The Hereford Bulls will travel to Wilde Lake in Columbia Friday for their Class 3A state semifinal football game with the Wildecats, and Bulls coach Steve Turnbaugh couldn't be happier.

"I'm extremely proud of my team," he said yesterday at the MPSSAA luncheon for semifinalists at M&T Bank Stadium. "In years past, we've gotten to this point very easily. But this year, it was a challenge every week."

This is Hereford's 10th trip to the semifinals. It has advanced to the finals five times, including last year, and won the state championship three times, the last time in 2002, when it was competing as a 2A school.

There was a point this season when Turnbaugh wasn't at all sure his team would even make it into the playoffs.

"After we lost to Perry Hall, we were 2-2, at the bottom of our region," Turnbaugh remembered. "A lot of people counted us out. The bar is set very high up there, and 2-2 was not taken very well.

"But the kids had a real good meeting. They re-established our goals, and we've been on a mission ever since. They've really come together to right the ship. We're here now and we'll do everything we can to win. ... It's a credit to our team to be in this position. We had to overcome a lot of challenges every week."

The challenges, it seems, just keep coming. Turnbaugh said one of his key senior players, running back/linebacker Hasani Cromwell, went out with a broken bone in his foot during practice Monday.

"As usual, it's our curse," he said. "Last year, right before the state championship game, we lost our starting nose guard.

"It's difficult to prepare for these games. We're leery about just walking through a practice because of the timing aspect. But in pads you risk getting someone injured. Hasani got his foot stepped on. It doesn't take much to break a little bone in your foot."

Turnbaugh said the Bulls have battled injuries all year, and he anticipates another of his players stepping up to do the job.

"We've got very talented kids waiting in the wings," he said.

Hereford is 10-2 and ranked No. 7 in The Baltimore Sun poll, while Wilde Lake is 11-1 and ranked No. 6.

- Sandra McKee