Middletown

North Carroll sophomore Amber Bosley scored two goals, including the game-winner two minutes into the second half, to lead the Panthers past defending state champ Middletown, 3-1, in a Class 2A, Region I field hockey semifinal yesterday in Hampstead.The second-seeded Panthers (8-3-2) will travel to top-seeded Glenelg (12-1) tomorrow for the Region I championship."It [yesterday's win] only feels good for a while, then you have to look to the next one," said first-year North Carroll coach Denean Powelson.

There was 2:25 left in the third quarter when Francis Scott Key guard Mike Crawmer went diving on the floor for a loose ball.The Eagles trailed Monocacy Valley Athletic League leader Middletown by 46 points at the time, but the Eagles wouldn't quit.About 20 seconds later, Key's Topher Casserly grabbed a rare defensive rebound and headed up court only to dribble the ball off the heel of one of his own players. That's how things went last night for the Eagles, who fell, 96-48, to a very talented Middletown team that came in with only one loss this season.

Junior guard Tiki Nicholson scored 16 points to lead No. 1 and top-seeded Hammond (24-1) to a 59-41 Class 2A state championship win over third-seeded Middletown (22-1).The Golden Bears beat the defending-champion Knights to avenge last year's title-game loss and snap the Knights' 50-game winning streak.Hammond concluded a 24-1 season that was their best ever and included their first Howard County title and their first No. 1 ranking.Tameka Harrison and Kacy Williams added 10 each for the Golden Bears, who grabbed their second state title in three years.

Middletown quarterback Chad Beckett threw for four touchdowns and ran for another as the visiting Knights cashed in on several Francis Scott Key mistakes and rolled to a 37-0 victory yesterday.The game started Friday night, but lightning forced suspension 3:59 into the game. On the first play yesterday, Beckett found Eric Thomas in the right corner of the end zone with a 17-yard touchdown pass, and Middletown was on its way.Beckett added scoring passes of 20 and 4 yards to Thomas and hit Marc Beck with a 26-yard touchdown.

MIDDLETOWN -- The Liberty Lions pride themselves on scoring from set pieces.Last night, the Middletown Knights showed them a thing or two on how to properly execute a corner kick.Michael Silverman scored on two headers coming off corners -- one in each half -- and Matt Deorsey added two more to lead the Knights to a 4-0 win over Liberty in a Class 1A-2A West region semifinal.The Lions (6-9) were simply overmatched by a talented Middletown team that will meet Rockville in the region finals on Tuesday.

A second-half injury to starting goalie Krista Fulton stretched an already-thin Howard girls soccer team to its breaking point against Frederick County power Middletown Monday at Howard.But the unbeaten Lions (4-0) snapped back in sudden-death overtime to win 3-2 on Kristi Greer's 35-yard direct kick that landed just below the crossbar and above the reach of Middletown goalie Amy Lowe. The teams had played three minutes and 48 seconds of overtime.Ironically, Greer, a senior midfielder, made an almost identical goal last year in sudden death to beat Middletown, 1-0."

All night long it looked like the visiting Middletown Knights were about to run away and hide from a game Francis Scott Key Eagles team.In each of the first three quarters the Monocacy Valley Athletic League front-runners enjoyed leads of 10 or more, only to see Key rally back.It wasn't until Eagles guard Jason Smith's three-point shot at the buzzer banged off the rim that Middletown was able to breath a sigh of relief in coming away with a 68-66 win last night."We knew it was going to be tough and we're just glad to get out of here with a win," said Middletown coach Barry Blickenstaff.

Top-seeded Glenelg used the blue-collar method of beating second-seeded Middletown for the Class 2A Region I girls basketball championship Friday night -- defense and rebounding.Those are the nitty-gritty, down-and-dirty elements of basketball, and the Gladiators played them to near perfection against the Knights (19-5)."This was the best defensive team we've played all year," Middletown coach Jeff Gabriel said.The resulting 58-41 victory gave the Gladiators (17-7) their second straight regional championship and putthem into the state semifinals Friday at Catonsville Community College against the winner of Friday's Mount Hebron-Hammond game.

With a little more than five minutes left in yesterday's 2A state championship game at UMBC, defending state titlist Hammond couldn't have asked for a better scenario.The Bears had just completed a 7-0 run to take a 43-37 lead over Middletown, Hammond's biggest lead of the game. And the Bears had done it while several starters had watched from the bench in foul trouble. All signs pointed to another championship.Middletown had other ideas. First, the Knights charged back with eight unanswered points to take a 45-43 lead with 1:24 left.

MIDDLETOWN -- The Francis Scott Key Eagles traveled to Middletown believing they could beat the undefeated Knights.That fact alone shows just how far the program has come this season.And there the Eagles were, lining up for the tying extra point with 5:11 left in regulation.The Eagles instead went for the win with holder and backup quarterback Brad Stonesifer faking and looking across the middle in the end zone, but his pass through traffic went in and out of the hands of Mitch Plank.Middletown nailed down the win after it got the ball back.