Field Goal

- Alex Lachman hit a 43-yard field goal with no time left on the clock to lift visiting Johns Hopkins over Thomas More, 31-29, in the second round of the NCAA Division III playoffs Saturday. "I could tell by the sound it was good," Hopkins freshman long snapper Reid Vanderlinden said. "I looked up as it went past the line and knew it was going through." The win marks Hopkins' second upset of a previously undefeated team. The Blue Jays (10-2) handed Hampden Sydney (10-1) a 23-7 loss in the opening round Nov. 21 and moved beyond the first round for the first time in school history.

While a great deal of scrutiny centered on what appeared to be Billy Cundiff's rushed field-goal attempt of 32 yards with 15 seconds left in the fourth quarter of the Ravens' eventual 23-20 loss to the New England Patriots in Sunday's AFC championship game, could the kicker have been the hero earlier? On the offense's penultimate drive, the Ravens faced fourth down-and-6 from New England's 33-yard line. But rather than ask Cundiff to kick a potential game-tying field goal, the offense chose to go for it, which ended with quarterback Joe Flacco being pressured by Patriots defensive tackle Vince Wilfork into throwing the football away.

DALLAS WEEK in Washington, and shades of George Allen: the window shades he used to draw as the Redskins practiced for the dreaded Cowboys.The Redskins are practicing in solemn secrecy this week to meet an America's Team that is next-to-last in the NFL in total offense and 25th in rushing defense.The Texans' headliner is quarterback Troy Aikman, who has a golden arm, blond hair, a platinum contract and no posse. Touted after a 13-game career as the second coming of Joe Montana, Aikman ranks 24th in the league.

Right around now, the know-it-alls and armchair quarterbacks are busy whining that Billy Cundiff lost the AFC title game with his final missed field goal, or at the very least lost the chance to tie the game and possibly win. ("Left out," Jan. 23). This is nonsense. The whole team lost. Literally. Every pass under- or overthrown, every fumble, interception, sack and, yes, missed field goal contributed to the loss. And if the other team was scoring it was because they were allowed to move down the field into field goal or touchdown position.

BOWIE -- American International quickly has learned to dread its visits to Bowie State.In 1988, the Bulldogs' Cinderella trip to the NCAA Division II playoffs was made possible by a last-minute victory over AIC in the first meeting between the schools. Bowie State (3-5) will watch the 1991 postseason from the sidelines, but yesterday it posted another comeback win over the Yellow Jackets (3-3-1) from Springfield, Mass., this time by 20-17.Bowie State's offense was ineffective for all but a handful of series in the first 54 minutes, but the Bulldogs drove 90 yards in nine plays for the winning touchdown, the final 36 yards coming on a pass from senior quarterback Jason Herold to Tom Butz with 2:51 remaining.

ANNAPOLIS -- On a day in which Navy's passing game was grounded, it took an effort from two backup running backs to save the Midshipmen from an embarrassing loss.Running backs Jason Pace and Dominic Flis combined for 164 rushing yards, as the Midshipmen rallied yesterday to beat Villanova, 23-21, before 21,491 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.Quarterback Alton Grizzard was presented the game ball for becoming Navy's all-time offense leader (he amassed 159 yards, to give him 4,553 for his career)

Poly has attempted so few field goals over the years that coach Augie Waibel vividly remembers the last successful one -- which had occurred 13 years ago.And he certainly won't forget sophomore Marcus Smith's kick yesterday.Smith's 23-yard field goal just after the start of the fourth quarter proved to be the winning points in the 12th-ranked Engineers' 16-13 victory over visiting Randallstown in a Class 2A quarterfinal playoff game at Lumsden-Scott Stadium.The field goal, which sailed off to the right and barely stayed within the uprights, completed Poly's rally from a 13-0 deficit in the first quarter and staved off elimination in Waibel's 35th and final season.

What went right -- The Ravens held the Colts to two field goals after Peyton Manning had them as close as the 5- and 23-yard lines on separate possessions. DT Haloti Ngata and LB Terrell Suggs stuffed Joseph Addai on consecutive downs inside the 10 to force the Colts to settle for a 23-yard field goal by Adam Vinatieri on the first possession. An 18-yard punt return by Cory Ross late in the quarter set up the Ravens for their first points, a 40-yard field goal by Matt Stover on the first play of the second quarter.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Just when Towson State thought its second-half rally would be enough to win yesterday, American International College mounted a comeback of its own.The Tigers fell, 19-17, on a 20-yard field goal by AIC's Brian McManus with 23 seconds to play.The loss dropped Towson's record to 5-4. It winds up its season next Saturday at home against Southern Connecticut.It was only the second victory in eight starts for AIC, which still has two games to play."With a young football team like we have, it's hard to get them up for a team that's 1-6," said Towson coach Gordy Combs.

BOWIE -- A 23-yard field goal by Virginia State's Robert Okonkwo on the last play of the game lifted the visiting Trojans over defending Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association champion Bowie State, 20-17, yesterday.The victory improved Virginia State's (3-1 overall) CIAA Northern Division record to 2-0 and made Bowie State (1-2 overall and 0-2 in the CIAA) a long shot in its try for a second straight conference title."This loss really hurt us," Bowie defensive back Steve Smith said.

