Panthers

HANCOCK -- Sometimes guarantees are unwanted. Laura Baker said it was "guaranteed" that her Hancock volleyball players will spend extra time practicing their serves after a 16-25, 25-22, 25-17, 25-11 victory over Saint James. Baker has been trying to impress upon her Hancock volleyball team the importance of accurate serves, and a closer look at Thursday's games might just accomplish that goal. The Panthers overcame 26 service errors in securing the win, and only two of those errors came in the fourth game, a relatively easy 14-point win. A healthy dose of Maureen Leavy didn't hurt, either.

The Saint James varsity football team shook off two first-half Hancock safeties and found its offense in the second half to rally for a 21-4 season-opening win over the Panthers on Friday night. The Saints (1-0) received a godsend in brothers Nnamdi and Obi Enechionyia, two first-year football players who each caught a touchdown pass from quarterback Robert Brennan. “Those boys have never played a down of football in their lives. They were soccer players,” said Saint James coach Juwuane Sandridge.

Basketball is a game of runs. The Faith Christian-Hancock boys game Thursday proved that. The Falcons used two big runs at the end of each half to upend Hancock 62-47. With less than a minute remaining in the second quarter, Faith was clinging to a 22-19 lead before a 9-0 run put the Falcons ahead by 12 at the break. The same run briefly carried into the third quarter when Justin Earl hit a 3 to give his team a 34-19 lead. “The end of the second quarter really hurt us,” Hancock coach Jeff Spielman said.

HANCOCK -- Hancock's baseball team gave Catoctin -- a Class 1A state finalist a year ago -- a real test in the first round of the Maryland 1A West playoffs on Friday. Ultimately, the Panthers just could not get the key hits at the key times to upset the Cougars. Evan Larsen allowed one run on five hits in six innings, Austin Carter homered in the first inning, and Catoctin pulled out a 6-1 victory over Hancock. "We were in the game, we just didn't get the hit we needed with guys on base.

Northern Garrett placed three scorers in double digits and used a big run that spanned the two halves in a 69-52 victory over Hancock in the Maryland Class 1A West Region West Section quarterfinals Friday. Tyler Yutzy, Patrick Sines and Jeremy Bender were the Huskies' leading scorers. Tyler Yutzy finished with a team-high 19 points, Patrick Sines added 12 points and Jeremy Bender recorded 10 points for Northern Garrett (6-17). Northern Garrett trailed 27-21 in the closing minutes of the first half before going on a 20-5 run that lasted into the opening minutes of the second half, giving the Huskies a 41-32 lead midway through the third quarter.

HANCOCK -- For the early part of Monday's first game, Hancock's baseball team appeared to have its mind on something other than doing the job at hand. The alarm started to ring in the fourth inning, but the Panthers hit the snooze button until the fifth inning, when they scored six runs to come away with an 8-6 win over Southern Fulton. In a five-inning second game, Hancock claimed a doubleheader sweep with a 3-1 victory, giving the Panthers 10 wins on the season. "I've been here five years and this is the first time we've won 10 games, and I'm pretty sure it's been 10, 11 years overall," said coach Brian Kerns.

Bishop Walsh used a spread attack Monday night, scoring six touchdowns in a 40-7 romp over Hancock. Senior quarterback Greg Hendershot tossed three touchdowns - including scores of 46 and 52 yards - and threw for 265 yards against the Panthers (0-2). The Spartans took a 22-7 lead into halftime, as the first half was ghastly for Hancock. The Panthers turned the ball over twice and were caught napping during an ensuing kickoff that the Spartans recovered. The bright spot for Hancock in the first half was Garrett Wiles' 10-yard TD pass to Nate Souders in the second quarter.

HANCOCK -- The Hancock football team entered Friday night's home game against Carson Long Military having allowed 100 points and more than 1,000 yards of offense in its last two games. It was a different story against the winless Warriors, as the Panthers had their way, 48-0. Hancock's defense made a statement early when it forced the Warriors to go three-and-out on their first three drives. The defense also intercepted the Warriors three times -- two by senior Eli Souders.

Hancock's largely successful volleyball season came to an end in the Maryland Class 1A West quarterfinals on Monday night. Fifth-seed Southern Garrett came into the Panthers' gym and walked out with a 26-24, 25-11, 25-21 sweep to earn a crack at top seed and two-time defending state 1A champion Smithsburg on Wednesday. “I've said this before: We're consistently inconsistent,” Hancock coach Lauren Baker said. “We made mistakes between great plays. The service errors hurt us.” Hancock (8-8)

The Hancock softball team spent much of its time waiting for the other spike to drop on Thursday. For every success, good thing or positive note the Panthers got, it was only a matter of time before they were blindsided. And most of it was their own doing (or undoing). Hancock gave every indication of trying to hang with Northern Garrett, but didn't. The Panthers committed nine errors, leading to nine unearned runs, in an 11-2 loss in the quarterfinals of the Maryland Class 1A West Region West Section tournament.

