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On Tuesday, the No. 4 Sparrows Point Pointers hosted the No.5 Dulaney Lions in an early-week top five girls’ soccer showdown! The game proved to be a defensive battle, so click this link or scroll down to read more about how the game played out!

The 7-2-2 Dulaney Lions, ranked fifth in BCPS, hit the road for their lone game of the week, facing the fourth ranked 6-2-1 Sparrows Point Pointers.

Dulaney entered the contest with a three-game win streak dating back to Oct. 1 with wins coming against Hereford (1-0), at Eastern Tech (2-1) and at Bryn Mawr (3-1). Meanwhile, Point had had over a week of rest entering their game against the Lions, most recently beating Catholic High 1-0 on Oct. 5, preceded by a 2-1 win at Towson on Oct. 2.

The two teams traded offensive possessions before the first shot of the day was taken by Dulaney in the fourth minute. The Lions continued taking shots in the first 15 minutes, quickly capitalizing for a score.

In the 18th minute, the Dulaney attack had the ball in space in the left half of the field, and after a centered pass, Josie McNeeley rolled the ball into the bottom left corner of the net, giving the Lions an early 1-0 lead.

Just seconds after McNeeley’s goal, the Pointers had a chance to respond with a shot from just inside the far corner of the 18-yard box, but the try clanked off the crossbar and would not find the back of the net. Sparrows had another look in the 34th, but the shot was blocked by Dulaney’s keeper, keeping it a 1-0 Lion lead at halftime.

In the 46th minute, Dulaney took a free kick from 36 yards out, attempting a shot, but the try was easily thwarted by the Pointer keeper. A few minute later, the Lions had another free kick opportunity, but that shot nailed the crossbar, and Sparrows Point cleared it from striking distance.

Sparrows Point had a couple of scoring opportunities in the 69th and 70th minutes, but missed shots and strong Dulaney defense kept the Lions ahead. With less than 10 seconds on the clock, the Pointers had the ball down the right sideline, but a Dulaney defender kicked the ball far out-of-bounds, and the Pointers could not recover as the Lions came away with the 1-0 road win.

Both teams are set to wrap up their seasons this week with games on both Tuesday and Thursday. The Lions, now 8-2-2, will head to Carroll County for games against Manchester Valley and Westminster, while the Pointers, now 7-3-1, also play a couple of road out-of-conference matches against City College and Poly.

Last week’s top eight showdown was between the No. 2 Franklin Indians and the No. 7 Dundalk Owls. The Franklin defense stood tall throughout, forcing five turnovers in the four quarters of action. Click this link or scroll down to read more about how the game played out!

The fourth ranked Dundalk Owls, sitting at 4-2, hosted the second ranked Franklin Indians in a top eight Baltimore County football showdown in week seven.

After starting the season with a pair of losses, Dundalk entered on a four-game win streak, most recently earning a narrow 12-6 win at home last week against the Parkville Knights. Franklin, who entered at 5-1, won big at home last week against Catonsville, taking down the Comets 50-6.

The game was tied at six early and Dundalk was driving, but with the ball at the Franklin 36-yard-line, the Owl’s quarterback’s pass was intercepted by Franklin senior linebacker Trevor Watson returned the pick 75 yards for an Indian touchdown, putting his team ahead 13-6 with 88 seconds left in the first quarter.

Midway through the second quarter, Franklin’s offense drove downfield, and with the ball at the Dundalk 20-yard line, quarterback Jacob Howard rolled to his left and threw a strike into the back corner of the end zone to sophomore Tyrae Richburg, extending the Indians’ lead to 20-6 with five minutes to play in the second.

Just three plays into Dundalk’s ensuing drive, their quarterback threw another interception after airmailing his receiver, and a personal foul against the Owls gave Franklin even better field position. On third down, Howard had an open receiver in the end zone, but that receiver dropped an open touchdown.

After the failed touchdown, the Indians lined up to kick a 35-yard field goal, but the snap was low and the ball didn’t clear the line of scrimmage. Dundalk’s Gilbert Stewart returned the failed field goal, giving the Owls the ball at the Franklin 45 with just under two minutes to play.

Despite having strong field position with time to play with, the first play of Dundalk’s drive was a pass intercepted by senior Cruz Fleet and returned 70 yards for a Franklin touchdown, making it a 26-6 game at halftime.

