Engineers

It was obvious how much this game meant to both football teams at City and Poly.Not just because it was the 111th meeting in this storied rivalry. For the first time in recent memory, both teams entered the game with losing records, and each was searching for a hint of normalcy on which to end their seasons.Poly got something to hang its helmets on, beating City, 38-20, yesterday at PSINet Stadium, and in the process, the Engineers (5-5) found comfort in knowing they finished the 1999 season at .500.

AdvertisingErin Duggan joins Eisner as senior account executiveEisner & Associates Inc. hired Erin Duggan as a senior account executive. The University of North Carolina at Greensboro graduate formerly was Tanger Factory Outlets senior marketing executive.Difillipantonio, Dobyski take posts at StrategixStrategix appointed Kristin Difillipantonio production manager and Dave Dobyski as art director for the Woodlawn marketing and advertising firm. Difillipantonio, a graduate of the University of South Carolina, has been with the firm since 1997, when it acquired Hartt & Co., her former employer.

Second-half goals by Victor Anyangwe and Eddie Bassey helped Poly to overcome a two-goal halftime deficit for an eventual 2-2, double-overtime tie yesterday at Patterson, as the Engineers remained on course to dethrone the four-time Baltimore City league champs.If Poly (5-2-1, 4-0-1) wins one of its last two regular-season games against Forest Park and City -- teams the Engineers already have beaten once -- the Engineers will take the regular-season title from Patterson (4-3-2, 4-1-1).Then it's on to the rematch of last season's title game, won by the Clippers.

Poly's baseball and boys lacrosse teams ended the regular season by toppling dominant Patterson traditions for Baltimore City League championships.The Engineers' 17th-ranked baseball team, of sixth-year coach Mark Schlenoff, went 15-2 for the city's A Division crown. In lacrosse, coach John Hammond's Engineers went 13-1, including two wins over defending City League champ Patterson, which hadn't lost to a city team in three years.The lacrosse team plays host to Stephen DeCatur in today's Class 1A-2A East region playoffs, and the baseball team plays South River in Monday's Class 2A East.

"Silicon Sky," by Gary Dorsey. Perseus Books. 320 pages. $26.There's something un-American about Gary Dorsey's "Silicon Sky: How One Small Start-Up Went Over the Top to Beat the Big Boys into Satellite Heaven." Or perhaps the story is quintessentially American, though it flies in the face of our country's idealized notions about free enterprise. Dorsey's tale is not one of first-rate engineers working long hours to produce a first-rate satellite. He writes of compromise and mediocrity -- how a team of the best and brightest deliberately threw together a "B minus" satellite to meet crippling schedule and financial constraints.

PUPILS AT WINFIELD Elementary had the chance to be engineers for a day when representatives from Northrop Grumman Corp. and Techtronics visited to talk to third-graders and several classes of second- and fourth-graders.Winfield parents Nancy and David Bittler, Kent Mathias and Mike Hines generously gave their time to talk about being engineers."The presentation is called the Discover `E' program," says Bill Pearre, school principal. "It's a program that introduces elementary students to engineering as part of the third grade's structures unit in science class."

IT'S BEEN NEARLY TWO years since your wheelster highlighted the woes of a tres dangerous curve on Bellona Avenue just off North Charles Street where most drivers make the steep descent into the belly of Ruxton.Here is a two-lane road that holds a pair of sharp curves that make driving a white-knuckle experience. When it rains, that experience takes on religious proportions as vehicles begin to slip and slide everywhere.In early 1997, Intrepid interviewed Kate Chittenden, a neighbor of this danger zone, who warned the curve is a magnet for accidents -- and State Highway Administration statistics showing 22 reported wrecks there since 1995 back her up.Recently, though, fate caught up with Kate.

Western clinched its seventh straight Baltimore City girls soccer championship yesterday in dramatic style, as Portia Wood scored with 1: 15 remaining to give the Doves a 3-2 victory over Poly.For the second time this season, the Doves rallied from a two-goal deficit to defeat their next-door neighbors. Wood also scored in the 45th minute, assisted by her sister, Jamaica Wood. She then assisted on Melinda McLaughlin's goal in the 58th minute."This is the biggest win for us, because it guarantees the city championship," said senior Faustina Dadson, who, along with the rest of the Doves, has never lost to Poly.

DISCOVER "E" came to visit eighth-graders at Sykesville Middle School Friday.Sponsored by the Electronic Sensors & Systems Division at Northrop Grumman, the nationwide educational outreach program sends engineers to schools to encourage students to consider careers in engineering and science.Engineers Meg Solomon and Larry Hajnos of Northrop Grumman in Sykesville presented an interesting scientific challenge to students in Eric Conway's science classes.Using "ships" made of plastic piping, plastic laminate and a small amount of clay, students attempted to construct water-tight bulkheads.

