http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/varsityletters/ The Baltimore Sun's blog covering high school sports en Copyright 2009 Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:08:13 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Class 2A North: Kenneth Johnson won for Edmondson, which also took the team title. Regina Summerville did the same for Digital Harbor. Class 2A South: Robby Creese of Glenelg sparked the Gladiators’ victory. Oakland Mills won for the girls. Class 3A East: Mount Hebron won for the boys after taking the Howard County title last week. Atholton’s Matthew Pacheco captured first place. River Hill also won after earning the county crown -- and Mount Hebron’s Becky Yep did the same thing. Class 3A North: Hereford didn’t have any problems with rules violations this time, beating Towson by eight points. Mason Rivera won for the Bulls, who also took the girls’ title. Hereford’s Lauren Kennedy captured that race. Class 4A East: Severna Park swept both championships and got a victory from Chris Patrick on the girls’ side. Chesapeake’s Will Neal won the other race. Class 4A North: Dulaney and Westminster’s boys tied for first with 43 points, but the Baltimore County school got the title on the tie-breaker (who got the better sixth-place finisher). -- Jeff Seidel]]> http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/varsityletters/2009/11/looking_back_at_the_cross_country_regional_results.html http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/varsityletters/2009/11/looking_back_at_the_cross_country_regional_results.html Cross country Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:08:13 -0500 At the end of the field hockey season, Mercy's team will go to the home of its leading scorer and captain Jenna Parr and celebrate this season's Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland C Conference Championship with a team dinner. But the Magic aren't waiting to celebrate their third C Conference crown in four years -- this one won Oct. 31, by a 2-1 margin over Annapolis Area Christian. Eagles goalie E. Ferguson had five saves, while Mercy's Abby Baker made two. K. Latney scored the initial goal in the game for Annapolis, but then Jenna Benje scored off an assist from Parr, who would also go on to score the winning goal. "It was so exciting," Parr said. "Oh my gosh!. We played Annapolis twice in the regular season and they beat us both times. After losing those two games, to win this one, to come back from a goal down, it was unbelievable." For Parr it was the exclamation point at the end of an amazing career. The senior has insulin-dependent diabetes and Autoimmune Polyglandular Syndrome type 2, which means she is susceptible to many autoimmune diseases. But nothing has stopped her from being at the top of her game. Over four seasons she has scored 52 goals and recorded 25 assists. This year, her tally was 17 goals and 12 assists. She had one goal and one assist against AACS, despite the fact that her blood sugar levels swung from a dangerous morning low of 45 to an undesirable high of more than 400 by the end of the game. Mercy coach Alex Chambers was impressed by the effort of her entire team. "We really turned it on," said Chambers, whose team finished the season 13-2-1. "It was amazing to see the transformation in our team from one half to the next. The chemistry. The continuity. "I think Annapolis thought they had it won when they scored that first goal." But Saturday's game did not go the way the first two meetings between these two did. AACS was playing its third game in about 36 hours because of weather and religious issues, but also found itself playing against an inspired Mercy team that would not give up. "It was a beautiful way to end the season," Chambers said. "I think if we had lost I wouldn't have minded because my team used everything they had." http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/varsityletters/2009/11/_at_the_end_of.html http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/varsityletters/2009/11/_at_the_end_of.html Field hockey Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:34:48 -0500 The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of the Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC) has been selected as the recipient of proceeds from the 10th Annual Paul Sherry Shootout Basketball Tournament to be played at The Bryn Mawr School on Saturday, December 12, 2009. The women’s varsity basketball team from Bryn Mawr will match up against Roland Park Country School at 1:00 P.M.; and Mt. de Sales Academy will play the varsity women of Pope John Paul the Great High School from Dumfries, Virginia