Second Half

Ray Lewis ran on the field one more time and the man who has written the Ravens' defensive record book had another career first left in him. As quarterback Joe Flacco prepared to kneel down, Lewis jogged about 10 yards behind him and took his place in victory formation. Once Flacco took the final snap and handed the ball to referee Mike Carey, Lewis did his trademark dance. This was indeed Lewis' day. After a 17-year run with one franchise, he earned that much in the final home game of his career.

Dean Pees likes to joke that he has recently developed a routine before addressing the Ravens' injury-wracked cornerback group on the first full day of practice each week. "Every week, it's like I take attendance in our room to see who shows up," he cracked. Laughs aside, the defensive coordinator and secondary coach Teryl Austin have used glue, string and perhaps a little magic to cobble together a productive cornerback corps despite losing Lardarius Webb for the season in October and getting limited production from Jimmy Smith.

The Ravens were finally deemed worthy by CBS Sports of its first-string broadcast team, and what a difference it made in the quality of the telecast -- for one half, anyway. While the first half was outstanding in terms of production and imagery, the second half was marred by a loss of audio, lack of focus in the booth and missing 22 seconds of a play that viewers never saw in the third quarter. I'm sorry, but that's not really acceptable from the best football crew a network can offer -- especially when you are making the kind of money the networks make on these drowning-in-ads telecasts.

After a first half in which just about everything that could go wrong did for No. 2 River Hill, the Hawks regrouped behind a strong defense and a big performance from Justin Arn to win their second straight state Class 3A football championship and finish off a 14-0 season. Arn, a running back and linebacker, rushed for two second-half touchdowns and had an interception as River Hill came from behind for only the second time this season to defeat Huntingtown, 18-14, Thursday night at M&T Bank Stadium.

South River's Kacie Longo knows what it means to play under pressure. She proved that to top-seeded Arundel in the Class 4A East girls' soccer championship Tuesday night. After No. 4 Arundel took a 2-0 lead, Longo scored twice in the second half - the second coming with less than 40 seconds left - leading the No. 3 Seahawks to overtime, where they won, 3-2. Madison Koenig scored the game-winner on a penalty kick with 8:30 left in the second overtime. South River (17-2) will face Bowie in the state semifinals Saturday at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville.

The most important thing for the Ravens as they prepare for the Cleveland Browns on Sunday is to get Pro Bowl defensive tackle Haloti Ngata healthy. Without Ngata, the second half of the Ravens' 2012 season could go south in a hurry. The Ravens are already without cornerback Lardarius Webb and inside linebacker Ray Lewis. Both are expected to miss the season with injuries, and they were two of the team's top tacklers. Ngata might be the best tackle in the NFL, but played the past three games with an MCL sprain and shoulder injury.

No. 1 Gilman went into Monday's game at No. 2 Calvert Hall having allowed a total of 16 points to its previous three Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference football opponents, but the Cardinals scored 14 in the first 20 minutes. Calvert Hall led, 14-9, at halftime, as Gilman had to settle for three field goals by Trevor Wey. Given recent history, however, that didn't mean much. For the third straight time in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown with the Cardinals, the Greyhounds came back in the second half for the victory.

The competition was fierce and the coaching intense Thursday as Carroll County rivals No. 8 Westminster and No. 12 Century played a scoreless game deep into the second half in a match that could wind up determining the county field hockey champion. It was finally Westminster junior forward Abby Cronin who got her stick on the ball during a corner play in front of the Century goal. In the middle of a scrum and a cloud of dust, she whacked the ball into the net with 4:37 left to play for what would be the winning goal in a 1-0 showdown.

- The view of Kansas City Chiefs star running back Jamaal Charles dashing away from them and grinding up yards induced a slow burn for the Ravens' defense. Growing more angry by the minute as Charles repeatedly accelerated and juked away from pursuit, the Ravens knew they had to change their strategy . Otherwise, they could have lost Sunday's game at Arrowhead Stadium instead of escaping with a 9-6 victory. "We got mad because they were bleeding us real good," inside linebacker Dannell Ellerbe said.

At age 23, Torrey Smith represents the future of the Ravens' wide receiving corps. But even Smith, a second-year veteran, defers to Anquan Boldin. "I love watching Anquan play," Smith said. "He's a dominant player and a great mentor. … It's a pleasure just playing beside him. " After an unusually quiet first half, the 31-year-old Boldin demonstrated that there is still plenty of gas left in his tank. He posted eight of his nine catches and 125 of his 131 yards in the final 30 minutes of the Ravens' 23-16 victory over the Cleveland Browns on Thursday night at M&T Bank Stadium.