Glenelg Country’s Matt Bright (left) and Key’s Jake Wechsler, who combined for 30 points in yesterday’s C Conference semifinal, prepare to react to the opening tip.

Top-seeded
Glenelg Country built an early 10-point lead and carried it most of the
way as it ousted visiting Key, 60-50, in the MIAA C Conference
basketball semifinals, yesterday in Ellicoty City.  The Dragons will
now meet a confident Annapolis Area Christian squad, which went on the
road and knocked off second-seeded Beth Tfiloh, 42-34, yesterday in
Brooklandville, in Friday’s C Conference Championship Game.

Glenelg
Country (20-11) powered its way into the final behind the play of its
guards, as senior Matt Bright scored a game-high 17 points and
sophomores Colin Gibbons and Tim Schenk finished with 16 points each. 
Junior forward Evan Williams, usually one of the Dragons top offensive
weapons, had just eight points but came up big on the glass and on the
defensive end of the floor.

One day after celebrating the
school’s first-ever MIAA playoff victory, in any sport, Key (13-10)
received 27 combined points from senior Matt Stangle and junior Jake
Wechsler, but it was not enough to propel the Obezags into the
championship game.

With a 4-0 record against the top two seeds,
AACS entered the post-season with more confidence than your average
third seed and it showed, yesterday, as the Eagles (16-8) knocked off
Beth Tfiloh (17-6) for the third time this year.

The Eagles
reached the final largely on the strength of their defense, as they
limited Beth Tfiloh’s top scorer – Paul Auster â?? to just 11 points and
prevented any of his teammates from picking up the slack.

Senior
Dave Harris led the Eagles with 10 points and junior Gill Trainor
joined him in double figures with 10.  In addition, junior Mark Bennett
contributed eight points.

On Friday, AACS will attempt to pull
off the double hat-trick with a third win over Glenelg Country.  In
late January it took a two point decision in Ellicott City and then won
by four, at home, in the final week of the season.  Both schools will
be competing for their first league title.

Friday’s MIAA C Conference Championship game tips at 6:30 pm at Johns Hopkins University.

Glenelg Country 60, Key 50
Key: El-Said 7, Jl. Maldanado 3, Stangle 14, Wechsler 13, Anthony 6, Iagulli 8. Totals: 18 7-17 50.
Glenelg Country: Gibbons 16, Vasiljevik 2, Bright 17, Schenk 16, Williams 8. Totals: 19 15-27 60.
Half: Glenelg Country, 38-28.

Whether its was the ghosts of past failures or the
relentless defense of Mount Carmel, Pallotti struggled out of the
blocks and managed just 14 first half points.  Fortunately for the
Panthers, Mount Carmel was not burning up the nets on offense either
and led by just nine, 23-14, at the break.

The Panthers (20-7)
made a run in the second half, aided by an off night at the free throw
line from the Cougars (19-21), but junior Troy Franklin carried Mount
Carmel past all of the rough spots as he scored a game-high 21 points.

On
defense, the Cougars, which followed their 2005 C Conference title with
a win in last year’s B Conference Championship Game, put the breaks on
both of Pallotti’s big guns â?? seniors Ennis Whatley, Jr. and Brandon
Washington â?? limiting each to just eight points.  Senior Alex Fowler
cored a team-high 12 points, while junior Payton Flynn scored nine.

Scoring
is never an issue when St. Mary’s is on the court and, last night, the
Saints (23-7) delivered a knockout blow to a talented John Carroll
squad behind its lethal 1-2 punch of guards Josh Hartman and Josh
Morgan-Green.

Hartman, a senior, sank four three-pointers and
led all scorers with 26 points.  His effort included eight straight
free throws at the end the game that sealed off a last-ditch comeback
effort by the host Patriots.

Morgan-Green, a junior who has done
whatever is necessary to help the Saints win this winter, scored 21
points and helped limit John Carroll freshman Josh Selby to just 12
points.  If that was not enough production from its guards, St. Mary’s
got five points, seven assists and four rebounds from Nick Groce.

John
Carroll, a young team which has an MIAA high 28 wins, has elected to
move up to the MIAA A Conference next year and it will depart without a
B Conference title.  Sophomore Isaiah Philmore led the Patriots last
night with 15 points.

Friday’s MIAA B Conference Championship
Game, which is scheduled to tip at 8:15 pm at Johns Hopkins University,
figures to be an exciting affair.  Mount Carmel and St. Mary’s combined
to score 319 points in just two games this year, both won by the
Saints.  As it did last night, Mount Carmel will look for a way to win
with defense, while St. Mary’s will seek to negate that effort with its
quick, experienced and deep backcourt.

