Two Seconds

Eighth-ranked Severna Park brought a victory cake to last night's Class 4A East Region final in Gambrills, hoping to cut into it as part of a celebration.Instead, while the Falcons were consoled in their locker room by their coaches and athletic director, No. 6 Arundel took turns cutting the net after its 51-50 victory.Arundel's first berth in the state tournament wasn't secured until the Falcons missed a free throw and put-back in the last two seconds.Junior center Jen Mottar made two free throws with 33 seconds left to erase a 50-49 lead that had been created when Severna Park's Jen Holmes followed a miss by Alli Adams 22 seconds earlier.

Loyola Maryland (5-3) went without a field goal for more than five minutes in the first half and for nearly 10 minutes in the second, and Mount St. Mary's (3-7) capitalized to defeat the visiting Greyhounds, 70-58. Despite having not scored for a stretch of 5minutes, 22seconds, Loyola trailed just 32-27 at halftime, and the Greyhounds had played for less than three minutes with their leading scorer, Dylon Cormier (Cardinal Gibbons). He got his second foul 2:47 into the game and sat the rest of the half.

Westminster senior Brendon Byrne and junior Jason Brown certainly had a flair for the dramatic last night at No. 10 North Carroll. In the evening's two most pivotal contests, both Byrne and Brown took their opponents down in the final two seconds of the third period and won come-from-behind victories. Those wins set the stage for sophomore 103-pounder Justin Hughes to clinch a dramatic 35-29 upset over the Panthers before an exuberant crowd in Hampstead. With Westminster trailing 29-21, Byrne avenged two early- season defeats to North Carroll senior Keith Viens at 189 when he erased a 5-3 third-round deficit with an escape at the 4:36 mark and a takedown with two seconds remaining to score a 6-5 victory.

Seconds fly by in a lifetime and most ticks go unnoticed. But St. Paul's junior Jack Mutchnik will never forget the two seconds he enjoyed on the mat during the National Prep wrestling championships at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., on Saturday. Trailing, 4-3, to nationally ranked Judson Preskitt of Pennsylvania's Wyoming Seminary in the championship match of the 126-pound weight class with those two seconds remaining, Mutchnik scored a sudden takedown to earn a thrilling 5-4 decision.

Seconds fly by in a lifetime and most ticks go unnoticed. But St. Paul's junior Jack Mutchnik will never forget the two seconds he enjoyed on the mat during the National Prep wrestling championships at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., on Saturday. Trailing, 4-3, to nationally ranked Judson Preskitt of Pennsylvania's Wyoming Seminary in the championship match of the 126-pound weight class with those two seconds remaining, Mutchnik scored a sudden takedown to earn a thrilling 5-4 decision.

NOIRMOUTIER-EN-L'ILE, France - Lance Armstrong pedaled with such ferocity that his right foot slipped off the pedal before he'd barely pushed himself out of the starting gate. Armstrong muttered something, hunched his shoulders and slammed ahead, moving with a single purpose. To send a message. Aiming to win an unprecedented seventh straight Tour de France in this retirement race, Armstrong finished two seconds behind the unlikely stage winner, David Zabriskie, in yesterday's 11.8-mile first-stage time trial at the Tour de France.

In last night's game pitting the dominating inside presence of South Carroll against the accurate perimeter game of Frederick, a last-second defensive play proved the difference for the visiting Cadets. After rallying from a six-point deficit in the final 42 seconds, the Cavaliers boys basketball team lost its chance to win when Shane Beccio's pass to 6-foot-9 Josh Boone - who had only 10 feet of lane between him and a potential game-winning dunk - was picked off by the Cadets' Tommy McIntyre with two seconds left, sending South Carroll to a 69-68 loss.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Keith Carmichael's three-point shot with two seconds on the clock lifted Coppin State past Florida A&M, 90-89, in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference action last night.In a game that was close throughout the second half, DeLon Turner, an 18-point scorer for the Rattlers who finished with 34 for the night, got a basket with seven seconds left to give his side an 89-87 lead. The Eagles came right back, and Carmichael was able to get off the winning shot."We're a young squad, just playing hard.

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Coppin State lost a 39-minute fight to regain the lead it gave up for good in the first minute of play last night at North Carolina A&T. The Aggies kept a loose grip on the game and held on through the hairy final seconds for an 82-80 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference victory at home.Coppin scrapped to within a point of the Aggies with 10 seconds left and had a shot at winning, but Cleon Dickerson's jumper from the corner was short with two seconds left and North Carolina A&T controlled the rebound.

With two seconds left in the four-minute overtime period, Lake Clifton's Tavon Nelson intercepted an inbounds pass intended for Southern's Melvin Scott at midcourt. Then he bricked it - high off the backboard. Luckily, however, his teammate Aaron Cook caught the rebound and banked it in with two-tenths of a second left, lifting the No. 8 Lakers (12-3 overall, 3-1 league) to a come-from-behind, 63-61 victory at third-ranked Baltimore City League rival Southern (13-4, 3-1). "I saw the ball coming to me and just went for it," said Cook, who scored a team-high 17 points.

