.

The top four seeds in nine of the 14 weight classes all advanced to the semifinals after the first day of the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association wrestling tournament at Mount St. Joseph. The semifinals, which begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday, will feature a team-high 10 wrestlers from No. 1 McDonogh, who was in second place (93 points) behind No. 3 John Carroll (102) after the first day. The Patriots placed eight wrestlers in the semifinals, while No. 6 Archbishop Spalding (third place with 84)

Aberdeen's No. 1 girls basketball team knows how to keep rolling no matter what happens to its lineup. Playing without four of the top eight players including two starters, the host Eagles easily handled No. 14 Patterson Mill, 75-51, in a key Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference game Thursday night. When the two met on Jan. 10, the Eagles barely pulled out a 60-57 win, but that was right after the first big change to their lineup - their first game after 6-foot-3 senior center Brionna Jones, last season's All-Metro Player of the Year, suffered the torn anterior cruciate ligament that has sidelined her for the season.

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.