Panthers

North Carroll first-year coach Rich Harvey knows all he needs to about the Damascus Hornets, whom his Panthers will face in the opening round of the regional softball playoffs.The Hornets have knocked the Panthers out of the state playoffs the past two years.With the regions realigned this year, the fourth-seeded Panthers (11-6) will get an earlier look at the top-seeded Hornets (13-3) when they travel to Damascus today in the Class 2A West Region semifinals."They've been the ones to knock us out the past two years.

The healing began at 2:48, when Josh Morgan took a pass from his twin brother, Eric, drove a couple of steps down the middle of the field and scored for a 1-0 lead.By game's end, the anger and hurt from last Friday's upset loss to Broadneck had lessened somewhat for No. 10 Annapolis (2-1).Eric Morgan scored four goals and assisted on two others, leading the Panthers past host North County, 9-2, yesterday.Josh Morgan added two goals. Jon Brianus and Ryan Sears each had one goal and one assist, and Geoff Mears scored once.

This volleyball match was something like survival of the fittest.North Carroll and Thomas Johnson punched andcounter-punched and scratched and clawed their way through a five-game marathon before the Panthers emerged with a 15-7, 16-14, 11-15, 7-15, 15-13 victory over the Patriots.After dueling for two hours and 20 minutes at North Carroll yesterday, the Central Maryland Conference match came down to a hard Kandi Lippy serve off Erin Grimes' hands for a 14-13 North Carroll lead in the fifth game and a Katy Wilhelm kill for the winning point.

With his team trailing No. 10 Severna Park by three goals and just over 3 minutes left in the game, Annapolis coach Dan Hart said he never lost hope for a miracle."

North Carroll coach Dick Bauerlein woke up yesterday morning wondering if it would be the day.The North Carroll wrestlers springing off their seats after Chris Boog's pin at 171 pounds told the story.Boog's 15th pin of the season, over Damascus' Dan DeVrient gave the second-seeded Panthers (13-1) an in surmountable 28-13 lead and they went on to claim a 34-19 win over the top-seeded Hornets (14-1) and a first-ever Class 1A-2A dual-meet state title at Westminster High.Bauerlein was right in the middle of the joyous pack.

Nobody, especially John Brady, expected it would end like this."I thought we'd score a lot more points," the Annapolis coach said. So did everyone else at Cole Field House for last night's state Class 4A semifinal between the defending champion Runnin' Panthers and Parkdale.After all, in December Annapolis had beaten the same team 110-101. And last night Parkdale led 44-43 at the half, putting the century mark again seemingly within reach.But a funny thing happened on the way to the scoreboard.

It was mostly all North Carroll again last night as the Panthers marched relentlessly into the inaugural state 1A-2A Dual Meet Championship final four.The Panthers blitzed county rival Francis Scott Key, 47-17, in the West Regional final at North Carroll.It was the second time this season the Panthers have manhandled the Eagles, who had hoped to move closer to North Carroll this season in the battle for wrestling supremacy.Instead, Key has dropped further back, losing the regular-season dual match, 51-18, and now being outscored, 98-35, in the two meetings this season.

Annapolis senior gymnast Jamal Minatee admitted yesterday that for abrief moment he considered the "slim chance" that the host Panthers would falter in the county meet."

While the Annapolis boys basketball team's ability to run has been the downfall of most opponents the last two seasons, it was a pair of runs totaling nearly 15 minutes that spelled defeat for visiting Broadneck Friday night.The Panthers went on a 14-0 tear in the first half to erase a Broadneck lead, then broke a 36-36 tie by scoring thelast seven points of the game en route to a 43-36 victory before a sellout crowd of over 1,200 at Annapolis.After the Bruins' Jeff Vincent buried a three-pointer with 2 minutes, 51 seconds left in the first quarter, Broadneck went without a basket until a Damain Spain tip-in with 1:55 remaining in the half.

There hasn't been a boys basketball team in the area able to consistently match the size, athleticism, depth and togetherness that No. 1 St. Frances has brought to the court this season. And when the Panthers are hitting their shots, they simply make the game look easy. Sunday's Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference championship game against No. 2 Mount St. Joseph was one of those occasions. The separation between the area's top two teams was significant at UMBC's packed RAC Arena, where the Panthers scored the game's first 11 points, led by as many as 24 in the second half and coasted through the fourth quarter in capturing the MIAA A crown with a 75-62 win over the Gaels.