Fallston boys lacrosse brings ‘the juice’ to win state title
All season, Fallston has been a team defined by its high-octane energy.
The Cougars step onto the field with an unmatched moxie and are galvanized by creative bench celebrations, like players jousting or bench pressing after a goal, coordinated by junior Brody Fitzkee. Coach Pat Mull calls it the catalyst for their success.
The team’s passion reached its boiling point as the clock showed zeros Tuesday night. Players flooded the field in a frenzy. Helmets, pads and sticks covered Stevenson University’s Mustang Stadium, while the Cougars celebrated their second Class 1A state championship in three years, defeating Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference foe Perryville, 19-8.
Fallston has a saying that brings tangibility to their most prominent trait: “Bringing the juice.” A liter jug of orange juice sits on the sideline illustrating the point.
“Coach [Zach] Esser reiterates bringing the juice on the sideline and on the field,” senior midfielder Lucas Hurlburt said. “One guy on the sideline will hold it and just be electric on the sideline and bring all of it.”
Amidst the postgame frenzy, Hurlburt had the honor of dumping the likely spoiled orange juice over Esser. “He was definitely so angry,” Hurlburt quipped.
“Once we bring that juice, it’s over,” faceoff specialist Aiden Dixon said. “You see the crowd, you see our team and once that juice is up, it’s up. It won’t come down.”
Fallston rode that wave, ripping through playoff opponents like shrubbery. In five games to reach the mountain top, the Cougars’ closest matchup was a 10-5 win over Southern-AA in the quarterfinals. They scored an average of 12.8 goals and gave up 5.6 in the playoffs. Not once did they fail to reach double-digit goals, and the eight Perryville scored was the most any playoff opponent mustered against them.
Tuesday was more of the same.
Nick Nikola paced the Cougars with five goals. Ian Swartzendruber and Quinn McLaughlin each added three, while Hurlburt and Greg Hoer contributed two each. Vinnie Muscella and Luke Roberts finished with three apiece for the Panthers.
Mull hasn’t taken much time to reflect on this season yet. He said that will come now that they crossed the finish line. But the success under his tutelage can’t be ignored.
Fallston was in this position a year ago, losing to Southern in the state final. The year before that, Mull’s first year at Fallston, the Cougars defeated Smithsburg for the 1A crown.
“Being a [Fallston] alum [graduating in 2009] and being from the area, I’d be remiss to say that there isn’t that pressure,” Mull said. “There is an expectation. These guys can attest to it, when I first took over that was one of the first things I mentioned to them. There is a tradition. There is a standard. It’s our responsibility to uphold that standard.
“With the leadership of these guys, we’re fortunate enough to have had some success these past couple years. And hopefully, success breads more.”
Hereford boys lacrosse falls to Kent Island
In its Class 2A playoff run, Hereford averaged 15 goals per game in reaching Tuesday’s state final against Kent Island.
Then the No. 13 Bulls hit a wall, against a familiar foe.
The defending champion Buccaneers from Queen Anne’s County featured standout senior goalie Kasey Heath and rugged close defensemen in Carter Haney and Gavan Henry.
After surrendering three goals in the game’s first eight minutes, Kent Island blanketed the Bulls, leaning on a five-goal outburst in the second quarter to claim a 9-3 win for the program’s fourth state title.
On their way to last year’s title, the Buccaneers knocked off Hereford, 13-3, in the semifinal round.
After junior attackman JP Revitte gave the Bulls a 3-2 lead with 4:01 to play in the first quarter, the Buccaneers put on the clamps. Heath made eight saves, Marks Rees (three goals), Micah Quinn (two goals, one assist) and Tucker Claxton (two goals, one assist) shared the offensive load and faceoff specialist Brady Vodehnal delivered a strong performance in the middle.
Hereford coach Kyle Leppert, whose Bulls finish as Baltimore County champions with a 15-3 mark, was quick to credit the fine play from the Buccaneers’ defense. But the Bulls’ struggles on offense also coincided with the loss of standout senior attackman Trey Gibbons, who left the game early in the second quarter with an injury and was unable to return.
“We lost a starting attackman in Trey to an injury and he wasn’t able to return and
I think that was a personnel change that wasn’t something we could really prepare for,” he said. “So it was a matter of figuring things out on the fly and I think the guys really put a big effort into that, but it was a tall task at that point.”
— Glenn Graham
Softball state semifinals
Dulaney 7, Broadneck 2: Dulaney coach Dave Barwick predicted his Lions, a mix of more fresh faces than seasoned veterans, would reach the Baltimore County championship. Beyond that was an abyss, and a terribly difficult one. To think Dulaney would reach the Class 4A state semifinals surpassed his wildest dreams.
To now know his Lions are bound for the state championship, freshman Kimani Dennis put the feeling into words: “It’s amazing.”
After a masterclass in capitalizing in every inning, Dulaney booked a trip to the final dance, beating Broadneck, 7-2, at Bachman Sports Complex on Tuesday night. It is the first time the Lions reached the final since 2001. They’re still searching for their first title.
The Lions (18-6) secured their victory behind junior pitcher Lilly Tinker, who entered the circle in the second inning and held Broadneck (14-9) to two runs on five hits while striking out four and walking three.
“They’re playing such good softball right now. They’re not making any mistakes in the field, they know what to do with the ball,” Barwick said. “They’re doing everything just so perfectly. The best team I’ve fielded in a long time.”
Dulaney will face Urbana on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at University of Maryland in College Park for the state championship.
— Katherine Fominykh
Reservoir 4, Huntingtown 0: The top-seed Gators (23-0) clinched a Class 3A state championship berth as Maggie Frisvold pitched a complete game shutout with 12 strikeouts and just two hits allowed. Abbie Frisvold had a double and two RBIs, while Maggie and Cambell Sagin had Reservoir’s other RBIs. They will face Damascus at 8 p.m. Friday at University of Maryland in College Park for the 3A state title.
