Takedown

After his No. 6 Francis Scott Key Eagles' 33-27 upset of Owings Mills, ranked No. 1 in the area and No. 5 in the state, a woman walked over to coach Bill Hyson and summed up the 1A-2A state duals semifinal victory."

The blizzard of '96 forced three teams from Montgomery County and another from New Jersey to drop out, cutting last night's 13th annual Arundel Tournament to six teams.And it was easy pickings for DeMatha (204.5 points), ranked No. 1 by the Maryland State Wrestling Association, which placed all 13 wrestlers in the top four of their weight classes and had six champions to easily beat No. 12 Arundel (135) and No. 10 Northeast (108).DeMatha's Todd Beckerman (125 pounds), a Crofton resident who is ranked No. 1 nationally, improved to 25-0 with his 12th pin and has 104 career pins and 31 career technical falls.

"Takedown: The Pursuit and Capture of Kevin Mitnick, America's Most Wanted Computer Outlaw - By the Man Who Did It," by Tsutomu Shimomura with John Markoff. Hyperion. 324 pages. $24.95Kevin Mitnick is no John Dillinger. When FBI agents burst into his Raleigh, N.C., apartment a year ago, Mitnick didn't pull a gun. He threw up.That anticlimax reflected the nature of his crimes - stealing software, tampering with telephone systems, reading other people's electronic mail. Though his scams required skill, they were seedy and sophomoric, never grand or terrifying.

Loyola coach Joe Brune stared at the Mount St. Joseph scoreboard, sighed heavily, and muttered, "This, I can't believe."In a 37-21 victory moments earlier, Brune had watched his sophomore quarterback Brant Hall (135 yards rushing, 113 passing) lead his unranked Dons to a season-high point total, and defensive back Tim Nicholas help hold Maryland's top-ranked team below its 45-point average.The win, the Dons' (5-4, 3-1) fifth straight after an 0-4 start, keeps them in the hunt for the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association's A Conference crown and ended Maryland's longest winning streak at 13.Loyola's last loss was to St. Mary's, a 21-13 winner over Calvert Hall yesterday.

CHESTERTOWN -- The 65-mile drive from Kent County High back to Pasadena was a long one for Northeast last night. But you can bet Adrian Spears was smiling all the way.The Northeast 189-pounder's overtime takedown with 1:23 left was good for a 9-7 upset of Rising Sun's top-ranked Bruce Knisely (27-1, 22 pins), helping the Eagles (16-1) to a 41-28 win in last night's 1A-2A East Region dual-meet title bout.Heavyweight Paul Lauman won by default over Rising Sun's John Zellman as the top-seeded Eagles, who hammered fourth seed Cambridge (11-4)

There wasn't much separating eighth-ranked Perry Hall and host and No. 12 Owings Mills in yesterday's long-awaited clash of Baltimore County's powerhouses.One second, to be exact.That's how close Eagles 171-pounder Willie Broadnax came to scoring the match-clinching pin against Joe Farinetti when the buzzer sounded to end the second period. The Perry Hall wrestler then tied the match and went on to win it in overtime, helping the Gators to a 35-30 come-from-behind win as part of a tri-match with Franklin.

In any wrestling tournament, most of the attention is focused on the championship round. That was the case Saturday night at Atholton High School, where the largest and loudest crowd of the two-day Howard County tournament gathered to watch the top two wrestlers in each weight class battle for county titles.But teams win tournaments in the semifinals.When a wrestler advances to the final, he guarantees his team a minimum of 12 points (second-place points) and can score 16 for first place.

Last night's highly-touted North Carroll-Francis Scott Key wrestling match was everything it was built up to be and then some.Two of the top teams in the state battled all night long for supremacy in Carroll County in front of a packed North Carroll gym. The match wasn't decided until North Carroll junior Chris Boog pinned Key senior Dale Bloom at 189 pounds.It gave the No. 3 Panthers (11-0, 4-0 in the county) a 31-18 lead, and they went on to claim a 31-24 decision over No. 5 Francis Scott Key (9-1, 3- 1)

In neither style nor size does Woodlawn wrestler Darrell Mance resemble most heavyweights.Unlike the typical big guys who must pin or be pinned before losing steam, the quick-moving Mance trains to go the distance.Take last week's 10-4 victory over Randallstown heavyweight Jevon Dolan, which secured the Warriors' 33-32 upset of the then No. 7-ranked Rams."He was fast, but he didn't have the knowledge. Quickness and knowledge are No. 1, so I just kind of predicted what he would do," said Mance, who is 6 feet 2, 221 pounds.