Gators

BOYS Michael Campanaro River Hill, football Campanaro rushed for 209 yards - his fourth 200-yard rushing game of the season - and two touchdowns in leading the top-ranked Hawks (9-0) to a 48-0 rout of Reservoir last week. The 5-foot-10, 170-pound junior running back-defensive back also caught two passes for 42 yards and returned three punts for 49 yards to give him 300 all-purpose yards. On the season, Campanaro has rushed for 1,243 yards and 17 touchdowns on 123 carries, caught eight passes for 226 yards and five touchdowns, and returned two punts for touchdowns.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR Lauren Gibson Chesapeake-AA The sophomore standout combined poise and determination with a consistently high level of play to carry the No. 1 Cougars through the challenging Class 4A East region and on to the state championship. While her no-hitter in a 2-0 win over Damascus in the title game was the highlight, some of her work leading up to that point played big in the Cougars' getting there. Gibson hit a two-run homer to bring the Cougars back from a 3-0 deficit against North County in a 5-3 win in the regional semifinals.

Nine College of Notre Dame players scored in the host Gators' 16-0 shutout of Trinity University yesterday. Lauren Terry led the Gators (6-1, 1-0 Atlantic Women's Colleges Conference) with three goals. Tina Money scored a goal and had a career-high four assists to go with six ground balls, four draw controls and four caused turnovers. Trinity fell to 0-5, 0-2. Buffalo State 14, St. Mary's 13 -- Leah Bernal scored with 17 seconds left in double overtime and Steph Georgopolous scored five goals as the visiting Bengals (6-0)

ATLANTA -- After Florida won the 2006 men's national championship, coach Billy Donovan told his players the best team did not win. Last night, it clearly did. In a matchup of the two winningest teams in college basketball this season, Florida proved it was the best with an 84-75 win over Ohio State, becoming the first team to repeat as national college basketball champions since Duke in 1992. There was a sense of deja vu as confetti rained on the Gators' celebration, just as it had last year, but at the same time, the crowd of 51,458 at the Georgia Dome witnessed a feat so rare and difficult that it had not been accomplished in this decade.

Perry Hall began the month with a one-run loss to Parkville to drop to 4-9.Now, the Gators could be closing May with a state championship.No. 15 Perry Hall advanced to the state 4A title game, defeating Frederick, 11-7, yesterday in a semifinal game at Northeast High in Pasadena.The Gators (12-11) will play Glen Burnie for the state title later this week. Glen Burnie defeated Eleanor Roosevelt of Prince George's County, 6-0, in the other semifinal last night.Perry Hall used two home runs from sophomore center fielder Shawn Warner and some clutch relief pitching from Dan Markley to keep its unlikely postseason run on track.

The fifth-ranked St. Mary's Saints left yesterday's Independent Athletic Association of Maryland tournament semifinal at No. 4 St. Paul's with mixed emotions after falling 2-0."It's tough, but we're still proud of ourselves," said Saints midfielder Courtney Thornton. "This is the first time in St. Mary's field hockey history that we've made it to the semifinals, so while we're sad because we knew we could win this game, we still have a lot to be proud of."The Saints (10-4-4) tried to rally late, forcing seven second-half penalty corners.

BALTIMORE CITYBryn Mawr Mawrtians (15-1-5)Coach: Jeanette BudzikOutlook: The Mawrtians lost some of their scoring punch with the graduation of three seniors, but they return an excellent defense anchored by goalie Katie Coyne, who allowed only four goals last season. With returning links Jen Ahn and Carey Fetting-Smith, the Mawrtians also have one of the area's best midfields.Friends Quakers (15-4-2)Coach: Carol SamuelsOutlook: The Quakers graduated the key components in their hard-hitting, long-ball game, so they will rely more on the short-passing approach.

Archbishop Spalding closed out a decade of excellence in the Catholic League yesterday, and Jessica Saunders appeared poised to help the No. 4-ranked Cavaliers continue the domination into the next one.Saunders, a freshman, threw a one-hit, 2-0 shutout yesterday against No. 10 Seton Keough as the Cavaliers captured their eighth Catholic League tournament championship of the 1990s to go with 10 straight regular-season crowns.The Cavaliers (21-7) scratched across single runs in the second and third innings at Towson University, more than enough support for Saunders, who struck out 10 and didn't allow a hit until Keough pitcher Kristin Dulay singled between third and short in the sixth.

While the rest of the teams in the demanding Catholic League had their share of ups and downs throughout the long regular season and tournament run, Seton Keough simply took care of what it was doing by staying on an even course.The No. 2 Gators' first reward was a regular-season league championship and their second came yesterday afternoon at the Towson Center, where they relied on their always tough defense and a big third quarter offensively to get past No. 6 St. Mary's, 48-36, in the Catholic League tournament championship.

Something about the third-ranked Seton Keough Gators brings out the worst in St. Frances.Namely, it's called defense, defense, defense.The No. 12-ranked Panthers went to Seton Keough yesterday averaging 62 points a game but left on the short end of a 54-33 score.The win was the seventh straight for the Gators (18-4 overall, 10-1 league), who edged ahead of St. Mary's atop the Catholic League, though they are tied in the loss column. The No. 2-ranked Saints were upset, 58-57, by John Carroll Tuesday.

