Walkersville

WALKERSVILLE -- The Board of Zoning Appeals of this Frederick County town turned down last night a request by a Muslim group to put a mosque and retreat center on 224 acres of farmland. Though the request has raised issues of religious freedom and tolerance, the board mentioned much more mundane reasons -- problems with traffic and water and the details of the town's master plan and wording of its zoning regulations. The decision came on the third night of the board's public deliberation on the second floor of Walkerville's Town Hall, an event that attracted about 100 residents each night.

Towson overcame a second-inning three-run deficit with seven unanswered runs and hung on for a 7-5 Class 2A state championship victory over defending champion Walkersville of Frederick County at Joe Cannon Stadium in Harmans last night. Mike Williams (9-0, one save) got the win, yielding five hits and seven walks with five strikeouts. He was relieved by Andre Gardner with one out in the seventh and Gardner struck out the last batter. Kelly Lange (3-for-4, one RBI) and Ryan Valeri (2-for-3, two RBIs)

High School football league games begin this week in the Monocacy Valley Athletic League as the Francis Scott Key Eagles play host to the Walkersville Lions.The Eagles will try to rebound from the 38-6 whomping delivered to them by North Carroll last Friday, while the Lions from Frederick County enter the game having beaten Hanover, Pa., 28-7 in their season opener.Mike Coons, head coach of the Eagles, said their home opener Friday will be important beyond its MVAL significance."We're at the point in our program where everything is important," the second-year head coach said.

After a lackluster offensive performance in the first half of last night's pivotal game against Walkersville, South Carroll coach Gene Brown told his team to keep trying the pass. Led by senior quarterback T.J. Swanson, the host No. 8 Cavaliers found their mark, scoring four second-half touchdowns to pull away from Walkersville in a 35-16 win. "It had been a long time since we were in a football game, and we were a little flat," said Brown. "We just told them to jack it up, because the patterns were open.

Throughout the postseason, Liberty center Andrew Martin has staked his claim as a bona fide force under the basket. In last night's Class 2A West semifinal, however, the 6-foot-7 junior spent much of his time as a harmless presence on the bench. With its big man in foul trouble, host Liberty kept it close until late in the third quarter, when hot-shooting Walkersville took command and went on to a 72-46 win. After Martin went to the bench with his fourth foul with 2:16 left in the third quarter, Walkersville went on a 24-5 run over the next six minutes, turning a three-point game into a rout.

WALKERSVILLE - The road to Atholton's second straight Class 2A state championship dead-ended in Frederick County yesterday, where the Raiders were no-hit and dropped a 10-0 decision to the Walkersville Lions in the West region championship game. The Lions (14-5), a team with strong pitching and weak hitting, exploded for 15 hits against Atholton starter Vyt Rivers (7-3), and 17 hits in all. Before the game, Walkersville didn't have a player batting above .280, said first-year coach Mike O'Brien, whose team will play James M. Bennett at Arundel at 7 tonight in the state semifinals.

North Harford's baseball team has been hot all season. Last night at Arundel High, for the second straight season, the Hawks ran into a team that was hotter. Frederick County's Walkersville (20-2), the defending Class 2A champion, got a six-strikeout performance from pitcher Dustin Dreisonstok and a bases-clearing triple from Lane Strobel in the second inning en route to a 6-1 state semifinal victory over the Hawks (16-6). Walkersville ended the Hawks' season last year, too, that game also a state semifinal.

Francis Scott Key coach Mike Coons has often said that his defense has a bend-but-not-break quality. That description applied last night as the No. 14 Eagles withstood a 255-yard rushing attack and defeated visiting Walkersville, 28-19, in Union Bridge. Key converted two of three Lions turnovers into scores but escaped the battle on the ground. Senior halfback Pat Calloway rushed for 111 yards on 17 carries and senior fullback Cory Hoffman gained another 99 on 28 rushes, as Walkersville pounded the Eagles' defense.

Yesterday, Dulaney's Jay Mann couldn't stop thinking about how badly he and his Lions teammates wanted to win last night's state semifinal game and avenge last year's two-goal semifinal loss to Wootton. The senior midfielder did his part, contributing a goal and three asissts, and the No. 8 Lions scored three of the last four goals to win, 9-6, in their Class 4A-3A semifinal played in a drizzle at North Carroll. "All day I thought about our semifinal loss last year and ... about how bad we wanted to win," Mann said.

WALKERSVILLE -- Francis Scott Key, out of the lead for only 13 seconds midway of the third quarter, had to weather a desperate Walkersville rally to make off with a 63-60 victory in a Class 2A West semifinal last night.Key (16-6), which will be home for the regional final tomorrow night, seemingly had things under control with a 60-48 lead after sophomore Jen Sawyer drove the length of the court for a layup just 70 seconds from the final whistle.The play loomed bigger and bigger in the last minute, and it turned out to be the visitors' last basket.