Manchester

The Manchester Valley boys soccer team had plenty to deal with in Saturday's Class 1A state final against defending champion Mountain Ridge. The Miners from Allegany County went into the game with 17 wins in 18 tries and averaged 3.7 goals, boasting a relentless offense led by 26-goal scorer Chris Ranker. Through 100 minutes of soccer, the Mavericks stubbornly stood their ground with a defensive effort that forced the scoreless game to be decided on penalty kicks. It was then that Mountain Ridge finally found the mark.

Of all the homemade greeting cards in her decorated box at Manchester Elementary School, Madison Gleespen held up a pack with American flags in the top corner. A closer look reveals that the flags are really handprints of the kindergartner students at the school. "These are my favorite ones," said Madison, 8, smiling. "I really like how they did that. It's a creative way to say 'thanks.' " Since the beginning of November, Madison has been collecting for Operation Christmas Cards, an organization that sends cards to soldiers overseas during the holidays.

"Game on, cancer!" With those words, Katie White and her fellow Manchester Valley High School teammates took to the volleyball court Oct. 12 to fight not only their opponents from Brunswick, but cancer - in all its many forms. Fighting cancer has become a personal mission for the team. During the squad's first season three years ago - Manchester Valley had just opened - White's mother, Cheryl, was diagnosed with cervical cancer. The team banded together and with the help of coach Mindy Unger, organized the first Serve Up a Cure fundraiser.

The clubs were the same, as were many of the players. The stadium was stuffed with supporters in Manchester United's red and FC Barcelona's claret and blue. But the trophy was not for winning the European Champions League. Rather, NBA star Kobe Bryant presented a sponsor's trinket to defender Nemanja Vidic to mark United's 2-1 victory in a friendly Saturday before an announced 81,807 at FedEx Field — a record crowd for a soccer match in the Washington area. The outcome won't soften the disappointment of losing to the Catalan club in the prestigious continental final in May at Wembley Stadium but will provide a dose of gratification heading into the English Premier League season in two weeks.

Ray Brasfield, owner of Cygnus Wine Cellars in Manchester, describes the Chancellor red wine grape as an old French-American hybrid that been grown in the eastern United States since the 1960s. "It has kind of come and gone as a popular grape, although at one time it was the most widely planted red grape in France," Brasfield said. "But there really isn't much of it planted in Maryland," he added. Though Chancellor's popularity has ebbed and flowed, Brasfield hit a fresh note with it when he used it for one of his most recent vintages of sparkling wine Cygnus's Royele Rose' de Noir Brut Rose, released in December, was hand-made exclusively from first pressings of Chancellorsville grapes, grown just up the road from Manchester, at Quail Vineyard, in the rolling hills of northeasternCarroll County.

The graduation ceremony for Manchester Valley High School was held May 31 at McDaniel College. The following are members of the school's Class of 2011: Alexander Keith Alford Samuel Donald Angle Katherine Louise Ashby Tiffany Lynn Bachman Julianne Elizabeth Badders Rosalie Marie Badolato Morgan Kelly Baker Sloane Marie Bankert Rebecca Ann Bauerlien Ashlee Victoria Beebe-Lee Jeffrey Scott Bell...

On her first day as a junior at the brand new Manchester Valley High School, Christina Wingate didn't exactly embrace the dark blue and silver colors of her new school. On Manchester Valley's opening day, she wore the red and black colors of North Carroll High School, in Hampstead. After watching three older brothers graduate as North Carroll Panthers, Wingate had expected to continue that tradition. Her family's home fell, however, inside the boundaries for the new, $80 million high school being built to alleviate overcrowding at North Carroll.