Football Team

0 -- Losses that the Joppatowne football team had in Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference games this season. The Mariners finished with a 9-1 overall record and a 6-0 conference mark. 1 -- Margin of victory for the C. Milton Wright girls cross country team over powerhouse Eleanor Roosevelt in last weekend's Class 4A state championship race. The Mustangs finished with 96 points to Roosevelt's 97. 2 -- Years in a row that the Havre de Grace volleyball team has made it to the state semifinals.

Brad Best has resigned as athletic director at St. Mary's High in Annapolis, effective July 1, to take a sales representative job with the Rydell/All-American football equipment company.Economic factors played a major role in his decision to make a career change.The announcement came on the heels of Best stepping down in February as the Saints' head foot ball coach after 10 seasons and a 59-41 (.590) record. His increasing duties as athletic director, a job he has held for five years, caused his football resignation.

Navy football coach Charlie Weatherbie watched a young, robust-looking midshipman walking past him at Joe Bellino Auditorium yesterday and said, "There goes a living miracle."Weatherbie was referring to junior wide receiver Damon Myers, who spent all winter at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda taking massive doses of chemotherapy for what doctors diagnosed as a Stage IV case of lymphoma.Myers, from Norristown, Pa., was discharged from the hospital March 6. He has resumed his classes at the Naval Academy and hopes to use summer school credits to assure graduating with his class next year.

One of the overwhelming changes Bob Davie discovered last year in going from assistant to head football coach at Notre Dame was the amount of mail from the legion of Irish supporters."

The Baltimore Ravens and Western Maryland College announced an agreement yesterday for the return of the football team's summer training camp through 2001.The five-year deal includes improvements to fields and facilities at the campus in Westminster, with the National Football League Ravens paying about two-thirds of the cost."Obviously, we must have been happy here a year ago," team owner Art Modell said during a news conference in the college's gymnasium with Western Maryland President Robert H. Chambers, Ravens Coach Ted Marchibroda and college and team officials.

It seems that 1992 was a good year for local high school pitchers.Florida Marlins left-hander Tony Saunders, a 1992 Glen Burnie High grad, was named to just one All-County team his final year. Yes, the Anne Arundel County Sun's first team. Saunders was 4-4 with a 2.69 ERA and considered the county's top lefty that season. He also batted .385 as a first baseman when he wasn't pitching.Arundel's Brian Rolocut (11-1, 0.77 ERA) was the Player of the Year that season, and he, too, could end up in Florida.

The Naval Academy has gone through some turbulent times in recent years -- student misconduct, drug use, an off-campus car-theft ring and even a murder involving a female plebe.Although the troubles involved only several dozen students, it prompted Newsweek to label the academy a "School for Scandal."Helping to restore pride in the Brigade of Midshipmen has been the resurgence of the football and basketball teams. For the first time, a service academy won postseason berths in the two major sports.

The Baltimore Ravens and Western Maryland College announced an agreement yesterday for the return of the football team's summer training camp through 2001.The five-year deal includes improvements to fields and facilities at the campus in Westminster, with the National Football League Ravens paying about two-thirds of the cost."Obviously, we must have been happy here a year ago," team owner Art Modell said during a news conference in the college's gymnasium with Western Maryland President Robert H. Chambers, Ravens coach Ted Marchibroda and college and team officials.

Bye weeks are beautiful. Football fans can honestly say the Ravens haven't lost since the summer.Way back then, the Houston Oilers drilled the Ravens. We forget the score, it was so long ago. The point is Baltimore football fans don't need to be reminded it's a long season, etc. We have patience. We are loyal -- up to a point.If the Ravens do beat the New Orleans Saints, the Ravens run ZTC their fall record to 1-0. If they lose tomorrow to the 0-4 Saints, be prepared for the Agony of Quotes.

In a curious blending of sports and academia, Western Maryland College welcomed the Baltimore Ravens to campus yesterday, with Buddy Holly's "Rave On" as background music and readings from Edgar Allan Poe's poem, "The Raven."At a news conference that seemed more like a pep rally, college and county officials thanked the team's management for selecting the campus as the site of its first summer training camp and talked of an enduring partnership with the Ravens.The team has agreed to a one-year-contract with Western Maryland to hold its training camp there from July 10 through Aug. 15."

The Ravens are unbeaten in three games and ranked No. 1 in several NFL power polls. They are scoring touchdowns and compiling yards in record numbers, and their defense continues to dominate every running game it faces. It's a great beginning to a possible championship season, and we all know the Ravens are a good team, but how good? Are they capable of taking that next step from a year ago, from the AFC championship game to the Super Bowl? Some answers will come in the next three weeks.

