Wilde

Just about every league game in Howard County girls soccer can have a bearing on the county title, but the biggest so far will be Friday's 3 p.m. showdown between No. 5 Centennial and No. 9 Wilde Lake at Centennial.They remain the only two teams unbeaten in league competition. The Eagles also have won four nonleague games and Wilde Lake has dropped two of its five nonleague matches.Both of the Wildecats' losses have come to teams ranked higher than they are -- No. 1 McDonogh, 5-1, and No. 4 Fallston, 2-1 in double overtime.

Wilde Lake caught unbeaten Overlea without top gun Bernard Hopkins (ankle injury), but it took some late heroics from Joey Guyton (22 points) to hold off the Falcons, 80-77, in the state Class 2A/Region II semifinals yesterday.Guyton, who has signed to play football for Delaware, scored six straight points after Overlea had trimmed a 21-point lead to six in the fourth period."It has been like this all year, but somehow we manage to pull it out," said Guyton, a defensive back for the state Class 2A football champions last fall.

The football season was three weeks old, Wilde Lake was off to a 3-0start and Wildecats defensive coach Mike Harrison was concerned.Harrison, in his first year as defensive coach, had reason to worry.Sure, the Wildecats were unbeaten. Sure, they had recorded a 27-0victory over an outclassed Dundalk team in their second game. But their defense -- by Wilde Lake standards at least -- had looked, well, ordinary. They had already surrendered four touchdowns. The defensivebackfield was getting burned.

A Wilde Lake village resident who has become embroiled in a dispute with village officials over lighting at his condominium complex says Columbia "has outgrown its covenants" because the architectural standards don't consider security issues.Guy Holly, a Bryant Gardens resident, said he is exasperated with the village Architectural Committee for disapproving three of 13 bright security lights the condominium association erected to increase safety. The architectural review process provides no opportunity for appeals, he said.

Wilde Lake High School will present its modern staging of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 17, 18 and 19 at the school's Jim Rouse Theatre for the Performing Arts, 5460 Trumpeter Lane. More than 50 students will participate. Tickets, available at the door, are $9. Tickets go on sale at 6:45 p.m. or can be reserved by e-mailing Julie_berla@hcpss.org. Author to discuss teaching of reading The Columbia Homeschool Community will sponsor a talk by Cynthia Curtin, a former kindergarten teacher and author of Able2Read Books, from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. tomorrow at the central library, 10375 Little Patuxent Parkway.

It's not a battle for the state playoffs, since both teams already have clinched spots. And it's not just for the Howard County championship, though that's at stake, too.This is for a year's worth of bragging rights. It's a border war with U.S. 29 the front line. When No. 4 Wilde Lake visits No. 5 Oakland Mills Saturday at 1:30 p.m., both undefeated (9-0) football teams will give a little extra."It's my senior year," said Wildecats running back Raphael Wall, "and it's always been a war. [This game]

Twenty-four hours after being shut out by Good Counsel, second-ranked St. Mary's righted itself in a big way yesterday at Wilde Lake. The Saints got goals from five different players in downing the Wildecats, 5-1.Pub Date: 9/12/97

Most county coaches realize that to beat Wilde Lake you must stop Seth Willingham. But that's easier said than done.Willingham's magic number is 18. He averages 18 points per game, and when he scores at least 18 points the Wildecats are 6-0 in the league.When Willingham scores fewer than 18 points, Wilde Lake (9-8, 7-3) is 1-3 in league games.Willingham scored 24 yesterday and the Wildecats beat visiting Glenelg in a battle of first-place teams, 56-52.The 6-foot-2 senior swingman produced an all-around effort with five steals, five assists and six rebounds.

COLLEGE PARK -- Smiling heroes stood in every corner of Wilde Lake's locker room after the Wildecats' 69-68 come-from-behind victory over Snow Hill in a state Class 1A boys semifinal yesterday at Cole Field House.Wilde Lake point guard Terence Butler made a steal from Eagles point guard Terrance Palmer near half-court with two seconds left to preserve the victory."They reached in, but the refs weren't going to call anything that late in the game," said Snow Hill coach Allen Miller. "I guess it was a clean strip."