Harford Tech

Harford Tech sophomore third baseman Chase Gardner is creating a stir around the county with his bat and glove. Gardner is not only second on the team with a .458 batting average, but his coach, Johnny Watson, said, "He's been a steadying influence on our infield. Just catching everything. Making the plays. Making even the hard plays look easy. He's a magician with the glove. He makes everything look easy." At the plate, the 5-foot-11, 175-pound Gardner has been a "nice line-drive hitter," Watson said.

Harford Tech first baseman Kaela Mason was a sophomore on a senior-laden Cobras softball team last season. But despite her underclassman status, Mason proved to be an effective leader. During the Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference championship game against heavily favored C. Milton Wright, Mason gathered her teammates together between innings and urged them to keep battling after the Mustangs had taken an early two-run lead. She then backed up her words with action, lining the first pitch after play resumed for a triple.

Senior Devin Ewing has been a force on the Harford Tech basketball team throughout his high school career. The 5-foot-8 point guard joined the varsity during his freshman year and began starting as a sophomore. He is averaging about 15 points this season, as the Cobras split their first four games. Ewing is in his fourth year of the school's Health Occupation Education: Sports Technician and Exercise Science program and is interested in becoming a radiologist. Ewing helps a teacher run a class in which students choose their physical goals and then do different tasks in the weight room, cardio room and gym. He also helps people who are recovering from injuries.

No. 2-ranked Old Mill, chasing its 11th Anne Arundel County crown, goes into the county tournament's second day today holding a 160-110 1/2 lead over No. 3 Arundel.Severna Park was third after last night with 98 1/2 points.Baltimore CountyWith wrestlers remaining in nine of 13 weight classes, Franklin held a half-point edge over Owings Mills through the quarterfinals of the Baltimore County Wrestling Championships at Western Tech.The Indians have 96 1/2 points, followed by the Eagles (96)

Junior Wayne Hickok scored a game-high seven goals, including two in the decisive fourth quarter, as Park defeated Spalding, 12-7, yesterday in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference play-in game.The Bruins (8-6) advanced to the conference semifinals for the fourth straight year and play at Friends at 4 p.m. today.Harford Tech 6, Sparrows Point 5, OT: Sophomore Jared Bates scored his second goal of the game 3: 30 into overtime to lift the Cobras (4-9) over the visiting Pointers (9-3)

The 34th Annual National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame Annual Scholar Athlete Awards Dinner will honor 92 football scholar athletes from the Baltimore area tonight at Martin's West.The dinner will feature new Maryland head football coach Ron Vanderlinden and athletes from Baltimore City as well as Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Frederick, Harford and Howard counties. Five regional scholarship winners will be selected; one of those five will be chosen as the grand winner.

C. Milton Wright began the season with eight seniors in the starting lineup and the role of prohibitive favorite to repeat as Harford County League champion.There were some second thoughts after the Mustangs lost four of their first five games through a lack of hitting, combined with a string of errors.Wright (11-6, 7-0) moved to within one game of a complete turnaround last night, though, when it overcame an early six-run deficit to whip Havre de Grace, 13-7, at Thomas Run Park. The Warriors, with one loss, were in position to scramble the league race but dropped back to 12-3, 4-2.With only a game tomorrow with Harford Tech left, this victory was Wright's 10th in its last 12 games, one that enabled the Mustangs to claim no worse than a tie for the title.

Jamie Blankenship pinned Harford Tech's Dom Bonvegna in 3: 19 of their 189-pound title bout to lift Eastern Tech over Chesapeake-Anne Arundel, 171-to-168.5, for the team crown in yesterday's second Dundalk Invitational.With his fourth pin of the 16-team tournament (sixth of the year), the county and regional runner-up offset victories by the Cougars' No. 5 Carl Cicchetti (152, 6-0). Cicchetti had edged North County's WT Aye by 5-3, and No. 4 Chad Duncan (171, 8-0), a 12-2 winner over North County's Michawn Yuvenico (8-2)

Mike GinsbergMcDonoghBaseballGinsberg pitched a complete-game two-hitter with 10 strikeouts and allowed one unearned run in a win over Mount St. Joseph's (7-1). In two victories, the senior went 5-for-5 with six RBIs, a triple and two stolen bases.April LynchJohn CarrollSoftballLynch threw a no-hitter with 19 strikeouts and one walk in a win over Harford Tech (24-0). The junior pitcher went 4-0, striking out 44 batters and allowing three earned runs in 28 innings.Suzette MullingsHowardTrack and fieldMullings ran an 11.4 split as the anchor of the 400-meter relay, which set a Howard County record (48.2)

Harford Technical High School, prompted by increased enrollment and an overwhelmingly positive student poll, will inaugurate a football program in the fall.The school will field a varsity team in a new independent league and a JV team that will play an abbreviated schedule.Teams on its 1995 varsity schedule are Lansdowne, Patapsco, Sparrows Point, Western Tech, Carver A&T and Mount Hebron.Joe Foltz, a Harford Tech teacher and former assistant football coach at South Carroll High School, has been named head coach.