at 3:00 P.M. As part of the fund raising effort, Kelsey Twist Schroeder and Jamie Schroeder will be hosting a reception on Thursday December 10th to honor the physicians and staff of GBMC’s Neonatal ICU. In June of this year, their daughter, Hazel Twist Schroeder, was born three months premature. She weighed only two and a half pounds at birth. Hazel was under the skilled and loving care of the Neonatal ICU for 87 days. Thankfully, Hazel now is home and thriving. She is tipping the scales at over ten pounds!! Each year GBMC delivers approximately 4,500 babies, making it the busiest of any other hospital in Central Maryland. Approximately 30% of those births require medical treatment at the NICU. This very special department of GBMC continues to expand in patient volume as medical advances offer lifesaving treatments for the most fragile newborns. The GBMC NICU has the capability to care for the most complex and severely ill babies and the highly trained staff care for an average 500 critically ill and premature infants each year. The Sherry Shootout Benefit Basketball Tournament honors the memory of Paul Sherry, a longtime leader within the Towson Recreational Council. Mrs. Jan Sherry, her three daughters and son have helped to carry forward Paul Sherry’s significant legacy through this tournament. The Sherry Shootout Benefit Basketball Tournament is sponsored by The Collaborative Group and other generous sponsors with all proceeds from the event being donated to the selected charity. The Sherry Shootout has raised nearly $75,000 for local charitable organizations. ]]> http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/varsityletters/2009/11/former_roland_park_lacrosse_standout_to_host_fundraiser.html http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/varsityletters/2009/11/former_roland_park_lacrosse_standout_to_host_fundraiser.html Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:55:33 -0500 Thursday's first of its kind soccer game at Calvert Hall -- the first athletic event ever played under the lights in school history -- lived up to its billing and then some with visiting Mount St. Joseph taking on the lead role in a Hollywood-like script. The Gaels came away with a win in penalty kicks to advance to Monday's Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference championship against defending league champion McDonogh. How they made it was nothing short of incredible with a number of heroes taking turns on center stage. First to step up was JV goalie Dominic Ruggiero, who was unexpectedly pressed into action when starter Brad Benzing was not available due to what coach Mike St. Martin called school-related issues. Playing in front of an estimated 2,700 fans, Ruggiero was able to keep the Gaels close, enabling Jalen Robinson to tie the game at 2 with just 15 seconds left in regulation as the Calvert Hall student body was ready to spill onto the field. Then, senior forward David Arnold stole the show when the game went into penalty kicks. As penalty kicks approached, St.Martin asked Arnold, tall and athletic, to not only take a penalty kick, but also stop some. So after making good on his penalty kick to get the Gaels off to a strong start, he made saves on the last three Calvert Hall attempts to give the Gaels a 3-2 win. It was the first time Arnold, a team captain, had been in goal since he was 11 years old. Mount St. Joseph will take on McDonogh at 7 p.m. Monday at Johns Hopkins. The Gaels upset the Eagles, 2-1, in early October. It was the Eagles' first loss of the season and came the same week they were named the No. 1-ranked team in the country for the first time ever. Monday's game also will be a rematch of last year's title game, a 6-1 win by McDonogh. http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/varsityletters/2009/11/lights_cameras_action_at_calvert_hall.html http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/varsityletters/2009/11/lights_cameras_action_at_calvert_hall.html Boys soccer Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:03:24 -0500 - Glenn Graham ]]> http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/varsityletters/2009/11/patterson_boys_soccer_falls.html http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/varsityletters/2009/11/patterson_boys_soccer_falls.html Boys soccer Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:59:00 -0500 For about three hours a year, Adrian Coxson and Antoine Goodson have to think of each other as rivals, not friends. As the quarterbacks for the City and Poly football teams, they line up on opposite sides of the area’s longest-running rivalry, an intense annual encounter that draws thousands of