Owls

Five miles separate the workplaces of Brad Wilson and Ken Johnson. In their long and distinguished coaching careers, they've walked a lot further than that distance on their respective sidelines. Wilson is beginning his ninth year as the head football coach at Westminster High School. Johnson, the dean of Carroll coaches, is in his 10th season at Winters Mill and his 19th overall in the county. The two preside over football programs that have become successful largely because of their abiding commitment to the young men they've influenced through the years.

Home Turf: 1225 Washington Road, Westminster Head Coach: Brad Wilson (ninth season) 2011 Record: 8-2 overall; 6-1 county (Carroll County champions) In 2011, Westminster won its first county title in six years by dominating Carroll opponents. The Owls beat their seven county foes by an average score of 41-5, and Carroll's best defense in recent memory posted three shutouts. But the Owls' forfeit of a 57-7 win over Manchester Valley for using an ineligible player dropped Westminster's record to 8-2 - and cost the county's best team a berth in the Class 4A North Region playoffs.

Rice linebacker Cameron Nwosu will change his number this season to honor former Owl O.J. Brigance, who won a Super Bowl with the Ravens in 2001 and is now the Ravens' senior adviser to player development. The Houston Chronicle reported that Nwosu will wear Brigance's No. 57, and his teammate, running back Turner Petersen, plans to wear No. 26 to honor former Rice All-American King Hill. Brigance currently stands as Rice's all-time tackles leader. “We have made an effort for our players to embrace the great history here at Rice, and a part of that process is to learn more about the players who have worn their numbers in the past,” Rice head coach David Bailiff said.

After losing to perennial powerhouse Severna Park in last year's Class 4A/3A state championship game, the Westminster girls' lacrosse team had waited for the chance to play the Falcons again. The Owls arrived at UMBC Stadium Wednesday night, but had to hold off for another day when lightning storms forced the postponement of the scheduled meeting between last year's state finalists. But an extra day to prepare for the rematch didn't matter, as Severna Park took an early six-goal lead and cruised to its second consecutive championship victory over the Owls, 13-6, on Thursday at UMBC Stadium.

No. 3 Century was coming off a 15-8 loss to No. 1 McDonogh in girls lacrosse Monday and fell behind by five goals to host Westminster on senior night. But the Knights (13-1) ignited a second-half rally by winning draw controls and doubling the ball on defense Thursday and went on to gain a 14-8 victory in the regular-season finale. The Owls opened with a 6-1 lead before the Knights cut the lead to 6-4 at the half. Century's Madi Hall led all scorers with four goals. Boys lacrosse No. 14 Broadneck 8, St. Mary's-Ryken 7, 2OT: Kevin Malenich scored his second goal and the game-winner with a minute left in the second overtime as the host Bruins (12-1)

Despite rallying for three runs in the last inning of their Friday night matchup with the Catonsville Cardinals, the Harford Community College baseball team fell just short in a 6-5 defeat. Trailing 6-2 after the visiting half of the eighth at Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen, the Fighting Owls (37-10) got busy in the bottom part of the inning, putting up three runs on four hits. The really fizzled, however, after an HCC runner was thrown at home. Down just one run in the bottom of the ninth, the Owls went down in order before they could come up with the tying run. The Owls' James Wilson had three hits and two RBIs, while teammate Jerry Jerminski rapped out a pair of hits in the loss.

In the early innings of Wednesday's baseball game between No. 6 Westminster and No. 7 Liberty, the wind was blowing, a cold rain was falling off and on and the temperature sat in the mid 50s. It was a perfectly miserable day for baseball, but when Westminster senior third baseman Eric Deitz came to the plate in the first inning with his teammate Ryan Ruff already on base, all he saw was the baseball leaving the hand of Liberty pitcher Andrew Massey....

Here's the good news for the Terps. They had lots of fans make the trip to the Palestra, despite unpleasant weather. "I think we had more fans than they did," Maryland guard Terrell Stoglin said. I wouldn't completely agree, but it was at least close. Stoglin loved the intimate Palestra atmosphere. "It reminded me of a high school gym," he said, meaning it as a compliment. The bad news for Maryland is that it's not quite ready for a team with three heady guards such as Temple's Khalif Wyatt, Ramone Moore and Juan Fernandez.

The final year of high school provides an opportunity for seniors to enjoy a last go-round of good times with friends and a chance to reflect on accomplishments. For Meghan Macera, reflection will have to wait. She's too busy right now. But when she does take time to look back at her four years at Westminster High, Macera will have plenty of highlights to remember. If she wasn't busy designing the cover of the school's yearbook or performing myriad community service activities, the Westminster senior was scoring overtime goals to win consecutive state championships for the Owls' field hockey team.

The senior forward was at her best when it counted most last week, scoring the game-winning goals in the state semifinal and the state championship as the Owls won their second straight title. In the second overtime of Saturday's Class 3A championship game against Mount Hebron, Macera finished off a chance in front sent in by Maddy Walsh to give the Owls (19-3) a 1-0 victory. In a 2-1 semifinal win over North Harford on Nov. 7, she provided the game-winning goal with 11 minutes left. Macera, a first-team All-Metro selection last year, finished this season with 16 goals and 13 assists.