Christi Laite had a great season last year, leading Severna Park to an 18-3 record in volleyball. The only problem was that all three losses came against county rival Broadneck, with one in the county championship and another in the regional championship. Broadneck went on to win the state Class 4A title. Severna Park went home. Last night, Laite and her teammates got a measure of revenge, as the host and fifth-ranked Falcons (5-1) defeated the No. 3 Bruins, 25-27, 25-21, 27-25, 25-14, in a key match.

When recent John Carroll graduate Brittany Dashiell stepped on campus at the University of Florida, she knew it was the place for her. It turned out to be the place for five other local lacrosse standouts who will join Dashiell today at Towson University's Johnny Unitas Stadium for the Under Armour All-America Lacrosse Classic. Dashiell, Mount Hebron's Ashley Bruns, Severna Park's Sam Farrell, McDonogh's Kitty Cullen and Colby Rhea, and St. Mary's Haydon Judge will all suit up for the South team in the all-star event featuring the top 47 senior girls lacrosse players in the country.

ROCKVILLE -The end of Seton Keough's remarkable season came down to the final 18.7 seconds in Sunday's championship game of the inaugural ESPN RISE National High School Invitational against No. 1 seed Riverdale Baptist. The second-seeded Gators were clinging to a one-point lead, and Riverdale Baptist had possession on Seton Keough's baseline. The Crusaders had three shots under the basket that clanked off the rim before the Gators came up with a loose ball amid a mad scramble. Rianna Frazer then made one of two free throws with two seconds left to give Seton Keough the title, 44-42.

None of the St. Paul's girls basketball players ranks among the area's leading scorers, but that doesn't matter. Defense makes all the difference for the top team in the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland B Conference. The Gators allow just 29 points a game, and that has fueled an 18-0 start with wins last week over then-No. 12 Severn and A Conference foe McDonogh. "I think our defense is really good," said Gators coach Jim Stromberg, who is known for developing stingy defensive teams.

MIAMI - One by one, the Florida players posed next to the crystal football they hoped to claim three days later in the Bowl Championship Series title game. When a photographer asked what the trophy would say if it could talk, cornerback Janoris Jenkins replied, "I want to go to The Swamp!" Told that the Oklahoma players had all but smooched the trophy during their time with it, Gators offensive lineman Kyle Newell quipped, "That's the closest they're going to get to it." Jenkins' words proved prophetic last night, as No. 1 Florida beat No. 2 Oklahoma, 24-14, at Dolphin Stadium to send the jewel to Gainesville for the second time in three years.

Before last night's game against No. 2 Arundel, Seton Keough coach Jackie Boswell said her team had a chance to beat the Wildcats if her sophomores played well. They did - especially 5-foot-11 forward Achiri Ade, who scored a game-high 22 points and had 14 rebounds - as the No. 5 Gators upset Arundel, 64-42, before a packed house at Seton Keough. "We had a team bonding thing [Sunday], and we just came out ready to play," said 6-4 senior center Asya Bussie of a team scavenger hunt at The Mall in Columbia.

City guard LaShay Taft had one word for the fourth quarter of last night's game against No. 3 Seton Keough: scary. Seton Keough took a two-point lead into the quarter and boosted it to seven with about six minutes to go, but Taft and fellow guard Breaira Barksdale brought the No. 6 Knights right back. The duo combined for 13 points during a 15-1 fourth-quarter run that sparked the Knights to a 53-49 victory at Western's third annual Breezy Bishop Showcase at Poly. "This is one of the biggest wins for our team at City," Barksdale said, "because it gives us more respect than last year and it gave us confidence that we're going to go to states."

Seton Keough coach Jackie Boswell said Asya Bussie knows she'll have to carry the team at times this season. The senior center certainly did that last night. Bussie had 24 points and 18 rebounds to lead No. 3 Seton Keough to a 51-37 victory over No. 7 Archbishop Spalding in an Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference game. The West Virginia-bound senior center ruled the area near the basket and helped the host Gators in a sloppy game. "She knows she's our biggest offensive weapon," Boswell said.

Looking around at his mostly inexperienced teammates, Victor Harris probably felt more qualified than most to offer some perspective on the circuitous path Virginia Tech took to its second straight conference championship game. "Last year, we had all those veterans and seniors and stuff like that that had been through the fire before," Harris said yesterday after the host Hokies got a 28-yard field goal from Dustin Keys in the fourth quarter and a clutch interception in a 17-14 victory against Virginia.

In last night's Class 4A boys soccer championship, Perry Hall found itself up against an undefeated Bowie team that came to UMBC Stadium with gifted skills and speed and size to match. The No. 3 Gators did all they could - evidenced by the strong performance by senior goalie Zach Kane - but couldn't overcome the talented team from Prince George's County in coming away on the short end of a 2-1 result. Bowie, which got the game-winning goal from junior midfielder Dylan Thompson in the 54th minute - captured the program's eighth state crown and first since 1991 in ending with an 18-0 mark.