SMAC title in tow, Raiders look for more in postseason

Friday, May 12, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo File Photo by Mike Slattery Calvert senior Trevon Stahlman, left, and Huntingtown freshman Culver Bradbury open the postseason against teams from the Easter Shore. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

In the 3A-2A East regional bracket, top-seeded Northern placed second in the SMAC with a record of 11-3 and, with two byes, will host the winner of the Kent Island-Patuxent matchup Monday night in the semifinals.

‘‘For us, a successful run in the playoffs will be less about our athletic ability and more about being consistent in the mental part of the game,” first-year Northern coach Joe Bissette said. ‘‘When we can stay disciplined to our offensive and defensive goals, we’re tough to beat but when we stray away from them, that’s when we’ve struggled as a team.”

Bissette said the Patriots are facing a good news-bad news situation with their two byes.

‘‘It’ll probably be a little bit of both,” said Bissette, whose team will have had a 10-day layoff by the time it sees playoff action. ‘‘We have some significant injuries and the time to heal will help those guys. But, you worry about losing the edge with the long layoff so it’s our responsibility as coaches to keep practice competitive and high energy to stay sharp.”

Bissette also said that one of his team’s goals earlier in the season was to attain the coveted top seed in the region.

‘‘We fought hard to win that No. 1 seed so that we would need one less win to reach our goals,” he said. ‘‘But, I definitely don’t think there’s any false sense of security. The guys know at this point that every team we’ll face will be a good one. We have been eyeing some of the teams in our region for a while and know that it will take our best effort to repeat as regional champions.”

Huntingtown (9-4) is the third seed in the region and will open its postseason run by hosting James M. Bennett at 3 p.m. Saturday in the quarterfinals.

The Hurricanes finished third in the SMAC and enter the playoffs with wins in five of their last six games.

Fifth-seeded Patuxent (6-6) will battle both the weekend traffic and the Buccaneers as it heads over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to tackle fourth-seeded Kent Island at noon Saturday in a second-round game. Patuxent has won its last two games after a 1-4 skid midway through the season.

In the 4A-3A East regional bracket, fourth-seeded Leonardtown hopes to add another piece of hardware to its trophy case. The Raiders, who won the SMAC championship, host fifth-seeded Meade on Saturday in a quarterfinal matchup.

Meanwhile, Great Mills hoped to improve on a 5-6 season when it hosted 11th-seeded Annapolis on Thursday in a game that ended too late for this edition.

Chopticon (2-12), which picked up the 10th seed in the bracket, travels to Old Mill for a matchup Saturday.

‘‘Once we got out of contention for the SMAC [title] we’ve been preparing ourselves for the playoffs and I think we’ve improved a lot,” Boyle said. ‘‘We just have to go up there and do our best. There are a lot of teams up there [in Anne Arundel County] so facing Old Mill will be tough but it is the better of some evils. Our hands will be full.”

In the 2A-1A East region, sixth-seeded Calvert travels to Easton to tackle the third-seeded Warriors at noon Saturday in a quarterfinal pairing.

The Cavaliers (0-12) failed to win a game this season and head coach Brian Dryer stepped down a week ago.

‘‘We’re very focused on the postseason because we’re always trying to move forward,” Calvert interim coach Dave Spain said during a recent practice. ‘‘We’ll have a lot of returning players for next year so this is a good chance for them to get some playoff experience and get up on the varsity level. We’re young but experience is the best teacher.”

Spain said despite all the woes that have left the team beleaguered, Calvert would give it all it has against Easton.

‘‘We’re going to give it all we got,” he said. ‘‘[Easton’s] a seeded team, they have a winning record and the Eastern Shore’s got a pretty good lacrosse history. We’re up against it and we know that but we’re going to play hard and we’re going to play our game and try to be fundamentally sound. Nothing’s going to be left in the tank when we’re done.”

In the WCAC, St. Mary’s Ryken (15-2) captured the league title but will have to be successful in the playoffs without attacks Zach Angel and Brett Schmidt and midfielder Taylor Cook.

‘‘The defense won us the game against Good Counsel,” Ryken coach John Sothoron said of the Knights’ 8-6 win Saturday. ‘‘But we need to score some goals and without these players we need someone else to step up. We’re looking for production from players such as Bryant Schmidt, Kyle Yates and Phil Mergner, who is the heart and soul of the midfield.”

Top-seeded Ryken faced off against eighth-seeded and visiting St. John’s on Thursday but those results were unavailable at press time.

‘‘The kids are pretty excited,” Sothoron said, ‘‘and we’re just anxious to see what happens.”

Though Calverton’s playoffs have already begun, its biggest challenge lays ahead as the top-seeded Cougars will face The Heights School at 4 p.m. Saturday at Sandy Spring Friends School in the MILL championship game.

The game will be the rubber match for the two teams as the Cavaliers won the title after slipping past Calverton, 18-17, in overtime in 2004 but the Cougars won the 2005 title with an 11-7 win.

E-mail Michael Reid at mreid@somdnews.com.