Thursday, April 11, 2013 PREP BASEBALL Hancock 11, Bishop Walsh 0 CUMBERLAND, Md. - Nate Souders pitched a complete game with nine strikeouts to lead Hancock in a shutout of Bishop Walsh on Thursday. “I've never seen a better pitching performance in nine years as coach,” Hancock's Brian Kerns said. Souders helped his own cause with a two-run homer in the third. Hunter McKinley and Devin Mitchell had two hits each for the Panthers (6-2). Bishop Walsh    000    000    -     0    5    0 Hancock    102    143    -     11    13    0 Wilson and Wetzel.

The Hagerstown Community College men's basketball team won a game in color-by-number fashion. It was 32, 31, 33, 34 along with 24, 10 and 5 to fill in all the green, black and white needed to repeat as champions. The numbers make up the main characters in a complete team effort to lead the Hawks to a third consecutive Region XX championship with a 94-80 victory over top-seeded Baltimore on Sunday at HCC's athletic complex. “I told them before the game that I have never felt as confident about a team going into a game as I did today,” HCC coach Barry Brown said.

The Clear Spring boys basketball team turned a one-point lead entering the fourth quarter into a 61-47 victory over North Carroll on Tuesday night in the first round of the Maryland Class 1A West playoffs. The Blazers (8-13) took advantage of seven turnovers and six fouls by the Panthers in the final period to outscore them 25-12. Freshman Michael Riley led Clear Spring with seven points in the fourth quarter and senior Ryan Aaron was right behind him with six - four coming from the free-throw line.

Saturday, February 17, 2013 GIRLS BASKETBALL Hancock 56, Fulton Co. Christian 34 HANCOCK - Joan Leavy had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds to lead Hancock past Fulton County Christian on Saturday. Alisha Shives had 16 points, while Kristen Shoemaker had nine points, seven assists and six steals for the Panthers (15-7). Jenae Gordon had 21 points and seven rebounds for Fulton County. FULTON COUNTY CHRISTIAN Daniels 8, Swope 3, Gingerich 2, Gordon 21. Totals 13 1-5 34. HANCOCK (15-7)

Hancock's girls basketball team led from start to finish in defeating Broadfording Christian Academy 36-21 on Thursday afternoon. During the first five minutes, the Panthers (9-5) built an 8-0 lead over the Lions (1-9). Senior point guard Alisa Shives made all four baskets in the run. “I was trying to give my team a cushion,” Shives said. “It was pretty good to score a lot of points in the beginning. I felt that early lead got our team on track for the victory. We did pretty good on defense, but we could have done better.

Mawdo Sallah scored a game-high 20 points and four others finished in double figures for Broadfording Christian Academy as the Lions steamrolled Hancock 87-40 in a boys basketball game Thursday night. Broadfording set the tone in the first quarter and dictated the rest of the game. The Lions started the game on a 12-0 run - all scored by Sallah and Ben Cradduck - and scored their first 20 points in the paint. “We wanted to press on defense and pound the ball inside on offense.

While the Saint James girls basketball team would have rather celebrated this occasion much earlier in the season, it was sweet nonetheless. The Saints got the monkey off their backs by avenging a painful one-point loss to Hancock a month ago with a 48-46 victory over the Panthers Wednesday night, marking their first win of the season. “I told them just to go out there and play with confidence, and not back down” said Saint James coach, Jim Fahey. “I can't say how proud I am of them.

St. Frances Academy, projected by experts to be one of the top high school basketball teams in the United States, rose from the ashes on Friday night in the Gael Center and escaped with a 57-53 victory over St. Maria Goretti in the Baltimore Catholic League opener. Goretti, hoping to elevate its stature in the BCL, trailed early 7-2 and then took it to St. Frances over the next two-plus quarters. Isaiah Harris-Winn hit a 3-pointer for a 13-10 Goretti lead late in the first quarter.

LANDOVER, Md. (AP) - So much for Cam Newton vs. Robert Griffin III. For the ticked-off players in the visitor's locker room, it was more like the Carolina Panthers vs. Sonny Jurgensen, Sam Huff and Bobby Mitchell. Newton and the Panthers broke a five-game losing streak Sunday, topping Griffin and the penalty-prone Washington Redskins 21-13, prompting coach Mike Shanahan to essentially throw in the towel on the season. Newton threw for 201 yards, ran for 37, played part of the game with a bloodied thumb and didn't look his usual disconsolate self when he sat with the familiar white towel on his head between drives.