Mount Carmel 54, St. Vincent Pallotti 50
Mount Carmel: Baylor 7, Wheeler 6, Ceslovas 3, Small 4, McNair 2, King 5, Franklin 21, Franks 6. Totals: 20 12-21 54.
St. Vincent Pallotti: Flowers 2, Whatley 8, Porter 3, Flynn 9, Woody 6, B. Washington 8, E. Washington 2, Cook 2, Fowler 12. Totals: 21 3-9 50.
Half: Mount Carmel, 23-14.

The game was tight throughout
and featured 11 lead changes, but St. Joe, which has made a habit of
gaining control of tough games in the crunch, in recent years, appeared
to be on track for more of the same when it battled from behind to take
the lead in the closing seconds.  Banks, however, had the answer as he
managed to convert his game-winning off-balance shot in the lane.  It
was the biggest hoop of Banks’ career and he finished the contest with
nine points.

McDonogh senior guard Brandon Herbert, who has been
a force throughout the A Conference in 2006, led the Eagles with 19
points and Joe Yermal added 15, including nine in the first half. 
Yermal also did a good job battling St. Joe senior star Dino Gregory,
who managed just nine points.

Junior center Henry Sims led St. Joe with 14 points and freshman Eric Atkins scored 12.

Looking
to match McDonogh’s upset with one of its own, St. Frances (22-9) took
the court with confidence in the second game, but the Panthers had no
answers for Towson Catholic (27-4), which went undefeated during the A
Conference regular season.

Senior Malcolm Delaney scored at will
as he tossed in 17 first half points and came back with 18 more in the
second half to finish with a game-high 35.  The Virginia Tech bound
senior was backed by the other half of the Owls superstar duo, as
Syracuse bound senior Donte Greene scored 21.

After building an
18 points halftime lead, TC lapped St. Frances late in third quarter
when it went up 56-28, on its way to a 35-point victory.

Although
St. Frances went down hard, it was not for a lack of effort from senior
Aric Brooks, who nearly matched Delaney, as he scored a team-high 32
points.  Senior Desmond Thomas added 15 for the Panthers, but junior
star Sean Mosley was limited to just six points.

McDonogh lost
by 13 to Towson Catholic in early January, but came closer than anyone
in the league to knocking off the Owls when they lost by just one,
69-68, earlier this month.  If the Eagles are to have a chance, they
must find a way to slow Delaney, who played at McDonogh as a freshman,
and Greene, by controlling the tempo and making the most of its own
offensive opportunities.

McDonogh 49, Mount St. Joseph 48
McDonogh: Herbert 19, Yermal 15, Banks 9, Sheppard 6. Totals: 16 11-16 49.
Mount St. Joseph: Sims 14, Atkins 12, Gregory 9, Olsen 4, Jones 4, McCoy 3, Walker 2. Totals: 18 11-13 48.
Half: McDonogh, 25-22.

Flanked by Salisbury School football coach Chris Adamson, James Neal, a 2006 graduate of Boys’ Latin, signs a national letter of intent to play football for William & Mary University.

Former Boys’ Latin football and basketball star James Neal recently signed a national letter of intent to play football at William & Mary University.

Neal,
who graduated from BL in 2006, is currently attending The Salisbury
School, a prep school in New England.  In his lone season with
Salisbury, Neal led the Crimson Knights with 37 receptions for 533
yards and seven touchdowns.  He also rushed nine times for 54 yards and
returned 16 kicks (punts and kickoffs) for 305 yards.  If that was not
enough, Neal was a force on defense where he had 26 tackles, two
interceptions and seven passes defended.

In his last year at
Boys’ Latin, he led the Lakers to the MIAA B Conference North Division
title and a spot in the league championship game.

Boys’ Latin graduate Brian Farrell scored two goals in his college debut last Saturday for the University of Maryland lacrosse team.

Maryland freshman Brian Farrell, an opposing 6′-5″, 260-pound defender who became a high school lacrosse All-American during a brilliant four year career at Boys’ Latin,
had an impressive college debut on Saturday.

Maryland junior catcher Chad Durakis, of St. Paul’s, leads the Terps in hitting.

There
may still be ice and snow on the grass in the Baltimore area, but they
are playing baseball in the south and two former MIAA players are off
to a hot start at the University of Maryland.

Junior catcher Chad Durakis, who once handled several talented pitching staffs at St. Paul’s, is the Terps leading hitter through six games and  Calvert Hall product Wink Nolan
is third.  Durakis is batting .364 with three doubles, a home run, five
runs scored and five RBI.  This follows a sophomore campaign in which
he hit .267 with 11 doubles, two home runs and 23 RBI.  Nolan, a
sophomore outfielder, is hitting .333 with two RBI and a stolen base,
all as a pinch hitter.

In addition, Joe Palumbo, a Dematha graduate and the son of  Towson Catholic athletic director Jeff Palumbo is the team’s starting second-baseman and he is hitting . .304 thus far.

Archbishop Curley senior B.J. Quigley was named the 2006 Gatorade Maryland  Boys Soccer Player of the Year.

