The County Times

Page 1

The County Times

Thursday, June 5, 2008

2008 Was Great St. Mary’s County High School Sports Year-In-Review

Ospreys Fly High in Softball Tournament Second Place Finish Puts County Softball on The Map

By Chris Stevens Staff Writer Conference, Regionals and States, oh my! With CRS usually reserved for being an off-color acronym for those with bad memory, the Conference-Regionals-States were what all of the public schools in St. Mary’s County were shooting for. Along with WCAC success coming out of St. Mary’s Ryken, the 2007-08 school year was one to remember. Take a walk down memory lane as we revisit some of the highlights of the year that was in High School sports in St. Mary’s County.

Fall 2007: Great Mills buzzes to state playoffs Waiting out a two hour rain delay, impending darkness and a move to the practice fields, the Great Mills’ field hockey team got their post-seaThe Great Mill Photo By Chris s’ Girl son drive started with a 3-0 quarter- of Stevens winning the 3A s Basketball Team reache d its goal South Region final win over Stephen Decatur High semi-fina an d headed to th ls for the first tim e state e since 1990. School, just the first of three straight wins that earned the Hornets the 3A After defeating Huntingtown South region championship. and La Plata by identical 1-0 scores While the delay took its toll on all to win the South Region, the Hornets Photo By Chris Stevens involved, Hornets coach Michelle Rich- came up just short of the state finals, The regional championship plaque mond was not interested in hearing any losing the Bethesda-Chevy Chase 3was a symbol of the succes s the Horexcuses from her team saying, “Stephen 1 in the 3A semis at Broadneck High nets achieved during the 2007-2008 Decatur drove four hours to get here, so School. season. we got the lesser of two evils.” Indeed Brave new world in they did.

football

For the first time in since 2001, and the first time overall under popular head coach Tony Lisanti, the Chopticon football team participated in the regional playoffs, hosting a 3A quarterfinal game against Henry E. Lackey High School. Although the Braves fell to the Chargers 21-3, the season had several bright points, led by junior defensive back Doug Rollins. Along with returning an interception 96 yards for a touchdown at Leonardtown earlier in the season, Rollins single-handedly thwarted Great Mills at Chopticon’s homecoming with three interceptions in the game, one he returned for a touchdown and making up for allowing the game winning touchdown in a contest between the two teams in 2006. Rollins, when asked is Stevens about making up for last year, grinned hr C By o ot Ph SMAC and said “yeah, that was me getting consecutive th ur fo s’ er id Ra e th to rs Mossed on the last play of the game,” ral contributo

of seve em was one Robbie Wilh le this past season. tit boys’ lacrosse

See Sports Year-In-Review page B-

Opening Weekend Lexington of Derby Comes Park Family With Hard Work Enters Derby as a Team By Chris Stevens Staff Writer

Photo By Chris Stevens

Action from the stock heat of Saturday’s Demolition Derby, sponsored by the Silver Hill Lions Club.

By Chris Stevens Staff Writer BUDDS CREEK – Although he appears to be relaxed at all times, Silver Hill Lions Club co-chairman Barry Wilen is working hard all day

this particular Saturday. Between fielding calls about the weather and making sure everything is running smoothly at and around Potomac Speedway, Wilen acknowledged that the 36th annual DemoSee Demolition Derby page B-

BUDDS CREEK – If you were to ask any member of the Nickless family of Lexington Park, they will quickly tell you what it takes to put together a car suitable for competition in the Silver Hill Lions Club Demolition Derby – teamwork. “It’s a team effort,” said Keith Nickless, driver of the #2 car in the stock heat of Saturday’s season-opening race at Potomac Speedway. “We let the kids pick the paint schemes, and it takes about two weeks for us all to do the work.” Keith, along with his brother Dave, who drove a late-model Chevy Suburban known as “The Bus” to victory in Saturday night’s modified stock heat, have been competing in See Nickless Derby Team page B-

Photo Courtesy of Kevin Sioppa

The Southern Maryland Ospreys’ Under 16 team performed well enough to earn second place at the Memorial Day Shootout in Richmond, Virginia.

By Chris Stevens Staff Writer With an excellent showing in the previous weekend’s Memorial Day Shootout in Richmond, Va., the Southern Maryland Ospreys Under 16 softball team took a huge step in raising the profile and talent level of St. Mary’s County softball according to head coach Kevin Cioppa. “This helps a lot, just by

exposing the girls to high-caliber softball,” Cioppa said after the Ospreys finished in second place in the Shootout, which took place May 24 and 25, advancing the furthest in any tournament an Under 16 team has gone in the organization’s seven-year history. “This was a big step forward for Southern Maryland softball as a whole, especially St. Mary’s County.” The Ospreys’ championSee Ospreys page B-

r e n r o C Angels Beat Cardinals 13-3 The Angles continued their host streak, beating the Cardinals 13-3 in American Little League action at Cecil Park Friday Night. The Angels have won six straight games going back to their 6-5 loss to the Cardinals on May 5th. Angels pitchers Hunter Stone, Ben Wietzke and Clark Ripple combined for 11 strikeouts while only giving up four hits. The angles had a very balanced attack with batters 1 through 9 all hitting the ball and scoring. Manager Frank Ripple said after the game, “right now, everything is clicking. All the boys are hitting the ball hard and we’ve got great pitching from Hunter, Ben and Clark. When you get pitching like we’ve gotten every game and score 10 or 15 a game, it’s going to be hard to beat us.” Leading the Angels hitters were Matthew Johnson and Ben Wietzke with three RBIs each.

Twins Beat Orioles 10-9 With Walk-Off Home Run On Friday night, the Twins and Orioles battled at Dorsey Park. The Orioles jumped out to a 2-0 lead. The Twins answered back in the bottom of the second with a 2-run homer by Brandon Denee and an RBI double by Nick Dowdle, giving this

Twins a 3-2 lead. Both teams held each other scoreless until the bottom of the fourth, when the Twins exploded for six runs led by Brandon Brock’s two-run smash over the fence in left center field. In the top of the sixth, the Orioles battled back and scored seven runs to tie the game. The Twins answered right back in the bottom of the sixth as Dowdle hit a walk-off home run to give the Twins the victory.

Scores Twins 10 Orioles 9 Angels 13 Cardinals 3 Yankees 12 Indians 2

Upcoming Schedule Friday June 6th Angels vs. Yankees at Dean Field Cardinals vs. Orioles at Dorsey Park #2 Brewers vs. Twins at Dorsey Park #3 Indians vs. Braves at Cecil Park #2 Tuesday June 10th Twins vs. Angels at Dorsey Park #2 Yankees vs. Orioles at Dorsey Park #3 Brewers vs. Indians at Regional Park #4


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