The Starting Five

Note on Clayton Anders

Tim Koelble — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:02:09 +0000

Here is a note on Clayton Anders … I know he would not make anything of it himself.
With Boonsboro’s victory over Smithsburg last Friday, Anders reached a personal victory plateau. It was his 150th victory as Boonsboro’s head football coach, where he took over in 1985.
To date, his career record is now 150-112.
I believe he may be the second winningest coach all-time in Washington County. At the top of the list would be Coach Carroll Reid.
Congratulations Coach Anders !

The Kellick area

Tim Koelble — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:14:06 +0000

Greg Kellick has resigned his position as head coach of the South Hagerstown football team.
In the time that I have been in Hagerstown, I have always enjoyed talking with Kellick about football and anything else that came into discussion. It was no surprise, after a dismal 2009 season in which the Rebels were expected to be much improved, Kellick tendered his resignation following Friday’s brutal 44-0 loss to North Hagerstown.
Kellick has been a Rebel for life. He has lived and died South High football for the majority of his coaching career.
As we usually do on a Tuesday, we taped our upcoming segment of Inside Sports (Week 11) and I would suggest that you tune in Thursday night at 7 p.m. At the conclusion in our “Overtime” segment, sports editor Mark Keller hits in right on the head with his comments about the situation at South. I won’t say anymore, you will just need to watch and listen. And for those of you that are South followers, I would especially suggest you tune in and remember, if the shoe fits, wear it.
Whether Kellick coaches again or elects not to, I don’t know. I think he’s still got something to offer. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens at South with the selection process. It must be thorough, but yet it can’t take forever.

Hubs roll, Rebels thud

Tim Koelble — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:10:04 +0000

It was a one-sided performance on Friday night at Mike Callas Stadium.
North Hagerstown continued its recent mastery over South Hagerstown with its seventh straight win in the series, 44-0.
After two years in which the Hagerstown Gridiron Classic game was truly a classic to the end, North went back to what it had done in the four previous wins in the streak — dominate.
It was the fourth shutout in the streak and matched the 2006 victory of 44-0, the largest margin ever in the series and the Hubs now hold a 28-24-1 lead.

The Hubs took the first possession and reached paydirt, and combined with a defense that absolutely stymied the Rebels, marched easily to the win. The defense throttled the Rebels on the ground with a negative 13 yards while rolling up 263. And throw in 132 and you get the idea.
It was jubilation for the North fans, students and parents clamoring about on the field as the team received the Gridiron trophy for another year.
It was frustration for the South fans, who made an exit for the highway as the final seconds ticked, some maybe even before then.
It was jubilation for the North players, a team that coach Dan Cunningham at the beginning of the year felt “was a year away.” With many key juniors returning “this win gives us alot to feed off of for the offseason,” he told me after the game.
It was a little more than frustration for the Rebels and coach Greg Kellick, who thought there was a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel, especially after a victory over Boonsboro two weeks ago.

This is too funny

Andrew Mason — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:04:45 +0000

New York Marathon Winner Tests Positive For Performance-Enhancing Horse

Get the full story here.

Anything and everything

Tim Koelble — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:54:20 +0000

High School — Well, it’s Rivalry Week as Week 10 of the prep football season is here. Can’t believe it. We’ll have our preview sories during the week in print and online. Was at North Hagerstown for some quotes and on the way back saw some lights on at St. Maria Goretti’s Gael Center. Stopped in and there were the Gaels in their season-opening practice session. Yep, it won’t be long for hoops action.
It starts Nov. 23-24 with the Lions Classic at Broadfording Christian Academy for both the boys and girls. The first-night matchups are the same for the boys and girls — St. Maria Goretti plays Faith Christian and Saint James plays Broadfording. It all starts at 3:30 with the first girls game. And then there is the MAIT at Goretti on Nov. 27-28. The first night, a loaded Good Counsel faces Benedictine (Richmond, Va.) and will be followed by the Goretti-John Carroll game.

Baseball — OK, so the Phillies won to make it 3-2 and head back to New York. Wednesday it’s Pedro Martinzez probably going against Andy Pettitte. Too bad it’s not 3-2 Phillies. It really should be. Where has Ryan Howard been in the World Series and of course, Brad Lidge blows game 4. I really hope the Phillies can steal two games in New York. I doubt it, but I sure am hoping.

Pro Football — New Orleans’ offense is powerful. They’ve got the running and passing. And already, even after a 7-0 start, we get to listen to those who want to ask if the Saints can go unbeaten. They’ve got a fairly easy schedule except for playing New England. And by the way, the Saints’ defense has scored more touchdowns this year than the Cleveland Browns have as a team.

Pro Football II — And speaking of my lousy Browns, they let go General Manager George Kokinis. Like he’s the one putting on the pads and playing the game. Former Browns great Bernie Kosar is on as a special consultant and I think they should make him GM, just like Ozzie Newsome became a front office presence for Baltimore after his Browns playing days.

College Football — Florida football coach Urban Meyer suspended linebacker Brandon Spikes after his eye-poking incident with a Georgia player on Saturday. Meyer suspended him for the first half of Saturday’s upcoming game with Vanderbilt. Are you kidding? A weak puppy on the schedule … he should have gotten at least an entire one-game suspension.

