Winning Season

With a 28-7 victory over Arundel (1-5) on Friday night, the Chesapeake Cougars evened their overall football record at 3-3 and put themselves in position for the first winning season in Tom Kraning's 13 years as coach. Three of the four games left on the Cougars' schedule are winnable: No. 9 Old Mill (5-1), Severna Park (2-4), South River (0-6) and neighborhood rival Northeast (4-2). A 6-4 record would equal the only winning season in the 24 years of Cougars football, set in 1985 under Denis Schanberger.

After Maryland's 11-8 win against Navy on April 5, the team improved to 8-1 and was an early favorite to earn the top seed in the NCAA tournament. Since then, the team has dropped two of its last three contests - including a 13-6 loss to Virginia as the No. 1 seed in a semifinal of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament. But as analysts suggest that the No. 11 Terps are beginning to lose their grip on one of the tournament's eight seeds and a home game in the first round, coach John Tillman said he's not concerned about his team's position.

Confidence is building at Northeast for the Pasadena school's football team after its 2-0 start. When coach Mike Cotham called the Eagles' 13-12 victory at No. 12 Liberty (1-1) Monday night their "biggest win since 1988," it didn't take a genius to read his meaning. While it was a big win with workhorse Joe Brockmeyer (6-2, 210) carrying 42 times for 164 yards, it just so happens that 1988 was the last year that the Eagles had a winning season when they went 7-3 Cotham, who was an assistant to Bart Rader that season, is preparing his team to play host to Fallston tomorrow night at 7:15, and is confident the Eagles can win another one. After the 1988 season, the Eagles' best record under Rader who would retire after the 1996 campaign with a 60-80 career record in 14 seasons, they were 5-5 in 1991 and his final year.

When the Ravens rolled to their second Super Bowl victory, fending off the San Francisco 49ers in the final seconds of the game, the storylines that defined an improbable season all found happy endings. Ray Lewis carried the Lombardi Trophy into the sunset of his long career. Coach John Harbaugh beat his brash little brother Jim. Quarterback and MVP Joe Flacco eliminated any remaining doubts about his big-game talents, and a team whose first owner, Art Modell, died in September won with his memorial patch on their uniforms.

If you heard the increased volume of the "Beat Army" yell in the Mid cheering sections after the singing of "Navy Blue and Gold" last Saturday following the win over Delaware, you certainly would know that the BIG game is coming up next.Attempting to add to the significance of the Army game on Dec. 8 in Philadelphia would be futile. It's all been -- and is being -- said as to the stature of this clash and its place in the minds of football enthusiasts everywhere.The names change year in and year out but the spectacle lives on. Forget the frantic bowl picture on that one Saturday afternoon, there's only one Army-Navy from coast to coast and beyond.

Hope springs eternal in the hearts of true baseball fans. With the start of the Orioles' 2003 season just days away, some loyal fans are asking themselves, "Why not? Why can't the Orioles rebound after five consecutive losing seasons? Why can't this be the season our boys of summer come up winners again?" In fact, some of these fans, whom we found in Baltimore and beyond, feel it to their orange-and-black core that the Orioles will take wing and rise above the magic .500 mark this year.

To exorcise a 34-point loss to Vanderbilt last Saturday in which Navy committed 10 turnovers, the Midshipmen's skill-position players carried footballs around campus. There was also an attempt to achieve greater team unity by sharing a movie on Friday night.But tackling and catching would have proved far more useful at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium yesterday when the Midshipmen absorbed another embarrassing defeat, 42-13 to Southern Methodist, which had beaten only Texas Christian in its previous 10 games.

,TC COLLEGE PARK -- Visions of a bowl game have faded. Dreams of an Atlantic Coast Conference title and a national ranking are gone. There seems to be only one way to salvage an already respectable season, and that's to have a winning one.The University of Maryland (5-5 overall, 3-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) will try for its first winning season since 1985 when it meets No. 8 Virginia (8-1, 5-1) today (12:08 p.m.) at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, Va."We weren't picked to win as many games as we have, yet we have won five," Maryland inside linebacker Scott Whittier said.

In the beginning, there were maybe 1,000 people who lined the southeast corner of the parade grounds at West Point to witness the first football game between Army and Navy. Playing on a cold, cloudy day on Nov. 29, 1890, Navy beat Army, 24-0. And thus was born college football's most spirited rivalry.Today, they'll play the game before more than 70,000 people at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. And millions more will watch the nationally televised contest. This will be the 91st meeting between the two academies, which have played annually since 1930 after a two-year layoff.

Maryland women's basketball coach Chris Weller received a one-year contract extension through next season, the university said in a release yesterday.Weller had her 20th winning season for Maryland with a schedule among the 10 toughest in America. Maryland has a 15-13 record and is on the bubble for a postseason berth. The Terps have wins over three Top 25 teams this season. Weller has a 447-221 record in 23 seasons at College Park."There were a number of considerations going into the decision," said Danita DeHaney, the university's senior associate athletic director.