Most of the second half went scoreless, but the Owls had the ball at the Franklin 35-yard line with less than a minute to play, and Logan Alderson unloaded to Damari Moore for the Owls’ second score. Dundalk’s two-point try was unsuccessful, and Franklin ran out the final 38 seconds to earn a 26-12 road win.

In all, the Franklin defense came away with four total interceptions, including one each from Nathan Damiano, Cruz Fleet, Bakari Johnson, and Trevor Watson, ultimately leading to them earning the victory.

Each team has a pair of games left on their schedule. Franklin is set to host New Town next week followed by a game at Randallstown while Dundalk will look to bounce back at home against Dulaney in week eight before traveling to Hereford to round out their season.

Pikesville, Dundalk, and Randallstown hold steady at the top of the county standings as each of their regular seasons comes to a close! The Panthers, Owls, and Rams have cemented undefeated regular season records in the inaugural season of flag football in Baltimore County!

Last week, Pikesville earned a narrow 26-20 road win against Dulaney, their closest win margin of the season. The Owls also earned a narrow win, beating the Perry Hall Gators 12-7 at home. Randallstown completed their six-game schedule with the tightest win of them all, beating Milford Mill 13-12.

Monday, October 19, is the last day of the flag football regular season for Baltimore County teams, and will feature Catonsville against Western Tech, Overlea at Chesapeake, and Parkville traveling to Hereford!

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Franklin’s boys’ soccer team has become the first team in Baltimore County, including all sports, to reach double-digit wins, keeping the top spot in the county with a perfect 11-0 record! Last week saw a pair of monster road wins for Franklin including an 8-2 win Tuesday against Western Tech and a 7-1 win against Overlea on Thursday.

Great games get underway early, with No. 8 Woodlawn traveling to face No. 2 Catonsville on Monday, but the game of the week, and potentially the game of the season, will be on Tuesday with Catonsville hosting No. 1 Franklin. Stay tuned for a full recap on how the game between the Indians and Comets plays out!

Pikesville’s 9-1 record keeps them atop the BCPS standings, but both Hereford and Franklin are chasing the Panthers’ tail, each currently being just one game behind. The Panthers earned a five-set out-of-conference win over Patterson Mill last Monday before sweeping Loch Raven in three sets in their game on Wednesday.

This week will see No. 12 Kenwood host No. 11 Woodlawn on Tuesday, before a pair of great games on Wednesday including No. 5 Lansdowne hosting No. 4 Dundalk and No. 2 Hereford hosting No. 10 Dulaney. Friday will also see No. 1 Pikesville face No. 9 Parkville.

Eastern Tech and Dulaney stay tied at the top of the BCPS field hockey standings through seven weeks, each holding 7-2 records. The Mavericks won 8-1 at home last Thursday against the Carver Wildcats while Dulaney shutout Towson 3-0 in a rivalry game last Tuesday. Perry Hall also played their first game of the season per MPSSAA, falling 1-0 against Hereford.

Sparrows Point will look to upset the leaders early this week, hosting No. 2 Dulaney on Monday before traveling to face No. 1 Eastern Tech on Tuesday. The regular season wraps up on Thursday headlined by Dulaney hosting Manchester Valley (9-2, Carroll Co.)

We’ve reached county championship season in cross country! Baltimore County runners are set to compete in the BCPS championship meet this Thursday at the Baltimore County Agriculture Resource Center in Cockeysville with events starting at 2:45 p.m. Stay tuned to next week’s newsletter for all the top finishers from Thursday’s races!

Congratulations to the Hereford boys’ golf team on qualifying for this fall’s state championship! The Bulls finished an undefeated in-county schedule, claiming the class 1A/2A title in the BCPS District Six Qualifier at Fox Hollow last Tuesday.

Hereford senior Justin Oler finished five under par, shooting a 65 to win an individual District Title. Nikhil Rao placed second with an even par while Connor Cline and Jameson Greenwood posted scores of 78 for a team total of 291.

The team will compete in the state championships at the University of Maryland between Oct. 26 and Oct. 28. Summer Burke and Sydney Penttinen will represent the lady Bulls after individually qualifying for states as well. Congratulations to all!

CSZ photographer Brendon Truong was at Franklin’s win over Dundalk on Thursday and captured great moments from the game. Check out his best shots below!

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