Severna Park

Rivals Severna Park and host Broadneck stayed focused on keeping eight or nine players behind the ball in Tuesday night's Class 4A East regional final, as neither team wanted their season to end because of a defensive lapse or miscue. The tight defense led to 100 minutes of scoreless soccer, forcing penalty kicks to decide the winner. In the shootout, the 10th-ranked Falcons scored on all five of their attempts and goalie Brent Jones came up with a big stop to win the shootout, 5-3. "Once again, we come up against Broadneck and we knew they were going to be a difficult opponent," Severna Park coach Roy Dunshee said.

No. 4 Severna Park jumped on No. 9 Broadneck early and played good defense late to defeat their Anne Arundel County rival, 25-11, 19-25, 25-15, 25-23. Senior Mel Kapelewski led Severna Park, who is undefeated, with 10 kills, while sophomore Sophie Hoekstra chipped in 14 digs and two aces for the Falcons. Last year's team lost no one, and Severna Park looked prime for a run deep into the playoffs. Then the Falcons lost their coach. Enter Tim Dunbar, a teacher at the school for years and the former coach at Bryn Mawr.

For much of the past two decades, second-ranked Severna Park has been the measuring stick for girls lacrosse teams in Anne Arundel County. However, third-ranked Broadneck has traditionally played the Falcons as tough as any team in the state. In Friday night's game between the two unbeaten teams, visiting Broadneck stayed within striking distance for most of the game, but simply could not overtake the Falcons, who pulled out the 14-12 victory. Sarah Lloyd had six goals for Severna Park.

Severna Park removed all of the suspense from Thursday's Anne Arundel County cross country championships. Ashley Hayes won as the top-ranked Severna Park girls took four of the first five spots and captured a third consecutive team title. Sam Pershall finished first overall for the No. 2 Falcons' boys team, which grabbed five of the top 10 places and completed the sweep on a windy afternoon at Arundel. Severna Park's girls finished with 30 points to beat No. 7 Broadneck (52)

Nearly 70 cats and kittens were seized from the Cool Cats Rescue Center in Severna Park, after authorities received complaints about the conditions there. Anne Arundel County officials said the seized cats were suffering from various medical conditions. The animals have been taken to the county's animal control center, where they are being examined in hopes that they are adoptable, county police said Thursday. The 67 cats were seized Wednesday by Animal Control, working in conjunction with the Humane Society of the United States and PetSmart Charities.

Host Severna Park boys lacrosse trailed No. 9 Severn by one goal at halftime before going on a 4-2 run in the third quarter to spark a 9-8 upset victory Thursday night. "Severna Park outhustled and dominated the groundball battle," Severn coach Brian Wood said. "They made the plays when they had to and we did not. " Weston Butcher led the Falcons (2-1) with four goals, and Ryan Lamon had a game-high five goals for the Admirals (4-2). No. 3 Calvert Hall 10, Conestoga (Pa.)

The freshman right-hander threw a no-hitter against then-No. 7 Reservoir in only her second varsity start and did not allow an earned run in nine innings pitched last week. In the No. 13 Falcons' 6-0 win over Reservoir on Saturday in the District V Showcase at Bachman Sports Complex, Simonds struck out eight batters and walked three. Earlier in the week, she pitched the first two innings as the Falcons took a 17-0 lead en route to an 18-6 win over Southern in five innings. Simonds, who also plays first base, is hitting .250 with one RBI and a .571 on-base percentage.

With only one season left to complete her high school career, Sarah Lloyd has been part of five state championship teams - two in lacrosse and three in swimming. Last spring, the midfielder was sidelined with a stress fracture in her shin. When she returned late in the season, she took over in goal, making critical saves, including some in a 7-5 state title victory. A swimmer since she was 6, Lloyd and her twin sister, Emily, were keys to three Falcons state swimming championships in four years.

A 29-year-old Severna Park man was critically injured early Saturday when his Acura Integra ran off the road and hit a concrete retaining wall in Pasadena, police said. Thomas Owen Holt was traveling south on Catherine Avenue when his car veered off the left side of the road near Harlem Avenue around 1:50 a.m. for unknown reasons and struck the retaining wall, police said. Speed appears to be a contributing factor in the crash, according to police. When police arrived, Holt was resting outside the car with significant injuries.

The 2012 Cavalier Classic Softball Tournament featured a dominant performance by Archbishop Spalding freshman pitcher Ali Caulkins, a game-saving putout by Severna Park left fielder Claire Hanratty and a walk-off single by Howard sophomore Taylor McGrann. The 12-team tournament included eight squads that were part of last week's Baltimore Sun poll. In the end, Severna Park won both its games and a third tie-breaker against Northern-Calvert County and host Spalding to claim the championship.