Quakers

Maxx Davis, Friends SPORT Lacrosse BOYS STATS -- Davis, the senior captain of the Quakers' lacrosse team, is a star midfielder and an all-around player. The UMBC-bound Davis takes faceoffs, plays defense and runs the offense. In leading the Quakers to nine victories in their first 12 games, Davis scooped 30 groundballs, had 12 assists and scored 30 goals, including the game-winner with 3.7 seconds left in an 8-7 victory over St. Mary's. SIDELINES -- Davis received a B average on his most recent report card, plays piano and writes for the school newspaper, The Quill.

Although its season came to an end with Tuesday's first-round playoff loss to last year's champ, Gilman, the Friends Quakers found solace in the fact that their boys basketball team had completed its best campaign in school history. The Quakers' year-ending 13-12 record included seven league victories - numbers that nearly tripled last year's win total. "I was told that this was a rebuilding job, and maybe it was, but there were great kids on the team," first-year coach Brian Anglim said.

Louis Weeks' two assists helped power host Friends over Severn, 3-2, yesterday in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference boys soccer semifinals. Max Davis broke a scoreless tie just five minutes into the game to give the Quakers (14-1-1) the early lead. Severn's Brendan Murphy tied the game at 1 with 12 minutes to go in the half. However, Friends struck again early in the second half on a Jake Mendelson score. Minutes later, Brian DeSmit volleyed a goal past Admirals keeper Carter Loetz, giving the Quakers the lead for good.

At the new Harford Friends School in Darlington, pupils will be able to take sixth-grade science from a teacher named Chris. Not Miss Christine. And certainly not Ms. Howells. Howells spent 20 years working in plant-science laboratories and is the mother of two adult children. But titles of respect are often eschewed at schools run by Quakers, a religious movement that repudiates social hierarchies and regards all people as equal in the eyes of God. Howells said she will follow a Quaker tradition and have her students call her "Teacher Chris."

After thunderstorms postponed Friday night's Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A2 Conference lacrosse championship game while it was in progress, McDonogh had all night to think about trailing Friends. "It was such a close game, and we were all really nervous," said McDonogh's Casey Pugatch. "But it helped us. They were on a run and a big break would usually help the team that's down stop the momentum." The Quakers had scored four of the last five goals Friday night to take a one-goal lead.

In early April 1672, word went out and preparations began in South County, in the village now known as Galesville, for the first gathering of Quakers in Maryland. In fact, the Fourth Month (Quakers eschew the usual names for months) four-day meeting of the Religious Society of Friends is considered the birth of American Quakerism. What made the event an important moment in religious history is that George Fox, the English founder of the faith, was present to inspire and "convince" Quakers with his teachings.

The winter wheat crop on Glenn King's farm in Northern Baltimore County will bear an unusual harvest this year. Besides the wheat that will be sent to market, the stalks that hold up the grains will be dried and turned into straw. The straw will be bundled into block-sized bales and shipped to Prince George's County, where they will become infill for the walls of a new home for Friends Community School. In less than 18 months, students will be attending classes in a building that literally rose from the ground this winter.

BOYS Brady Smith Loyola, football Smith, a 6-foot-2, 245-pound senior, led the Dons to a 21-13 Turkey Bowl victory over Calvert Hall at M&T Bank Stadium on Thursday. Despite spraining his medial collateral ligament in the second quarter, the Connecticut-bound player rushed 16 times for 107 yards and three touchdowns. Defensively, he made 11 tackles from free safety, including two crucial third-quarter tackles with the Cardinals threatening inside Loyola's 30-yard line on third-and-one and fourth-and-two.

The Friends boys lacrosse team did not qualify for the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference playoffs, which start later this week, but the Quakers still had plenty of motivation in their season finale against visiting John Carroll. Intent on making a statement to the top team in the B Conference and looking to send out their seniors on a winning note, the 12th-ranked Quakers downed No. 11 John Carroll, 12-7, yesterday, ending the Patriots' 22-game winning streak spanning the past two seasons.