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.

LaQuan Williams followed a still-developing rookie campaign in which he caught four passes for 46 yards with a solid preseason in which he made six grabs for 76 yards and one touchdown and appeared poised to be the Ravens' No. 4 wide receiver. But the former Poly and University of Maryland product has been deactivated for each of the Ravens' first two contests in 2012, forced to watch from the sideline as fellow-second-year veteran Tandon Doss has become the No. 4 wideout. If Williams is disappointed by the inactivity, he's not showing it. “There's no frustration,” he said after Friday's practice.

A driver was killed and his front-seat passenger critically injured in a car accident in Howard County Thursday afternoon, according to police. Neither had been identified as of Thursday evening. A man and woman in a second car involved in the accident were not injured. Police were first called to the 4300 block of Folly Quarter Road in western Ellicott City about 2 p.m. for an accident involving a 1991 Ford Taurus and a 1994 Ford Mustang. According to police, the Mustang was stopped in the single northbound lane of the roadway, preparing to turn left into a driveway when the Taurus came behind it, crossed the center line of the roadway and tried to pass it on the left.

Early in the second half against host Towson, Dulaney coach Kendra Zeller elected to move senior defender McKenna Bolonda to the frontline to help spark the offense. Bolonda only played about 10 minutes at forward, but she made her minutes count, scoring two goals less than seven minutes apart to lead Dulaney (5-2) to a 3-1 victory Thursday. "We dominated the whole time," Bolonda said of the first half in which Dulaney held a 7-0 advantage in shots. "We just had an issue with getting it in. Coach knew I wanted to go (upfront)

South Carroll relied on relentless defense Friday against rival Century, as the No. 13 Cavaliers beat the visiting Knights, 53-42. South Carroll improves to 18-0 overall, 12-0 in the county. Century falls to 12-5 and 10-2. After a sluggish first quarter, the Cavaliers were able to take control in the second behind a defense that kept the visitors scoreless for nearly seven minutes.  The 15-0 run, which started with a 3-pointer from Liam Bates in the closing seconds of the first quarter and extended deep into the second, provided the Cavaliers with a 25-14 lead they would never surrender.

Before Saturday afternoon's game against Lutheran, Annapolis Area Christian School's Ryan Slenk had attempted just one field goal all season, and that was blocked. The senior admitted to a few nerves when he stepped up for the potential game-winning field goal against the host Saints. Lutheran had a two-point lead with two seconds left and the Eagles clinging to a 15-game winning streak. Slenk, who said he had never kicked a field goal with so much on the line, blocked out the pressure and booted his 21-yarder through the uprights to give the Eagles a 22-21 victory and extend their winning streak to 16 — the longest active streak in the Baltimore metro area.

Eighth-ranked Severna Park brought a victory cake to last night's Class 4A East Region final in Gambrills, hoping to cut into it as part of a celebration.Instead, while the Falcons were consoled in their locker room by their coaches and athletic director, No. 6 Arundel took turns cutting the net after its 51-50 victory.Arundel's first berth in the state tournament wasn't secured until the Falcons missed a free throw and put-back in the last two seconds.Junior center Jen Mottar made two free throws with 33 seconds left to erase a 50-49 lead that had been created when Severna Park's Jen Holmes followed a miss by Alli Adams 22 seconds earlier.

The first thing Hereford coach Steve Power did in the locker room after his Hereford Bulls won the Class 2A, Region III championship last night was to lead the team in a prayer. Hereford (14-11), which won its sixth straight game, is heading to the state playoffs for the first time since 1968 and for only the second time in school history.And the Bulls needed a little divine intervention to win last night's 69-68 overtime thriller at Hammond.Hammond (15-9) missed its final nine shots -- seven during one possession -- in the last 54 seconds of overtime, including a final six-footer by Kris Jefferson (15 points)

Two days after winning the Bob Cousy Award given to the nation's top point guard, Maryland senior Greivis Vasquez picked up three additional honors. On Saturday, Vasquez was named a second-team All-American by the NCAA, earned a spot on the State Farm Coaches All-America second team, and was one of 10 players chosen for the Wooden Award All-America team. Vasquez was joined on the All-America second team by Cole Aldrich (Kansas), James Anderson (Oklahoma State), DeMarcus Cousins (Kentucky)

Riley Skinner scored on a 1-yard keeper with 2 seconds remaining and host Wake Forest rallied from a 14-point deficit to beat Stanford, 24-17, on Saturday. Skinner finished 18 of 26 for 187 yards with a touchdown pass for the Demon Deacons (1-1). His 44-yard pass to third-stringer Lovell Jackson with less than a minute left set up his winning score. Redshirt freshman Andrew Luck was 23 of 34 for 276 yards with two touchdowns to Ryan Whalen for the Cardinal (1-1). They were denied their first 2-0 start since 2004.