Eddie Henry's 54-yard scoring reception from Timmy Frazier with 35 seconds left lifted Poly to a come-from-behind 13-12 victory over City yesterday in the 110th meeting of the two programs before an estimated crowd of 6,000 at Ravens stadium.Henry's 10th scoring reception of the year was only his second catch of the game, the other being a 41-yarder, thanks to fine defensive effort by City's Todd Galloway.Marcus Smith, who had missed an earlier field-goal attempt from 27 yards along with the previous extra-point try, kicked the extra point to provide the winning margin in a game the Engineers (8-2)

Seeking ways to revitalize Baltimore's east side, the city is exploring the idea of tearing down a mile-long stretch of the Jones Falls Expressway that divides downtown from the Johns Hopkins medical campus. Baltimore's Department of Transportation has hired an engineering team headed by Rummel, Klepper & Kahl LLP to examine the pros and cons of razing the elevated expressway roughly between Chase and Fayette streets and replacing it with a landscaped "urban boulevard" that would provide access to an area larger than Charles Center or the Harbor East renewal district.

With apologies to Loyola and Calvert Hall, an even older Thanksgiving sports tradition continued Saturday at St. Timothy's, an all-girls private school in Stevenson. There, for the 113th time, the school's two rival factions, the Brownies and Spiders, met for their annual basketball game. The event, which was held on the actual holiday until the 1970s, is played outdoors, using old rules that divide the court into three zones and emphasize passing over dribbling. Baskets count as one point each in the game, which draws scores of parents and alumnae.

For the Poly football team, there wasn't much that could have seemed longer than the excruciating first half of yesterday's 120th matchup with archrival City. Except, that is, for the agonizing wait to see whether the Engineers' stunning second-half comeback in a 16-13 win before an announced 6,835 at M&T Bank Stadium had earned them a playoff spot. After going the entire first half without a first down, Poly took the lead on a pair of second-half touchdowns by running back Jon Marcus, including the game-winner with 4:47 to play.

Quarterback Davey Emala has proved this season that he is the key to the Gilman offense. The senior has been dangerous running the ball and has established himself as a leader. In the Greyhounds' game last night at Poly, Emala uncharacteristically fumbled the ball on his third carry and heard all about it from his coach. "When he fumbled, I really got after him," Gilman coach Biff Poggi said. "Because my expectations for him are extremely high, and our kids' expectations of him are extremely high.

Girls Basketball Player of the Year B.J. Williams Seton Keough The Gators' senior floor leader ran perhaps the area's most versatile offense with precision and creativity. A crowd-pleaser with dazzling moves to the basket, the 5-foot-7 guard saw the court exceptionally well and made seemingly impossible passes through the tightest lanes. With the ball in her hands, Williams conquered almost every opposing press. She could also hit the three-pointer and was a key to the No. 2 Gators' devastating defensive pressure.

Twenty minutes later, Deanna Dydynski could hardly believe it. Her Mount Hebron girls basketball team had just polished off a 28-0 season with a 55-40 win over Poly for the Class 2A state championship. And the senior forward was still having trouble processing it. "I still don't think it's really hit me yet," Dydynski said. "It was so much fun playing this year. ... It's a dream come true. It's what every senior wants - to win and to win state. And we went undefeated. I think that's a great accomplishment."

Poly's girls basketball team learned a few things from last year's experience in the state semifinals, and they paid off last night. The No. 12 Engineers broke the press and dominated the boards down the stretch to turn a close game into a 62-55 victory over Wicomico in the state Class 2A semifinals at UMBC's RAC Arena. Poly (21-5) will meet No. 4 Mount Hebron for the title, 5 p.m. Saturday at UMBC. Early on, Poly struggled with the press just as it had a year ago, committing 45 turnovers in the semifinal loss to Southern.

A federal judge sentenced a Prince George's County man yesterday to serve two years in prison for filing more than $300,000 worth of false overtime and expense claims with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. U.S. District Judge Andre M. Davis sentenced Myron Price, 45, of Accokeek to two years in prison followed by three years of supervised release for making false claims for overtime and travel expenses in connection with his work as a physical scientist for the Corps of Engineers. The judge also ordered that Price pay restitution of $379,436.

Experience and senior leadership guided Poly's volleyball team to quick victories in the first two games of last night's match against Western and then helped the Engineers close out a tight third game. The Engineers didn't want to give their next-door neighbors and top rivals even the slightest chance to come back in a fourth game as they closed out a 25-9, 25-13, 25-23 victory in a Baltimore City league game. Senior outside hitter Erin Cox had six of her 11 kills in the third game, and seniors Kamilah Blackston and Shante Mercer closed the match with blocks on the last two points.

The year 1967 was a watershed of sorts for bridge failure. The Silver Bridge in West Virginia collapsed unexpectedly that year, killing 46, and the disaster led engineers to place much more emphasis on what they called redundancy. Simply put, redundancy means that if one part fails, the whole bridge won't go down. The lesson came too late, though, for the builders of the Interstate 35 bridge in Minneapolis, which was opened that same year, and which failed catastrophically during the Wednesday evening rush hour.