CLASS 3A/2A GIRLS STATE FINAL: GLENELG 12, C.M. WRIGHT 3
By Reese Levin
OWINGS MILLS — When having the opportunity at a free position chance, most teams would love to break free and have an open shot. But not Glenelg. During Tuesday’s Class 3A/2A state title game, the Gladiators took one or two steps and then passed it to an open teammate to set up a better opportunity on free position looks. This strategy helped Glenelg repeat as state champions by defeating C.M. Wright at Stevenson University, 12-3.
“That’s just us wanting to possess the ball and make sure we don’t have any turnovers,” Glenelg coach Nicole Trunzo said. “The girls are all awesome and great players, but they don’t think like that. They like to finish as a unit.”
Trophy in hand, senior Lindsay LeTellier was happy to close her high school career on a high note.
“Our coaches have been telling us from the beginning that our goal every year is states or bust and I think that is something we’ve really been working towards,” she said. “We [worked] so hard in practice. Our coaches push us so hard and it really paid off today.”
The Gladiators came out of the gate hot, as they had five different players score their first five goals, along with having a four-goal advantage with less than nine minutes remaining in the first half. In total, seven different players scored Glenelg’s goals, with Anna Callahan leading the team with a hat trick of her own.
With C.M. Wright down 6-1 at halftime, they looked to get back in the game in the second half. That plan for the Mustangs did not go well, as the Gladiators came out in the third quarter and scored four unanswered goals before C.M. Wright was able to get back on the board with Aubrey Hoover providing a goal, which made it 10-2.
With less than seven minutes remaining in regulation, C.M Wright added its final goal of the game from Courtney Frank before Glenelg added its final goal before the horn sounded.
With the win, Glenelg is now the first Howard County team since the 2013-2014 Marriotts Ridge girls lacrosse team to become repeat champions.
“I have never worked so hard for something in my life and that is what makes it feel even better, because we know how hard we have worked and we just wanted to prove that we belong up top,” Anna Callahan said. “Finishing with a state championship is just the best feeling in the world.”
CLASS 3A/2A BOYS STATE FINAL: NORTHERN 5, GLENELG 4
By Reese Levin
OWINGS MILL — When your school, let alone your entire county, hasn’t won a lacrosse state championship ever, there is some added pressure to players and coaches at Northern High School. Through the pressure, the Patriots remained calm, as they knocked off Glenelg, 5-4, to capture the Class 3A/2A boys lacrosse state title at Stevenson University.
Goals came at a premium during the contest, but Glenelg came out hot as they took an early 3-1 lead with goals coming from sophomores Eric Gruber and Tyler Reif, and freshman Kyle Dry, with Northern adding one from junior Brandon Sulhoff.
Northern got within one goal with under-nine to go in the first half, with the goal coming from Mason Chaney.
Northern was able to tie the game up at 3-all with less than two minutes to play in the first half, thanks to Brandon McCutheon, with the assist coming from Chaney, sending the teams into halftime tied.
The Patriots took their first lead of the game with an early third quarter goal from Colten King, which gave goalkeeper D.J. Walker some confidence as he started his last half of high school lacrosse.
Glenelg made things interesting when Chaney notched his third goal of the game with 1:46 to go, but Walker held his own in net and helped the Patriots hold onto the 5-4 victory.
“It’s unreal. It feels like a movie,” Walker said. “We’ve been saying that, a lot of players, like it doesn’t feel real because it’s something we talk about all the time. Since March 1 it’s, ‘We’re going to win states, we’re going to win states.’”
Northern Coach Joe Casalino appreciated all the support he got from other teams in his conference: “It’s an interesting situation that we’ve been so successful in SMAC, you’d think that a lot of opponents have a negative perception of who you are. And then you get to a situation like this and you find out that everyone is so grateful for success for our conference.”
CLASS 4A/3A GIRLS STATE FINAL: BEL AIR 11, SEVERNA PARK 10
STORY: Late goal by Julia Henry lifts Bel Air over Severna Park for 4A/3A girls lacrosse state crown
CLASS 2A/1A BOYS STATE FINAL: SOUTHERN-AA 20, SOUTH CARROLL 7.
By Kyle McFadden
OWINGS MILLS — Ben DeBlauw showed no mercy as the goals kept coming and coming. From wicked side-arm rockets, to sneaky one-timer snipes, the senior attack from Southern was an untameable force. After shaking off a somewhat sluggish start in the opening nine minutes of regulation, DeBlauw finished on the fringe of history, netting eight goals, one shy of a state record, to surge Southern past South Carroll in the Class 2A/1A boys lacrosse state title game on Wednesday evening at Stevenson University, 20-7.
“It’s incredible,” DeBlauw said. “You can all dream. But something I thought was kind of funny is none of us thought there were actually state records, or anything like that. … It’s surreal.”
Southern and South Carroll traded two-goal swings in the first nine minutes of regulation, but after that, DeBlauw upstarted a 6-1 run with 1o seconds left in the first quarter and broke a 2-2 tie that swelled the Bulldogs’ lead to 8-3 with under-four minutes left in the first half. DeBlauw accounted for five of the six goals during the decisive stretch.
Southern led at half, 9-4, and upped its lead t0 12-4 in the first three minutes of the second half off two more goals from DeBlauw.
The boys lacrosse state title is the first in Southern High School history, and 20 goals ties a team record for most scored in a MPSSAA championship game.
“This is just, words can’t describe,” Southern coach Brendan Brace said. “These guys really took it to themselves to be students of the game.”
Southern outshot South Carroll, 45-21, and dominated the groundball battle, 43-22.
Colin Phipps contributed two goals and three goals for Southern. Bulldogs goalkeeper Gavin Taquino made seven saves.
Kyle Worsley registered three goals for South Carroll. Jake Mackenzie added a goal and three assists for the Cavaliers.
“I said it since my freshman year, I’m going to get a ring,” said Brandon Thomas, who collected two goals and two assists. “I lost it sophomore year. But I told myself, ‘Senior year, that’s going to be my year.'”
CLASS 2A/1A GIRLS STATE FINAL: CENTURY 13, FALLSTON 5
OWINGS MILLS — The Century Knights cruised to its eighth girls’ lacrosse state title in school history in the wire-to-wire 13-5 win over Fallston at Stevenson University Wednesday evening.
Century led for all but 49 seconds after the two sides traded goals in the opening five minutes. Michaela Connolly (three goals, three assists) then scored at the 19:44 mark of the first half to break a 1-1 tie and 31 seconds later, Christina Haspert netted her first of two goals to extend the Knights’ lead to 3-1.
Fallston brought it to 3-2 when Emily Solak scored at the 17:21 mark, but that’s the closest they got the rest of the way, as Century outscored the Cougars 10-3 the final 37 minutes.
Century’s Grace Bruce registered a game-high five goals on seven shots and added one assist. Julia Hatmaker added two goals for Century and Hannah Basso made eight saves for the Knights.
Sarah Dudick, Kelly Emge, Jesse Brennan and Zoe Hurlburt all contributed with one goal apiece for Fallston. Lexi Roberts made seven saves on 20 shots for the Cougars.
Century outshot Fallston, 22-18. Each team secured 10 draw controls, but Fallston committed four more turnovers than Century (11-7).
CLASS 4A/3A BOYS STATE FINAL: SEVERNA PARK 7, CHURCHILL 6
Story: Last-second goal lifts Severna Park to second straight 4A/3A boys’ lacrosse state title
