The Starting Five

Earlier on Sunday, I made a prediction that New Orelans would beat Indianapolis 33-31 in Super Bowl XLIV. I knew I would be in the minority and the heavy underdog against Wes Decker.
If you look me up on Facebook, you can see the prediction. If you tune into Inside Sports via antpod.com you’ll see I wisely told Wes Decker his Colts were going down.
At any rate, it was a pretty good game all the way. I didn’t pick the final score correctly, but got the winner.
And for a change, the game was far, far better than the array of absolutely ridiculous commercials that company after company put out in front of us. E-Trade commercials keep on getting chuckles but the rest of them — well, they were head-scratchers.
And for Colts fans — they’re scratching their heads also.
If only I had put some money on the game.

Here is the latest installment of boys rankings, with games played thru Wednesday:
Rank, School, W-L, last week
1. Martinsburg, 11-2, 1
2. Hedgesville, 11-1, 2
3. Washington, 12-4, 3
4. North Hagerstown, 10-6, 5
5. Williamsport, 13-3, 4
6. Chambersburg, 9-7, 6
7. South Hagerstown, 10-6, 9
8. Clear Spring, 9-6, 7
9. Saint James, 14-5, 8
10. Greencastle, 11-7, 11
(continue reading…)

Dirk Schultz, the golf pro at Beaver Creek Country Club, sent out an e-mail today on some items and at the end was a tongue-in-cheek advertisement.

WANTED: For immediate hire, an individual that can clear 60 acres of snow off a golf course in 4 hours. Salary $100,000.
That will also be in effect on Saturday if we get the snow that is in the forecast.

We’ve got the itch to get out and start playing on a regular basis. Enough is enough of this stuff.

PS: Remember, I said that advertisement was tongue-in-cheek, so don’t anyone start bombarding Beaver Creek with phone calls, unless it’s for a tee time reservation.

There are two new upcoming events in the area for runners (and walkers). And both seem like they should be instant successes.

This Race is for the Birds (actually four different trail races, ranging in distances from 1 to 7.7 miles) will be held April 24 in Shepherdstown. Click here for more info.

The Nick Adenhart 5K will be held on June 12 at Marty Snook Park in Hagerstown. Click here for the flyer.

We now have a tie atop the MVAL Antietam boys basketball standings after Williamsport defeated North Hagerstown 58-50 Friday at Williamsport.
Both teams are now tied at 8-1 as Williamsport got a little bit of revenge for a 55-44 loss to North on Jan. 6.
It was hyped all week long as the ‘game of the year’ to this point in time. Was it?
It was an intense, well-played game. Williamsport had only 9 turnovers and North 11. A couple were costly, and both teams missed a few layups along the way.
North Hagerstown held the upper hand of the first half and took a 25-21 lead to the lockers on a huge 3-point bank shot by D.D. Dickson.
But the Wildcats came out firing on all cylinders in the third quarter, led by Casey McKenrick’s 14 points. Then Connor Arnone took over in the fourth quarter, hitting 11 of 14 at the free throw line.
*** The crowd was a good one — not as full as I thought it would be. It was a good crowd, cheering and jeering whenever.
*** It was a very good basketball game — not an ESPN Classic — but a good game and as far as Williamsport is concerned, a classic for them. Now we have Antietam co-leaders heading down the stretch.

There’s a change at the top of my unscientific Tri-State boys rankings this week. By virtue of its 42-41 win over Hedgesville last Friday, Martinsburg takes over the top spot. North Hagerstown moves up from No. 7 to No. 5 and Southern Fulton cracks the top 10 at No. 10.
Rank, School, Won-Loss, LW
1. Martinsburg (10-2), 2
2. Hedgesville (10-1), 1
3. Washington (11-4), 3
4. Williamsport (12-2), 4
5. North Hagerstown (9-5), 7
6. Chambersburg (9-5), 5
7. Clear Spring (9-5), 6
8. Saint James (13-4), 9
9. South Hagerstown (8-6), 8
10. Southern Fulton (13-1), 11
(continue reading…)

Ranking the Tri-State girls basketball teams through Wednesday:

1. Martinsburg 12-2

Wins: Berkeley Springs, Mercersburg (2), Sherando, Goretti, Washington, Briar Woods, Handley, James Wood, Hedgesville, University, Thomas Johnson

Loss: Spotswood, Morgantown

Notes: Senior Jackie Brewer has averaged 24.6 points in her last five games, all Bulldogs victories.

2. Smithsburg 12-3

Wins: Mountain Ridge, Goretti (2), Brunswick (2), South (2), Joppatowne, Catoctin, Boonsboro, Clear Spring, Williamsport

Losses: North Carroll, North, Liberty

Note: The Leopads trailed South Hagerstown 30-23 early in the second half Tuesday before closing the game on a 32-8 run to stay tied with North Hagerstown with one loss each in the MVAL Antietam. (continue reading…)

As I enter this blog, we are about 25 hours away from the North Hagerstown-Williamsport boys basketball game Friday night at Williamsport.
As I said in an earlier blog and on Inside Sports, as well as in print in the Herald-Mail today, this is “the game of the year” in the season thus far.
North comes in with a 8-0 record in the MVAL Antietam and Williamsport is right behind at 7-1. Overall, North is 9-5 and Williamsport is 12-2.
On Jan. 6 at North, the Hubs pinned a 55-44 loss on Williamsport. At the time, it was the first loss for Williamsport.
D.D. Dickson, who is averaging 20.7 points in his last 3 games, led North that night with 22. The Hubs will hope the recent streak Tyler Sterling has been on — 17-point average in his last 3 games — will carry on. In the first game against Williamsport he was scoreless.
Williamsport got 13 from Casey McKendrick and 11 from Brandon McCauley, and they’ll need at least that from each of them, along with a productive night at the guard position. Connor Arnone had only 2 points in the first game.

Should be a good one …. the kind of electric night you wish was every night in a gym.

There doesn’t seem to be an event that gets Hagerstown excited.
Daytona has its 500, Washington has its Cherry Blossoms and Boston has its Marathon. Every one of them brings great anticipation.
There are a couple of events that makes Washington County steam up a mirror, proving the citizens are actually breathing, but nothing of magnitude.
It used to be that a Saturday in the middle of January was always circled, though. That was when Hagerstown Community College’s men’s basketball team would host Allegany College.
It was the battle of two competitive counties with the best junior college programs in the area. It was the battle between coaches Jim Brown and Bob Kirk, Western Maryland’s answer to Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.
It was a battle for civic pride between two teams and two counties that really don’t like each other. There was always a lot of sparing and raw emotion, and that was in the bleachers. You don’t need to talk about what was happening on the court.
(continue reading…)

For as much as I can remember, this past week was one of the better weeks covering boys high school basketball games in terms of the final outcome.
Tue: Middletown and Williamsport jockey back and forth before Middletown comes away with a 61-57 victory.
Thur: Saint James and Heritage Academy lock horns before the Saints come away with a come-from-behind 56-52 victory in overtime.
Fri: North Hagerstown and Clear Spring go after one another in a knock-’em-down, drag-’em-out battle before the Hubs win, 75-70.
Sat: St. Maria Goretti rallies from a 19-point deficit to get within 2 points before losing to Gilman School, 64-60.
Four games decided by 4, 4, 5, 4 points. Not bad. No blowouts.
Let’s see if it can continue.