A three-year absence from the NCAA tournament doesn't sit well with Don Zimmerman, but the UMBC coach may not have to issue any challenges to his players. That may come from his senior class. Fourteen of the team's 42 players are seniors, who also are the largest class on the current roster. And those seniors have yet to get a taste of the NCAA tournament - a gap on their resumes that they're not shy about emphasizing, according to Zimmerman. “I think the message that they're delivering is, 'Hey, we haven't had a winning season since we got on board, and we're certainly not satisfied with that by any means.

As the end of the Major League Baseball regular season drew to a close this year, something that hadn't happened in a long time came to pass: the Baltimore Orioles made it to the postseason, winning the wild card playoff with the Rangers and then dropping their divisional round playoff with the Yankees. All-in-all, the 2012 season was a success for the Orioles, who hadn't make the playoffs since 1997. Some credit the team management, some the players, most likely both. This is baseball, though, a sport notorious for its legendary superstitions.

Peter Angelos' ownership of the Orioles seemed to hit a new low last fall when two well-respected candidates spurned the chance to become his top baseball executive. Fans rolled their eyes and bit their lips when Angelos settled for Dan Duquette, who had been out of Major League Baseball for almost a decade after his demise as general manager of the Boston Red Sox. It seemed that Angelos' Orioles, losers for 14 straight years, could only get a guy no one else wanted. Who could have guessed it was the prologue to a story of redemption for both franchise and owner?

On a bright, breezy afternoon in the Northern California ballpark that has given the franchise more trouble than any other in recent years, the Orioles officially exorcised the ghosts of losing seasons past while using their current tried and true formula of, “help us win, no matter who you are.” Good thing, too, because the Orioles may be back at the Oakland Coliseum in less than three weeks, playing in their first postseason in 15 years....

Last year, Meghan Kelley was used to standing in the shadows as a freshman for Centennial. Yesterday, she tried a new role: the star. Kelley went on three serving runs in the first two sets to help No. 2 Centennial defeat No. 5 Mount Hebron, 25-19, 25-18, 25-22. Kelley contributed nine kills and five aces in Centennial's season opener. "I didn't even have her in the starting lineup a few days ago," said Centennial head coach Larry Schofield. "I put her in as a right side hitter, a position she was not familiar with, and she did a great job today.

If anyone ever makes Jermaine Paul be a back-up singer again, America needs to punch that person in the face. The anticipation was murderous, but America finally found out who won the second season of "The Voice"and a recording contract - after all mandatory reality show dramatic pauses - so this season's winner is ... Jermaine Paul, the Alicia Keys back-up singer who was ready to make it big on his own. Yes, Team Blake took home the crown...

COLLEGE PARK - Soon after Maryland football coach Ron Vanderlinden stepped to the podium yesterday, he started talking about how the Terps' offense was first in rushing in the Atlantic Coast Conference last year. And how they scored 30 or more points in five games and finished first in the conference in fewest sacks allowed. Ho-hum. Boring. Then he began to spit out more statistics about the defense from a year ago ... Excuse me, but there is only one question here: How tight is that noose getting around Vanderlinden's neck?

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- The University of Maryland will try to secure its first winning season since 1985 and enhance its bowl chances when the Terps meet North Carolina at 1:30 p.m. today at Kenan Stadium.But Maryland (5-3 overall, 3-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) is facing a North Carolina team (4-2-1, 1-1-1) that is also in the bowl hunt and looking for its first winning season in three under coach Mack Brown."For us and Maryland, this is pretty much a must game," said North Carolina nose guard Alex Simakas.

No. 3 Century was coming off a 15-8 loss to No. 1 McDonogh in girls lacrosse Monday and fell behind by five goals to host Westminster on senior night. But the Knights (13-1) ignited a second-half rally by winning draw controls and doubling the ball on defense Thursday and went on to gain a 14-8 victory in the regular-season finale. The Owls opened with a 6-1 lead before the Knights cut the lead to 6-4 at the half. Century's Madi Hall led all scorers with four goals. Boys lacrosse No. 14 Broadneck 8, St. Mary's-Ryken 7, 2OT: Kevin Malenich scored his second goal and the game-winner with a minute left in the second overtime as the host Bruins (12-1)

After starting with three straight victories over the Minnesota Twins, the Orioles failed their first test of the young season by being swept by the New York Yankees at Camden Yards. They played competitively with the Bronx Bombers -- taking two games to extra innings before losing -- but that won't help the team in the standings. Wins and losses are what count. Right now, the Orioles have three of each. Now they'll need to get ready for the next obstacle -- an extended 10-game road trip against the Toronto Blue Jays, Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Angels.