Archbishop Curley senior soccer player B.J.
Quigley, who was named the Baltimore Metro Player of the Year after
leading the Friars to the 2006 MIAA A Conference soccer championship,
has been named the Gatorade Maryland State Player of the Year.

Quigley, who will play for UMBC in the fall, scored 27 goals in 2006
including the only one in Curley’s 1-0 win over McDonogh in the MIAA A
Conference Championship Game.

In 2007, St. Mary’s will play its varsity home football games in the $42-million Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

St. Mary’s athletic director Dave Lanham
has announced that the Annapolis school has reached an agreement to
play all of its home varsity football games at Navy-Marine Corps
Memorial Stadium in 2007.

In recent times, the Saints, who have
no on-campus outdoor athletic facilities, have played the bulk of their
home games at Weems-Whalens Field in Annapolis and Anne Arundel
Community College.  In addition, they were able to get some dates, last
fall, on the new synthetic turf field at nearby Broadneck High School. 
NMC Stadium is a $42 million facility, which underwent major upgrades
in 2005, including the installation of a FieldTurf surface.  For the
last several years, the season-ending St. Mary’s/Severn football game
has been played there and the two MIAA rivals also play a lacrosse game
there in the spring.  The deal also includes provisions for the Saints
to host a few boys and girls lacrosse games in the stadium this spring.

Two-time
defending MIAA A Conference basketball champion Mount St. Joseph, which
has followed last year’s 38-1 record with 23 wins thus far this season
and has remained near the top of the local rankings throughout the
year, apparently still has something to prove.  While regular season
champion Towson Catholic received a well deserved invitation to next
month’s 47th annual Alhambra Catholic Invitational over the weekend,
the Gaels were put on hold as they continued to build their resume with
a pair of weekend wins.

Playing two contests that were postponed
by last week’s ice and snow, St. Joe (23-6) routed host Eastern Tech,
66-40, in a non-conference game on Saturday and closed their regular
season Baltimore Catholic League slate, yesterday, with a 76-46
trouncing of St. Maria Goretti, in Hagerstown.  Saturday’s win was led
by guards Justin McCoy and Jamell Walker, who scored 13 points each,
and yesterday the big men stepped forward as Dino Gregory and Henry
Sims each posted double-doubles.  Against Goretti, Gregory erupted for
21 points and 11 boards, while Sims scored 11 and grabbed 10 rebounds. 
In addition, guard Eric Atkins scored 12 points and had three assists.

The
Alhambra event, which is scheduled for March 15-17 at Frostburg State
University, is limited to eight teams and host Bishop Walsh of
Cumberland is always guaranteed a spot, along with the event’s
defending champion, which is DeMatha.  Tournament organizers usually
invite a minimum of two teams from the Philadelphia Catholic League and
the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference, of which DeMatha is a
member.

Although not guaranteed, one spot is usually reserved
for the best team from the BCL, but a second Baltimore berth is often
difficult to come by.  Last year, local observers believed Baltimore
was worthy of three selections, including Towson Catholic and St.
Frances, but only St. Joe received the nod.  Since 2000, Baltimore has
only had two teams in the event on four occasions and never three,
while Philadelphia and Washington routinely receive at least two bids
and often one or the other gets three.

Last year St. Joe reached the championship contest, where it lost its only game of the year to DeMatha.

Key
(13-9) put three players in double figures to unlock the post-season
victory vault, led by a game-high 15-points from junior Julian
Maldanado.  Junior center Steven Sligh also came up big, as he scored
13, and junior Jake Wechsler netted 10.  In addition, junior Fahmy
El-Said added nine points to the win.

The Obezags also did an
excellent job neutralizing Park’s top scorer as it held Trey Boone to
just 10 points.  The Park guard averaged better than 20 points per game
during an outstanding senior season.  Junior Anthony Kinslow also
scored 10 for the Bruins, while sophomore Karl Nelson netted a
team-high 12 points.

The victory was Key’s third of the year over Park, which finished the year at 9-13.

There
is little time to savor the win, as Key travels to top-seeded Glenelg
Country (19-11) on Tuesday afternoon for a semifinal contest.  In
December, the Obezags lost by three to the Dragons, in Ellicott City,
and, earlier this month, they dropped a 12 point decision in
Annapolis.  Tip-off is scheduled for 4:15 pm.

In tomorrow’s
other C Conference semifinal, third-seeded Annapolis Area Christian
(15-8) will visit second-seeded Beth Tfiloh (17-5), at 4:30 pm. 
Despite the third-seed the visiting Eagles own two wins over the
Warriors, as well as two wins over Glenelg Country.

The MIAA C
Conference Championship Game is scheduled for 6:30 pm on Friday at
Johns Hopkins University.  However, if Beth Tfiloh advances to the
final, the game will be rescheduled, due to religious observations, and
a new date and time will be announced later this week.