Oakland Mills

No. 12 Oakland Mills at River Hill When: Wednesday, 5:30 p.m. Coaches: Jon Browne, Oakland Mills; Matt Graves, River Hill PLAYERS TO WATCH Oakland Mills: Lavon Long, Sr., F; Dajuan Dent, Sr., F; Marvin Williams, Jr., G River Hill: Walt Moody, Sr., F; Charles Thomas IV, So., F-C; Gary Sandler, So., G KEYS TO VICTORY Oakland Mills remains unbeaten this season (15-0), including 12 victories against Howard County competition. Long, a dominating transfer from Mount St. Joseph, plays well in his role as the team leader, but the Scorpions' size, athleticism and depth have also separated them from the rest of the pack.

No. 6 Oakland Mills went ahead by as many as 16 points in the second half before having to hold off a late comeback attempt by Largo. The Scorpions finally put the visiting Lions away, 64-58, in a Class 2A South regional boys basketball semifinal game Tuesday night. Junior guard Deshawn Willis scored a team-high 17 points, including an alley-oop dunk off an assist from Nekhi Bradley that thrilled a packed gym. Loyola-bound forward Lavon Long added 16 points and 11 rebounds for Oakland Mills (24-0)

Behind a huge second quarter kick-started by Nekhi Bradley and Dajuan Dent, No. 13 Oakland Mills put host River Hill in a hole too deep to dig out of on the way to a 62-52 victory Wednesday in boys basketball. Oakland Mills (17-0 overall, 14-0 in Howard County) opened a two-game lead over second-place River Hill (14-3, 12-2) in the race for the county title. "We talked about how this was the county championship. ... It was there for the taking," Oakland Mills coach Jon Browne said.

In the top of the seventh inning at No. 6 Oakland Mills on Wednesday afternoon, Marriotts Ridge took a 3-2 lead on an RBI ground ball by leadoff man Jake Bender that sent home Matt Marinelli who had led off the inning with a single. At the time, Connor Delaney - the Mustangs' No. 5 hitter - thought the run would be enough for ace Eric Brown and the solid Marriotts Ridge defense. "I definitely trusted our defense ... but I knew any more runs we would get would be insurance runs," Delaney said.

Junior Beth Blasi assisted on the first goal and scored the next two, as No. 4 Fallston (2-0) whipped visiting Oakland Mills (1-1) in girls soccer yesterday, 3-0.Blasi had opened with two goals and two assists in the Cougars' 8-0 pounding of Hammond last Friday.

There were different stories for each of the four teams that won championships in the final day of the state track meet Saturday at Morgan State. The No. 2 Western girls needed to rally late to repeat as the Class 3A champions. For the boys, Oakland Mills took Class 2A for its first title in six years and 13th overall. No. 3 Reservoir slowly pulled away to win its first state title (Class 3A), and No. 5 Carver quickly ran away from its Class 1A opponents to win an outdoor title for the first time.

After graduating its top three scorers from a team that posted its second-worst record (6-5-2) in 17 years, the Oakland Mills boys soccer team wasn't expected to make much noise this season.Don't look now, but the Scorpions are 3-0 after yesterday's 2-1 victory over No. 14 Gilman at Oakland Mills.The Greyhounds (3-2) thought that this Oakland Mills team wouldn't resemble those that have won seven state championships, and Gilman was hoping that a victory over a Columbia school with a proud soccer history might boost respect for its soccer program.

After two decades of competition, the Hereford Cross Country Invitational was held for the last time yesterday.Walt Whitman's boys and girls won Group A team titles. Oakland Mills' boys won in Group B, and Fallston's girls were Group C champions.The meet featured a field of over 95 teams with schools from Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania. The course at Hereford, used for the state tournament, is considered one of the best in Maryland.Jenny Howard of Fallston set a Hereford Invitational record with a time of 18 minutes, 27 seconds.

The Oakland Mills Community Association will hold annual village elections on April 25. The association is seeking candidates to run for seven open seats on the Oakland Mills board and one open seat as the Oakland Mills representative to the Columbia Council. Terms are for one year. Nominations will be accepted Tuesday through March 13. Nomination petitions and candidate information packets are available at The Other Barn. Information: Sandy Cederbaum at 410-730-4610, omca@columbiavillages.

No. 19 Oakland Mills finally found out what it was like to trail at halftime in last night's game against Mount Hebron.But, much like the Vikings' lead, that feeling didn't last for long.The host Scorpions outscored Mount Hebron 8-0 near the end of the third quarter to take a lead they would never relinquish, and went on to win, 65-58, in a Howard County league game."We just got more aggressive as the game went on," said Oakland Mills coach Dave Appleby. "We started to rebound better, and tightened up our defense."