Christian Villarroel scored the game-winner on a penalty kick eight minutes into the second half as host Atholton upset No. 12 Mount Hebron, 1-0, in a Class 3A East Regional final Tuesday. A trip inside the box on Villarroel, who was attacking the goal from the left, set up the game-winner. The Raiders (10-5) face Hereford, a 3-2 winner over No. 15 Towson, in Saturday's state semifinal at 5 p.m. at CCBC-Essex. Atholton last won the state title in 2004. No. 4 Fallston 3, Parkside 1: : Mike Antinozzi, Wade Baker and Matt Hamilton each scored to lift the visiting Cougars (16-1-1)

It didn't take long to see what separated the C. Milton Wright girls soccer team from its opponent, Harford Tech, in Monday's Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference championship. The Mustangs were poised when they got close to the goal, while the host Cobras weren't quite as sure. Megan Will scored in the game's first minute and Samantha Webb added a goal midway through the first half, leading C. Milton Wright to a 2-0 win to capture the program's fourth UCBAC championship. C. Milton Wright will take a 10-4-1 record into the regional playoffs, while Harford Tech falls to 8-3-1.

North Harford ruled last week's District VII/Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference golf tournament. Ryan Triller shot a 1-under-par 71 to win Monday's competition at the Geneva Farms course. Triller was one of four Hawks to finish in the top 10 and help North Harford take the team championship. North Harford won its first UCBAC title with a score of 307, beating out C. Milton Wright (324) and Fallston (330). The Hawks are the only team from the tournament to qualify as a team for the state competition Oct. 21-23 at Potomac Ridge in Waldorf.

Harford Tech goalie J.D. Snyder certainly knows how to bounce back quickly from an injury. The senior underwent surgery for an umbilical hernia Sept. 12 and was medically cleared to get back on the soccer field the next day. He took part in the team's practice that day and played a few minutes on defense four days after the surgery in Harford Tech's victory. Snyder was back in goal six days post-surgery, helping the Cobras to a 2-2 tie with Patterson Mill. The procedure originally was supposed to have been done in late May but it got pushed back , and Snyder and coach Andy Bleichfeld thought the goalie might miss a few games.

A number of Harford County football teams will have to hit the road for the entire season this year - but other schools are pitching in to help. The football teams at Bel Air, Edgewood and Harford Tech will play all 10 regular-season games on the road because of construction. Other county schools are allowing the teams use of their fields. For example, Bel Air, Edgewood and Harford Tech are going to play at least one of their home games at North Harford, which had a turf field installed this summer.

Dominating possession throughout and finding its scoring touch in the second half, the No. 2 River Hill boys soccer team beat No. 5 Bel Air, 4-0, in the season opener for both teams yesterday in Clarksville. Jason Plumhoff gave the defending Class 2A state champion Hawks a 1-0 halftime lead, and the home team got second-half goals by Devon Gluck, Jake Pace and Jon Talbot. "Aside from finishing in the first half, we played very well," River Hill coach Matt Shagogue said. The Hawks took a 1-0 lead midway through the first half when Talbot won space on the right side and sent a cross to Plumhoff.

BASEBALL Player of the Year Woody Wlodarczyk C. Milton Wright Wlodarczyk's hard-nosed attitude as the Mustangs' three-year starting catcher rubbed off on his teammates. The result was a repeat Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference title and a trip to the Class 4A state final for the second time since 2006. Behind the plate, Wlodarczyk was fearless blocking pitches and runners. The senior catcher, who is headed to Harford Community College, threw out 14 of 21 attempted base stealers.

C. Milton Wright and Harford Tech nearly brought home two state baseball championships for Harford County last weekend, but both suffered heartbreaking losses. The Mustangs held a one-run lead in the seventh inning but couldn't hang on and suffered a 7-6 loss to Sherwood from Montgomery County in eight innings in the Class 4A state title game. Harford Tech's loss in the Class 1A title game to St. Michael's might have been more painful. The Cobras were just one out away from the championship but couldn't finish the job, and St. Michael's scored two runs to pull out a 4-3 victory.

0 Harford County boys won state championships at last weekend's state track meet. 1 Number of girls who won a state championship at last weekend's state track meet. Amanda Deller of Aberdeen swept the Class 3A shot put and discus titles. 2 Harford County baseball teams that made the state finals last weekend. Harford Tech (Class 1A) and C. Milton Wright (Class 4A) suffered one-run losses in the championship games at Ripken Stadium.

Two baseball teams from Harford County made it to the state finals in the same season for just the second time. C. Milton Wright made the Class 4A state final, while Harford Tech advanced to the Class 1A championship. According to Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association records, C.M. Wright also was involved the only other time that Harford County put two teams in championship games in the same year. That was in 1988, when Havre de Grace won a state title, while C.M. Wright lost.