raucous, partisan fans to M&T Bank Stadium. When they square off at noon Saturday in the 121st meeting of their programs, the seniors won’t let friendship get in the way of the game. They won’t let the game get in the way of their friendship either. Fittingly, City's Coxson met Poly's Goodson met at a football camp at Poly. Friends since the ninth grade, they have never had a problem keeping the big game in perspective. “I don’t know how to explain how it works,” Goodson said. “We’re friends and we understand that while we’re on the field. We both try to win the game because it’s a big game. We understand that we both want to win, but even when you lose, after the game, you congratulate each other, say, ‘Good game,” and say, ‘I’ll see you later at the Victory Dance.’” That doesn’t mean they haven’t been working each other via cell phone this week. “He was just telling me the other day about how he might go for 200 yards,” Goodson said, “and I said the same thing, ‘I might just go for 200 yards.’ It makes it kind of fun, though.” Coxson's perspective is about the same: “I was just talking to him and we laugh about how we’re going to beat each other, stuff like that -- how much we’re going to score. I play corner too, so me and him talk about me hitting him, me tackling him. We just laugh about it.” The two have had a lot in common this season with Coxson taking over as City’s quarterback although he has committed to Penn State as a wide receiver. Goodson, who is being recruited by Georgia Tech, runs No. 11 Poly’s triple-option offense. They are the guys in charge on the field. “Both are like the air traffic controller of their team,” said Poly coach Roger Wrenn. “They keep all the planes flying and make it all work. They’re both veteran players, they’re terrific guys and they’re terrific leaders.” Earlier this season they shared an unfortunate coincidence, each suffering a shoulder injury in a game on the same day, Sept. 25. Goodson separated his right shoulder and Coxson sustained a small ligament tear in his left shoulder. Each missed only one game and both are now 100-percent recovered. That’s good, because a lot more is riding on Saturday's game than bragging rights and the adulation of their devoted classmates and alumni. Poly, which won last year ending a three-year string of Knights’ victories, is favored, but City almost certainly needs a win to clinch a berth in the Class 2A North region playoffs. Poly is already in the Class 3A North region playoffs, but the Engineers can sew up at least a share of the Baltimore City Division I championship, which will be decided by Friday and Saturday’s final regular-season games. That’s more than a little added incentive to a rivalry that has been very close historically. Poly leads the series, but only 59-55-6. Coxson and Goodson are ready for Saturday, which for them, as for all seniors, will be a bittersweet day. It’s their final City-Poly game, so they want to make the most of a day they will never forget. “I just enjoy the feeling you get playing in front of all those people,” Coxson said, “how important the game is to you and how important it is to them. It’s historic and it’s just a fun game. At the same time, you have to be serious because both teams need this win, but it's still fun. Even after we get out of high school, me and Antoine are going to be friends. We both know how important this game is.” Even though Coxson and Goodson play on opposite sides of the rivalry, they agree that being part of such a storied tradition bonds guys across the line of scrimmage. Theirs isn’t the first friendship that grew out of the City-Poly rivalry and it won’t be the last. “As intense as the rivalry is,” Wrenn said, “it makes for enduring friendships, too.” http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/varsityletters/2009/11/city_poly_qbs_more_friends_than_foes.html http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/varsityletters/2009/11/city_poly_qbs_more_friends_than_foes.html Football Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:53:22 -0500 ]]> http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/varsityletters/2009/11/metrosports_weekly_featuring_cityedmondson_dunbarpoly_john_c.html http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/varsityletters/2009/11/metrosports_weekly_featuring_cityedmondson_dunbarpoly_john_c.html Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:13:33 -0500 ]]> http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/varsityletters/2009/11/metrosportscoms_high_school_highlights_nov_4.html http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/varsityletters/2009/11/metrosportscoms_high_school_highlights_nov_4.html Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:24:47 -0500 There's plenty of chatter in the hallways today at Calvert Hall, where the anticipation is high as the school's boys soccer team prepares to make history tonight in its Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference semifinal game against Mount St. Joseph. Game time is set for 6:30. The key word above is "night" as the school will host its first-ever athletic event under portable lights. "It's pretty exciting around here -- there's a lot of buzz right now on campus," said Calvert Hall coach Andy Moore. Calvert Hall's stadium can hold 2,700, and Moore said he wouldn't be surprised to see tonight's game played in front of a capacity crowd. The administration thought it would be a good idea to play the game at night to allow more fans to support the game. Moore said if all things go well, it may lead to some lacrosse games being played under lights in the spring and perhaps permanent lights being put in. As for the game itself, it should be a great one. Both teams have creative playmakers on offense and sturdy defenses. Geaton Caltabiano and David Arnold lead the visitors, while Pete Caringi Jr. and Zach Wenger are two of the focal points for the Cardinals. The teams split two games during the regular season with Calvert hall coming away with a 3-1 home win. The winner will meet No. 1 and defending league champ McDonogh on Monday for the championship. http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/varsityletters/2009/11/under_the_lights_at_calvert_hall.html http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/varsityletters/2009/11/under_the_lights_at_calvert_hall.html Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:34:12 -0500 could happen: It could end up in a four-way tie for first place. Poly, Dunbar, City and Patterson are all within a game of each another going into this weekend’s regular-season finales. Poly and Dunbar are 6-1 in the Division. City and Patterson are 5-2. Here's what would have to happen to give all four a share of the title. • City must beat No. 11 Poly • Digital Harbor must upset No. 9 Dunbar • Patterson must beat Northwestern. Highly unlikely all three will happen. Two, maybe. Still, it’s an interesting scenario to contemplate. There are no tiebreakers in the city league, so co-champs are not uncommon, but four would be quite a crowd at the top. ]]> http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/varsityletters/2009/11/4_still_in_city_football_race.html http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/varsityletters/2009/11/4_still_in_city_football_race.html Football Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:30:24 -0500 Thursday, Jan. 14 Digital Harbor girls vs. Milford Mill, 3:30 p.m. Mervo boys vs. Randallstown, 5 p.m. City girls vs. Perry Hall, 6:30 p.m. Dunbar boys vs. Woodlawn, 9:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 15 City girls vs. Milford Mill, 3:30 p.m. Digital Harbor boys vs. KIMA (DC), 5 p.m. Western girls vs. Riverdale Baptist, 6:30 p.m. Lake Clifton boys vs. Ballou (DC), 8 City boys vs. Longwood (NY), 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 16 Woodlawn boys vs. Mervo, 10:30 a.m. Perry Hall girls vs. Archbishop Spalding, noon Randallstown boys vs. Digital Harbor, 1:30 Digital Harbor girls vs. Riverdale Baptist, 3 Douglass boys vs. KIMA, 4:30 Parkville boys vs. Dunbar, 6 City boys vs. Ballou, 7:30 Lake Clifton boys vs. Longwood, 9 ]]> http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/varsityletters/2009/11/looking_ahead_to_the_basketball_academy.html http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/varsityletters/2009/11/looking_ahead_to_the_basketball_academy.html Boys basketball Girls basketball Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:03:40 -0500 More than just bragging rights will be decided Saturday in two of Baltimore’s longest-running football rivalries: City-Poly and Gilman-McDonogh. When City and Poly meet for the 121st time at noon Saturday at M&T Bank Stadium, the No.11 Engineers (8-1, 6-1 division) will be looking to clinch at least a share of the Baltimore City Division I title. On the other hand, the Knights (7-2, 5-2) probably need a win to seal a berth in the Class 2A North regional playoffs. If City loses, Dundalk could knock the Knights out of the fourth and final playoff spot with a win Friday over Owings Mills. And in the city, if the Knights win and No. 9 Dunbar suffers an unlikely loss to Digital Harbor on Friday, City would sneak into a share of the Division I title. In the longest-running public high school rivalry in the country, Poly holds the series edge 59-55-6. Last