NBA — Final tonight: Charlotte 79, New Jersey 68 …. did you say the NBA? Is that professional basketball? Oh yeah, I forgot the season started.

Marathon football

Tim Koelble — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:12:07 +0000

Don’t know if anyone saw this one from this past weekend. In West Virginia, Parkersburg South and Wheeling Park had a long battle that went 2 overtimes with plenty of scoring. What a night for the players, coaches, fans and scorekeepers.
The Game 77-71

Acta-puncture

Tim Koelble — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:32:23 +0000

I am in a state of shock right now over the developments up north in Cleveland around by beloved Indians.
The Tribe has hired Manny Acta as their new field manager with a three-year contract and option for a fourth. Here is a guy that went 16-62 before he was finally canned after 2 1/2 years managing the Washington Natinals (intended). Something like 94 games below .500 on his record and suddenly he is the Indians new manager.
And even more, it came down to a bidding war with the Houston Astros.
Acta must have interview well with the Indians brass and said all the right things to general manager Mark Shapiro — YES, YES, YES. Everything Shapiro likes to hear, just like Eric Wedge.
The newspaper and online stories already today are reporting Acta says he is a “common sense” manager. The fans already are in an uproar. The ownership just can’t get it right — Shapiro should have been gone at the same time Wedge was fired and then everything could start over from square one — not just with Acta.
He couldn’t become a successful manager in Washington. What makes anyone think he will be one in Cleveland? If he is eventually the second coming of Mike Hargrove, or Lou Boudreau, then I’ll admit my sarcasm and disgust on this hiring was out of line.

And by the way, Wednesday night is the World Series opener and who are the starting pitchers? Cliff Lee for the Phillies and CC Sabathia for the Yankees…. MMM … former Cleveland pitchers.

And I can’t believe Tony LaRussa has hired Mark McGwire as a hitting coach. Without steroids, can he really teach someone how to hit, or just give them some pointers on how to not strike out as much?

Redskins humor

Andrew Mason — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:56:55 +0000

A friend just emailed me these Qs & As:

   Q. What do you call 47 millionaires sitting around a TV watching the
   Super Bowl?
   A. The Washington Redskins.

Q. What do the Redskins and Billy Graham have in common?
A. They both can make 70,000 people stand up and yell “Jesus Christ.”

Q. How do you keep the Redskins out of your yard?
A. Put up a goal post.

Q. Where do you go in D.C. in case of a tornado?
A. To FedEx Field – they never have a touchdown there!

Q. What do you call a Redskin with a Super Bowl ring?
A. Senior Citizen

Q. What’s the difference between the Redskins and a dollar bill?
A. You can still get four quarters out of a dollar bill.

Q. How many Redskins does it take to win a Super Bowl?
A. We may never find out in the 21st century.

Q. What do the Redskins and opossums have in common?
A. Both play dead at home and get killed on the road.

Higher than 8th

Tim Koelble — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:24:14 +0000

Chris Bushey’s goal as he completed his front nine today at the Maryland state golf tournament was to end higher than his 8th place finish from a year ago.
Bushey was 3-over par through his first nine holes today at Potomac Ridge.
Co-leaders Alex Hoffman, of Middletown and Bart George, of Broadneck, were in a battle thru the first 9 with Hoffman holding a 1-stroke advantange, going 1-under on his front 9.

Tough road to climb

Tim Koelble — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:59:01 +0000

Only four Washington County golfers qualified for the second round of the Maryland state tournament which concludes with the second round on Wednesday.
Smithsburg’s Chris Bushey and A.J. Minnich, North Hagerstown’s Aaron Staley and Williamsport’s Zach Weber all made the cut.
Bushey had the third-best score on Tuesday with his 6-over par-79, but that leaves him 5 strokes behind the co-leaders. Bart George, of Broadneck, shot his 74 on Monday in the 4A/3A portion and Middletown’s Alex Hoffman shot a 74 on Tuesday.
Others ahead of Bushey are Linganore freshman Ryan Cole (76), Andrew Yakubik of Damascus and Ryan Triller of North Harford (77) and Randy Callahan of C.M. Wright (78).
It’s not unheard of to come from 5 strokes behind… We’ll have to wait and see what happens.
*****
The weather was fabulous on Tuesday and the forecast for Wednesday is for more of the same — a sunny sky, gentle breeze and temps that will top out at 70 as the players move thru the middle part of their round.
*****
As Smithsburg coach Dan Neff said in our golf preview, the Leopards needed to get scoring from the No. 3 and 4 players in order to contend for a team title, but it didn’t happen. Matt Snowden shot 113 and Kyle Huntzberry a 102. It was the first state competition for Huntzberry as a freshman and he figures to do in the future what A.J. Minnich did.
Last year, Minnich shot a 100 in his first state showing and shaved 17 strokes off that number on Tuesday to qualify. My guess is Huntzberry will plug along at the game and do the same.
*****
There is no official word yet on the state tournament returning to The University of Maryland next year. It has been held at Potomac Ridge here in Waldorf the past two seasons while the Terps’ course has undergone rennovations.
There is also a discussion on several adjustments being made to the qualifying procedures and possibly a change of the district date and addition of a regional. In this case, it would likely get my endorsement. Changes need to be made.