Perfect Season

COLLEGE PARK - Two years ago, when Ralph Friedgen was about to begin his first season as Maryland's football coach, he asked his players to write down what they thought the team's goals should be for the 2001 season. What they gave back to Friedgen showed him just how low expectations were in College Park after five straight losing seasons. "They said their goal was to win six games and finish third in the ACC," Friedgen said. "I was almost embarrassed to hang them up." Fast forward to 2003, and it's easy to see how dramatically things have changed.

Keith Smart's kids had heard the stories about their father's most famous moment as a basketball player, the jump shot from the left wing at the Superdome that beat Syracuse and gave Indiana the 1987 NCAA championship. They have seen the framed picture of Smart taking the shot hanging on the wall in their father's home office in Oakland, Calif., where Smart is in his fourth season as an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors, this year under Don Nelson. But Smart's 8-year-old son, Jared, wanted to witness it for himself.

It's the debate of the year in pro sports.Is the team that wins the most games the best team?That question was debated at the end of the baseball season when the New York Yankees won 125 games.Their supporters proclaimed them the best team; the skeptics argued they weren't even the best Yankees team, favoring the Ruth-Gehrig 1927 Yankees, the Gehrig-DiMaggio 1936 Yankees and the Mantle-Maris 1961 Yankees.The debates are fun because they can never be resolved, and it's appropriate that the NFL may have the same debate this year as the 9-0 Denver Broncos attempt to become the first team to go 19-0.

As the regional playoffs begin this weekend, four local teams have a shot at finishing perfect state-championship seasons. One other is aiming for a perfect private-school championship season. Top-ranked Arundel, No. 2 River Hill, No. 5 Joppatowne and No. 8 Boys' Latin are 10-0, while Forest Park is 9-0. Arundel hosts Annapolis at 7 p.m. Friday. The Wildcats, behind state record setters Billy Cosh and R.J. Harris, are looking for their first state title since 1975 after reaching the Class 4A semifinals last fall.

CHESTERTOWN — No. 3 Westminster can now put its 4A field hockey state championship trophy and the perfect 19-0 record that goes with it on display with pride and satisfaction because the No. 11 Dulaney Lions made them earn it, 5-4, in overtime Saturday on the turf field at Washington College. It was the first of four championship games Saturday and set the stage with the kind of title game players and coaches dream of, with both sides competing at their best and leaving nothing to regret.

Delays in earlier games forced seventh-ranked Severna Park to wait nearly an extra hour Wednesday night to begin the quest for its latest state boys lacrosse title against Wootton. Once play began, however, the Falcons wasted little time putting an exclamation point on their first perfect season. Severna Park scored on eight of its first 10 shots, building a commanding early lead before surviving a late rally in a 13-7 win over their outmanned Rockville opponent in the Class 4A-3A state title game at UMBC.

Salisbury is as many as eight games away from wrapping up the program's seventh perfect season. The Sea Gulls (16-0) finish the regular season this Saturday with their annual War on the Shore contest against Washington before entering the Capital Athletic Conference Tournament as the top seed and participating in the NCAA Tournament. There is a school of thought that dropping a contest in the regular season might be beneficial for a team with championship aspirations like top-ranked and nine-time reigning NCAA titlist Salisbury.

Mount Hebron midfielder Samantha Brookhart spends 20 minutes of every practice honing her draw control skills and it paid off in a regional final rematch Wednesday night against the Vikings' biggest rival, defending state champion Marriotts Ridge. Brookhart won a handful of draws and her teammates won most of the rest to give the Vikings a huge edge in possession, fueling a 10-8 victory in the Class 3A-2A East girls lacrosse final that spoiled the No. 4 Mustangs unbeaten season.

When Archbishop Spalding senior Charlie Lynch made his move to pin his opponent in the 145-pound class, some fans in the McDonogh gym couldn't believe what they were seeing. "What the heck is that?" asked one, as he watched the senior finish a run of perfection for his second Maryland Independent School state wrestling crown. Lynch, ranked No. 6 nationally by Wrestling USA, grinned when he later heard of the comment. "It's a defensive pin," said Lynch, whose pin seemed to put an exclamation point on the season for the new MIS state champion Cavaliers.

Oakland Mills hockey coach Chris Marsiglia needed just one Centennial player to illustrate the difference in yesterday's 4-1 Eagles victory.Senior forward Emily Ward scored a goal and assisted on two more, but more than her statistics impressed the opposing coach."