Year S Team

With daily devotion, the high school boys of Brooklandville, who are not quite old enough to be called men, plead with one another. Stick together. Don't do anything stupid. Everyone is watching you. Everyone is waiting for you to screw up. Prove them wrong. The refrain never changes. A year ago, that was hardly the case for the St. Paul's boys lacrosse team. The team was considered the best high school squad in the country, and its 34 players - some who had played together since age 10 - were looking forward to the best season of their lives.

COLLEGE PARK - - Maryland football coach Ralph Friedgen slumped in a chair at the University of Virginia's Scott Stadium. It was October 2008 and the Terrapins had just lost, 31-0, to an underdog Virginia team that had previously been outscored 128-36. Friedgen's red face was a mixture of fatigue, puzzlement and anger. "Some guys have got to drive it or park it," the coach said. As the Terrapins prepared for a new season beginning against No. 12 California on Saturday night, many coaches and players said the Virginia defeat serves as a reminder - a cautionary tale - of what can't be allowed to happen if this year's team is to succeed.

Here's the prevailing logic on Towson State basketball: Despite the loss of Kurk Lee, the Tigers will continue to win games in the backcourt thanks to Devin Boyd and Lewis Waller, but they will have their same old deficiencies up front.There is one fault, however, in that logic. It overlooks the very real prospect that Chuck Lightening could become a dominant player in the East Coast Conference. A 6-foot-5 junior forward, Lightening has waited his time with the books and the ball, and now he's ready to strike.

After their 23-0 preseason win over the Redskins, do you think the Ravens are better, worse or about the same as last year's team? Better 54% Worse 8% The same 38% (1,332 votes, results not scientific) Next poll: : After the recent shooting at Harborplace, the Baltimore police committed to stepped up enforcement downtown. Are you confident in the city's ability to keep the harbor safe? Vote at baltimoresun.com/vote

The bad memories are still fresh in the minds of the Atholton Raiders.They recall how Atholton, one of the county's more distinguished girls basketball programs in the 1980s, fell apart last year. They remember a few early season defeats snowballing into an extended losing streak.When the season ended with teammates bickering and pointing fingers, the Raiders limped home with a 1-13 record against the county (6-16 overall), their worst performance under Coach Graydon Webster..5l"We weren't motivated.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - At one point this week, Ohio coach Tim O'Shea remembers feeling lucky. His Bobcats had just won an improbable Mid-American Conference championship, and he just found out Ohio would be playing Florida - a team prone to postseason disappointment in the first round of the NCAA tournament. "It's funny," O'Shea said. "I hadn't watched Florida all year. But I remembered watching the Manhattan game [which Florida lost] last year. So I thought, `Hey, maybe we didn't get such a bad seeding.

As a member of Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse team during the early 1980s, Haswell Franklin Jr. became accustomed to winning.As head coach of Villa Julie's first-year men's lacrosse team, Franklin is prepared to endure the alternative, but is hoping to enjoy at least "a little success" in the Mustangs' inaugural Division III season, beginning Sunday when Villa Julie plays host to Kean College at 2 p.m."Wins aren't going to come as often as I was used to in college, but we have an enthusiastic group that's obviously looking forward to starting a new lacrosse tradition here at Villa Julie," said Franklin, a former assistant coach at Loyola College.

HERNDON, Va. -- Marv Levy, who has a master's degree in English history from Harvard, has no trouble recognizing alliteration when he sees it.That's why the Buffalo Bills coach can appreciate the tag hung on his team last season: Bickering Bills."

ArmyCoach: Jack Emmer, 10th season, 73-51.1992 record: 10-4.Outlook: The Cadets haven't been in the NCAA playoffs for five years, and, says Emmer: "That's a long time." That may change (( this spring. Army looks improved. "We have a senior group," says Emmer, "and I think we'll be able to compete with the teams on our schedule. We scrimmaged Syracuse last week. I thought we did well just to be able to run up and down the field with them." The entire attack -- Steve Heller, Phil Mandry and Chad Allen -- returns.

The sight is startling: 37 brightly clad teen-age girls jogging around a high school track at 5:30 on a sultry summer evening.The temperature is about 90 and the humidity makes it seem even hotter. A few girls straggle behind a bit but are quickly encouraged and tugged along by their friends.Are these girls crazy? What the heck is going on here?Call ita revolution. A cheerleader revolution, in which Atholton is changing the image of its pompon pushers.Old image: snobby social club composed of soft, weak, dumb girls who huff and puff off the court after sloppy, ineffectual cheering routines that elicit little or no response -- or respect -- from fans.