WJZ-TVreports that 1.112 million area viewers watched the Ravens-Patriots game on Channel 13 Sunday, setting what is believed to be a record for the station, according to general manager Jay Newman. The game was seen by 78,000 more local viewers than watched the Ravens-Giants Super Bowl in 2001, according to Nielsen data from WJZ. The audience in the Baltimore TV market was 1.269 million for the final minutes of the game when a missed 32-yard field goal left the Ravens a 23-20 loser instead of sending the game into overtime.

The season began with a thrashing of the Steelers and had the promise of ending with the Superbowl in Indianapolis, of all cities, where the Ravens had the prospect of facing off against either the 49ers (coached by our John Harbaugh's little brother) or, as it turned out, the Giants (a team Baltimore has a bit of history with when it comes to NFL championships). The Ravens' aging superstars were offering a reminder of why they're headed for the Hall of Fame, and its young core of talent was blossoming on both sides of the ball.

Terrell Suggs stood on the sideline, and the man who is never at a loss for words could only mouth the words “Oh, my God.” Ray Rice and Torrey Smith said nothing, choosing instead to stare straight ahead and wonder in silence how a long football season full of legitimate Super Bowl aspirations could possibly end like this. Fourteen yards from the end zone and a Super Bowl berth, and seemingly in position for no worse than a game-tying field goal that would force overtime, the Ravens watched two potential touchdown passes get broken up, and then Billy Cundiff pushed a 32-yard field goal wide left with 15 seconds remaining.

There was no need to ask Baltimore Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff how missing a potential game-tying field goal Sunday in the final seconds against New England with a Super Bowl trip on the line gnawed at him. The disappointment already resonated -- a mix of remorse and resolve -- in his voice. "The timing seemed a little bit off. Just the dynamics of the play," said Cundiff, in hushed tones, during a telephone interview with The Des Moines Register after a 23-20 loss to the Patriots in the AFC championship game.

In the aftermath of the Ravens' demoralizing 34-14 loss to the San Diego Chargers Sunday night, it's easy to forget that the Ravens had a chance to seize the lead on their opening drive. But kicker Billy Cundiff's 36-yard field-goal attempt strayed wide right, and the team never got that chance again. That missed opportunity could have been significant, according to running back Ray Rice. “It was momentum, but I'm not going to say that was the deciding factor in the game,” he said.

Not even Billy Cundiff was sure he would play Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts. After injuring his left calf muscle Thursday and missing practices that day and the next, the Ravens kicker was understandably concerned that he might have to sit. But after testing the leg Sunday, there was Cundiff kicking a field goal and three extra points in a 24-10 win against Indianapolis at M&T Bank Stadium. "I knew it was going to be a stretch play because I didn't really know how it felt," he said after the game.

PHILADELPHIA -- In the end of this 93rd meeting between Army and Navy, it was the faces and the embraces that told the story: the tears and sobs of defeat as Navy safety Chad Chatlos and his dad, George, embraced on one side of the field, and the cheers and screams of victory as Army kicker Patmon Malcom and his family embraced on the other.Minutes earlier, Chatlos and his Navy teammates watched in disbelief as Malcom's 49-yard field goal with 12 seconds left gave Army an emotional 25-24 win over the Midshipmen before a crowd of 65,207 at Veterans Stadium.

LANDOVER -- Rock bottom.That is where the Washington Redskins landed yesterday after they were beaten by a St. Louis Rams team that had not won a game since the last day of summer, 70 days ago.The Rams shoved the final bit of dirt in Washington's face when Jeff Wilkins kicked a 25-yard field goal with four seconds left in the game for a 23-20 victory at Jack Kent Cooke Stadium.That's right, the Redskins can no longer even count on beating a 3-10 team in their new stadium.After a 3-0 start at Jack Kent Cooke, the Redskins (6-6-1)

Zach Welch ran for three touchdowns and kicked a field goal to lead Middletown to its first state football championship in a 43-6 romp over Douglass, of Prince George's County, for the Class 2A title Saturday at M&T Bank Stadium. The Knights (13-1) had been to the state tournament 18 times without winning a title, including last year's 21-14 loss to McDonogh in the final, but Saturday, they jumped on the Eagles for the first 16 points. The Eagles (10-3) pulled within 16-6 on Taitor Reynolds' 29-yard touchdown pass to Emmanuel Smith with 28 seconds left in the first half, but the Knights scored just over a minute into the second half on Ben Lewis' 53-yard run. Welch ran for 172 yards on 24 carries as the Knights rushed for 335 yards.

After pulling off one Houdini-like act after another and limiting the Seattle Seahawks to field goals despite their advantageous field position, the Ravens defense needed to force the Seahawks to punt one more time and give the ball back to the Ravens' offense with less than five minutes left. It didn't happen. Seattle collected four first downs on its final series to run out the clock and the Ravens' hopes of avoiding a 22-17 loss at CenturyLink Field Sunday. After the Ravens cut a 12-point deficit to five with 5:52 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Seahawks committed back-to-back 5-yard penalties to begin the drive.