OK, Baltimore, let's see what success does to you and your football team when it plays the Cleveland Browns today. I say this because, as you may know, the Ravens are suddenly getting a ton of national respect. ESPN.com's "panel of experts" lists them at No. 1 in the weekly power rankings. They're also No. 1 in SI.com's power rankings. And everyone from current NFL coaches to ex-jocks in the TV booth to print and Web pundits is weighing in on what a great team the Ravens are. I know, I know . . . I'm just as sick about this as you are. Because let's face it: This is not a town that does respect well.

The choice was obvious. Who should lead the Navy football team onto the field inside a packed Ohio Stadium last Saturday afternoon, proudly holding the American flag aloft? Senior Cameron Marshall, of course. The special teams player and third-string defensive end. The 26-year-old former Marine sergeant. "It's an immense honor," Marshall said. "Holding that flag - it feels like you're holding the country in your hands." Marshall does not say that lightly. He spent four years in the Marine Corps and served two tours in Iraq before attending the Naval Academy.

Baltimore is not New York. It is not Boston or Charlotte or San Diego either. This is not a shortcoming, it is a point of civic pride. While football teams from those cities were expected to go deep in the National Football League playoffs, it is Baltimore's Ravens, not the Giants, Patriots, Panthers or Chargers, playing this Sunday for a trip to the Super Bowl. What's our name? How perfect that the Ravens have been inspired by a defiant Muhammad Ali's quest for respect four decades ago from an opponent who would refer to him only as Cassius Clay.

Fallston would get my vote. Led by the field hockey team's state Class 3A crown, the Cougars have sent three teams to the state finals so far this fall. Boys and girls soccer also reached their title games. And, for the first time in school history, the football team is still alive and headed for tomorrow's regional championship game at No. 6 Wilde Lake. The girls volleyball team reached the regional final, too, but the Cougars ran into No. 1 Centennial, the eventual state champion, a little earlier than they would have liked.

2 Years since an MIAA B Conference football team defeated an A Conference team until Archbishop Curley topped McDonogh, 17-14, on Friday. 4 Seconds left when Mercy's Kelly Ward scored to give the Magic the IAAM C Conference field hockey championship Sunday. 10 Points scored by Mount St. Joseph's football team in the final 48.9 seconds Friday to upset Gilman, 27-24.

The Old Mill football team had a pretty good idea what it had in quarterback Grant Enders, wide receiver Devante Sanders and running back Jason Clements. The three returning standouts have been pivotal in the Patriots' impressive 3-0 start that includes wins over Class 4A state runner-up Arundel and emerging Meade. But an unexpected surprise has also played big on the other side of the ball with the fine play of cornerback Mike Holley. Set to take over the starting point guard duties in the basketball season, Holley was focusing on that sport for most of the summer before showing up for football the day equipment was handed out. Injuries moved him into the starting lineup and the 5-foot-9, 155-pound junior has been a defensive spark with three interceptions on the season.

6 Points the Patterson Mill football team scored in its first varsity game in school history on Sept. 5. Northwestern of Prince George's County came to Harford County and handed the Huskies a 26-6 loss. 14 Points the John Carroll football team scored in its 14-8 upset of St. Mary's, who won the MIAA B Conference last year. It gave new coach Keith Rawlings a win in the team's season opener. 15 Goals scored by the Fallston field hockey team in its first two games. The Cougars defeated Mount Hebron, 7-1, on Sept.

In the beginning, the Maryland Christian Saints were woeful. They had no field, hardly any equipment and barely enough players. They won one game and lost 10, and most of the games were blowouts, in which the Saints were overrun by more powerful teams. What a difference four years makes. Last year, the Saints - a high school football team made up of home-schooled boys, most of them from Harford County - won six games and lost five, and won their league championship. On Aug. 30, they played their first game on their new home field, beating Elkton Christian Academy 29 to 26. The Saints now have enough players to form a junior varsity team, and last year they introduced their own squad of cheerleaders (21 home-schooled girls)

After being introduced as the Ravens' head coach last month, John Harbaugh drove to the team's headquarters, thinking of everything he wanted to accomplish. There was one problem -- he parked in the wrong place. A team employee informed Harbaugh he had his own parking space, about a football field closer to the door. "I definitely have learned my way around the building," he said with grin. "I haven't gotten lost since the first week." Harbaugh is truly starting to feel at home, putting his own touches inside the Ravens' complex.