GREENSBORO, N.C. - -After dropping their final two Atlantic Coast Conference games, Maryland football players and coaches tried valiantly to put the best spin on what had once been a promising 2008 season. It was December and the Terrapins were headed to Boise, Idaho, for the Humanitarian Bowl, which had the eighth pick of ACC teams. Protocol demanded that the Terps not be rude to their bowl hosts, so the players talked politely about being pleased to play a game in an exotic location.

The ninth-ranked Hereford boys lacrosse team rarely mentioned trying to repeat as the Class 3A-2A state champions. The Bulls had mostly a new cast of players after graduating 21 seniors and they didn't want to feed off the accomplishments of last year's team. Nonetheless, the new crop of Bulls didn't miss a step as they won 11 consecutive games to end the county season and dominated the regional playoffs. The Bulls capped the year Wednesday at UMBC Stadium by knocking off No. 14 Centennial, 13-8, to win their fifth state championship.

At the start of the season, McDonogh boys soccer coach Steve Nichols predicted that next year's team could well become the best he has coached at the Owings Mills school. It was saying a lot, considering the No. 1 Eagles have reached the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference championship game in 10 of the past 11 seasons and were coming off the program's fourth conference championship with a roster that included the National Player of the Year and a handful of other gifted graduated seniors.

Beth Tfiloh baseball coach Jeff Lowe believed his team was playoff-caliber last season. A few mistakes late in the schedule, though, cost the Warriors a spot in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference playoffs. "I think that we underachieved toward the end," Lowe said. "I thought we gave games away with mental mistakes, but I think that this year we would have competed very well." Beth Tfiloh, now in the C Conference, has managed to limit such mistakes this time.

This year's team could end up with a record ranking among the franchise's worst. A look at the bottom five, with record and manager: 1988, 54-107, Cal Ripken Sr./Frank Robinson: A historic 0-21 start evolves into the worst record in team history and costs Ripken his job after six games. 1954, 54-100, Jimmy Dykes: In the franchise's first season in Baltimore after moving from St. Louis, the Orioles finish 57 games out of first place. 1955, 57-97, Paul Richards: Improving by three games in the win-loss column and finishing 39 games out of first qualifies as progress.

Aleah Queen, like her older sister, former Old Mill point guard Anisha Queen, is an outstanding student who contributes to her basketball team. Queen is a starting guard for the Patriots, who played in last night's county championship game against No. 3 and defending champion Arundel. This is her third varsity season with the Patriots after one year of junior varsity. Queen carries a 4.19 grade point average with a 1,540 SAT score and is a Maryland Distinguished Scholar and member of the National Honor Society and Student Government Association.

The Orioles' 1990 season turned out to be the mirror image of 1989. Instead of coming close to winning the division championship, Baltimore's team finished a disappointing fifth.That did not stop 2.4 million fans from pouring through the turnstiles. What fans witnessed was a temporary setback. That frequently happens to a young, rebuilding team.In some respects, the Orioles of 1990 were more talented than the near-miss Orioles of 1989. The difference: Last year's team played better; unexpected injuries and poor performances dogged this year's team.

As the early-season losses began to pile up for Coppin State and Towson State, the question was whether Baltimore's National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament teams from last season had what it took to repeat.Coppin needed leadership, and Towson needed scorers. Now, with less than a month to go before their conference tournaments, both apparently have overcome those obstacles and are hoping their recent play again translates into NCAA berths.Coppin (14-8, 10-1) shook off a 4-8 start and will attempt to extend its winning streak to 11 games when it visits Florida A&M tomorrow in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game.

Last night's wrestling match between host Old Mill and Northeast was billed as Anne Arundel's version of the clash of the titans. Advantage, Patriots. Old Mill used two wins apiece by Ethan Brown at 189 pounds, Nigel Pierce at 215, Aaron Hawkins at 289, Colin Dupreay at 103, Ben Travers at 112, Ryan Vaughters at 119 and Willie Pumphrey at 125 to defeat the Eagles, 49-6, in a tri-meet at Old Mill. Earlier in the evening, Old Mill handed Chesapeake its first county loss, 44-11. The wins put No. 10 Old Mill squarely in command of the top spot in the county.

Long Reach senior forward Obi Ukwuoma has thrived in his role as the Lightning's team leader and go-to player, averaging 17 points and 10 rebounds this season. Ukwuoma, 6 feet 4, was primed for the responsibility. During his sophomore year, he was called up to the varsity before the team's state championship playoff run, getting experience in what it takes to win a title. And last season, when senior standout Michael Bowden went down with an early injury, Ukwuoma stepped up to take a lead role and earn first-team all-county honors.