Rising Sun 7, Eastern Tech 0: Rising Sun seniors Faith McCullough and Cadence Williams combined for seven shutout innings and Jordan Lynch, Josalyn McMillan and Kelsey Barks had two hits each to lead the Tigers to a 7-0 victory over Eastern Tech in the Class 2A softball state semifinals at Bachman Park.
— Craig Clary
North Dorchester 5, Patterson Mill 4:
Momentum can be a funny thing. One second you have it, and the next you don’t. Just ask Patterson Mill.
The Huskies erased a four-run deficit to tie the game in the top of the seventh before falling to North Dorchester, 5-4, in a Class 1A state semifinal Tuesday at Bachman Sports
Complex in Glen Burnie.
The Eagles (22-2) will face Catoctin of Frederick County on Saturday at 1 p.m. for the state championship at University of Maryland in College Park.
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Baseball state semifinals
River Hill prides itself on being a family, constantly uplifting each other regardless of circumstance.
That was on full display Tuesday several players stepped up for the Hawks in a 5-3 victory over top-seeded Stephen Decatur in a Class 3A state semifinal at Joe Cannon Stadium.
River Hill advances to the state championship game Saturday at 7 p.m. at Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf against No. 6 seed C. Milton Wright, a 6-5 winner of Huntingtown in Tuesday’s other semifinal. The Hawks are looking to capture the program’s second state title and first since 2009.
After River Hill (18-4) struggled with runners on earlier in the game, Brady Young delivered in the clutch. With the score tied at 3 in the top of the seventh, Young laced a line drive that went over the right fielder’s head, scoring Demetre Koutras for the go-ahead run. Riley Finkelston added another timely hit down the third-base line, giving River Hill an important insurance run.
“I had been struggling recently but my teammates helped pick me up in the dugout and really got my spirits up and let me know, ‘This is our game, we got this,’ ” Young said. “I was just trying not to do too much, put one to the right side. The pitcher was throwing really hard and I was lucky to get a liner in the gap and score Demetre. When I saw him cross home plate, it was pure joy.”
— Jacob Steinberg
River Hill 5, Stephen Decatur 3:
ROCKVILLE — You had better play a darn good brand of baseball to beat Sherwood baseball in the postseason.
Severna Park was far from its best Tuesday afternoon at Shirley Povich Field, and the result was certainly indicative of that fact.
Leadoff batter Brian Scott set the table and cleanup hitter Ben Berger did the rest as second-seeded Sherwood took full advantage of several mistakes to beat No. 3 Severna Park, 9-2, in the Class 4A state semifinals. The Warriors scored five runs in the third and fourth innings to break the game open.
Sherwood (22-3) advances to the Class 4A state championship game for the third straight season and will face top-seeded Urbana, a 10-0 winner over Laurel in the other semifinal, at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf.
“You can’t make mistakes against a team like that. We made mistakes on the bases and we made mistakes on the field and a team like that is going to capitalize,” Severna Park coach Eric Milton said. “These guys have been fighting all season. They fought again today. It wasn’t enough. They faced a good team that made the plays and beat us.”
It marked the third straight season
Sherwood 9, Severna Park 2:
Severna Park’s season came to an end at the hands of Sherwood. The Warriors beat the Falcons in the previous two state finals, 11-0 in 2022 and 5-4 in 2021.
— Bill Wagner
C. Milton Wright 6, Huntingtown 5: C. Milton Wright knows what it’s like to have its back against the wall.
Falling behind by two runs in the fourth inning is nothing to a team that was one strike away from losing by the 10-run rule in regionals.
The Mustangs lost an early lead to Huntingtown in a Class 3A state semifinal Tuesday but once again responded, regaining the advantage and holding it for a 6-5 win to advance to the state final. They will face River Hill at 7 p.m. Saturday at Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf for the title.
Cole Williams singled in a run in the bottom of the fourth before Keith Cochran tied the score at 5 with an RBI groundout. Another Huntingtown error proved costly, as Thomas Cannavale’s ground ball scored Williams for what turned out to be the winning run.
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WALDORF — After three plate appearances he described as “funky,” Patuxent’s Cameron Bott stepped into the batter’s box with the game tied and facing one of the state’s best pitchers in Dominic DiBlasi. Two pitches later, the Panthers’ dugout was empty and home plate crowded as the entire Patuxent team readied to welcome the senior outfielder as he changed the season on just one swing.
Bott’s sixth-inning solo home run over the left-field fence at Regency Furniture Stadium gave the Panthers a 5-4 lead it carried to the end. For the second straight year, Patuxent baseball defeated Liberty (18-5) to advance to the Class 2A state championship game. It will face Parkside at 4 p.m. Saturday in Waldorf.
“There was no quit on this team this year,” Liberty coach Travis Inch said. “They battled their butts off and we just came up short.”
— Timothy Dashiell
Patuxent 5, Liberty 4:
The Panthers’ season comes to an end in the Class 1A state semifinals at the hands of last year’s state champion. Pikesville opened the game with a run in the top of the first. Michael Hagan singled in Max Levin. But Clear Spring pitching held the Panthers to just four hits, two from Jack Millman. Pikesville’s pitching kept it in the game. Millman threw five innings, allowing four runs (two earned) on five hits. He struck out five. Issac Garonzik pitched one perfect inning with two strikeouts.
Clear Spring 4, Pikesville 1:
Parkside 7, Sparrows Point 0: The Pointers gave up five runs in the first inning and struggled to get their offense going in their Class 2A semifinal. Ryan Zickefoose and Cody Burkman tallied the only hits for Sparrows Point (14-6).