season’s 16-13 Poly win broke a three-year City reign. Gilman and McDonogh have not been playing quite as long. Saturday’s 2 p.m. matchup will be the 94th edition. The No. 2 Eagles host the regular-season finale which has turned into the MIAA A Conference championship game. The Eagles (8-1) stand alone in first place in the conference at 4-0, but No. 5 Gilman (6-3) is 3-1. A Greyhounds win would give them the title outright because the head-to-head result breaks the tie. The Greyhounds lead the series, 55-33-5, but the teams have traded wins for the past four years with the visiting team taking the victory each time. Last year, McDonogh won, 22-14, and the past three games have been decided by an average of seven points. As for the other big rivalry, No.10 Calvert Hall and No.12 Loyola extend their series to its 90th year when they meet in the Turkey Bowl on Thanksgiving Day at M&T Bank Stadium. Loyola leads that one 48-33-8. We'll have more about that closer to game day. http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/varsityletters/2009/11/rivalry_football_games_impact_titles.html http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/varsityletters/2009/11/rivalry_football_games_impact_titles.html Football Wed, 04 Nov 2009 05:00:00 -0500 Maryland football coach Ralph Friedgen was asked what he did when not worrying about his current football team during the Terps' bye week. The coach said he went to a football game last weekend (he was spied at Gilman) and while there he got a big surprise that had nothing to do with football. It was senior day and the owner of one of his favorite Italian restaurants - Da Mimmo's - was at the game supporting her son. She saw the coach and came over to him to say hello. "She said she was looking forward to seeing me at her restaurant that night," Friedgen said. "I said, 'Tonight?' And she said yes, 'Your wife made reservations for the whole family, didn't you know?' "No. I wasn't told. "I mean, would your wife do that to you? She must of wanted to keep me on my diet," said the coach, who has been on a diet since before the season. http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/varsityletters/2009/11/friedgen_gets_help_with_his_diet.html http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/varsityletters/2009/11/friedgen_gets_help_with_his_diet.html Football Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:05:35 -0500 -- Glenn Graham]]> http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/varsityletters/2009/11/stenger_anchors_resilient_mercy_girls_soccer_team.html http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/varsityletters/2009/11/stenger_anchors_resilient_mercy_girls_soccer_team.html Girls soccer Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:35:00 -0500 Here is this week’s attempt to keep up with record-setting Arundel quarterback Billy Cosh. It's not an easy job. The All-Metro senior keeps breaking his own record for passing touchdowns in a career. Six more in Friday night’s win over Meade gives him 100. That’s 20 more than the record coming into the season. Cosh broke that in Week 6. The biggest news is that Cosh hasn’t wiped anyone else’s name out of the record book – at least not yet. His 326 yards passing Friday bring his career total to 6,498, just 24 yards shy of the state mark set by North County’s Mike Pfisterer in 2000. Cosh should get there in Friday’s regular-season final against Southern. He also has an outside chance to get Pfisterer's record for most completed passes. He will need 33, but that's exactly what he had against Meade, going 33 for 46. If – or I should say when – Cosh gets those marks, they will be his 11th and 12th state records (he shares one of those). He now holds all of the state single-game and single-season passing records except best completion percentage in a season, .694 held by Ryan Fleetwood of Cambridge-South Dorchester since 1993. Cosh’s percentage this fall is .68. Cosh, who is headed to Kansas State, has thrown 43 touchdowns this season as the No. 1 Wildcats improved to 9-0. He threw for 56 last season. With one regular-season game remaining and up to four more in the playoffs, Cosh is closing in on three Pfisterer records, all state public school career marks: Most passing yards: Pfisterer 6,522, Cosh 6,498. Most passes attempted: Pfisterer 902, Cosh 777. Most passes completed: Pfisterer 548, Cosh 515. http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/varsityletters/2009/11/the_cosh_watch_2.html http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/highschool/varsityletters/2009/11/the_cosh_watch_2.html Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:00:00 -0500