In this time of unnecessary hype and overstatement, it's not too much of a stretch to say that a bit of local, if not national, history was made yesterday at Centennial when the Eagles girls lacrosse team beat Mount Hebron 10-9 to win the South region of the Class 3A/2A tournament and advance to the state semifinals.

In the process, Centennial formally ended one of the longest stretches of dominance seen in high school athletics, Mount Hebron's 11-year run of state titles, not to mention the Vikings' string of 20 consecutive visits to the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association's final four and 16 straight title game appearances.

Yes, the seemingly impregnable fortress of success that had formed around Mount Hebron had suffered serious cracks, from the end of their record 103-game winning streak last year, and losses this season that ended their local streak and their run against Howard County schools, including an earlier loss to Centennial. But yesterday's loss felt like the walls had finally been torn down. It will be interesting to see if the Vikings come back next season and start a new streak, freed from all the psychic baggage they had to carry from maintaining all those streaks.

And, by the way, let's not let this moment pass without giving Centennial its proper due for the win. The Eagles should be feted more for the accomplishment of getting to the state semifinals than for whom they beat to get there. Goalie Mary Teeters turned back 13 Mount Hebron shots, including two in the final three minutes of the fourth quarter after Centennial had taken the lead.

All in all, it was a nice day to be a goalie in the Teeters household, as Mary's twin brother, Kevin, stopped six shots as the Centennial boys beat Reservoir 14-8 in the 3A/2A South regional final.