Warriors

PREP SOFTBALL FROSTBURG, Md. -- Breanne Lohman and Haley Payne each homered for Boonsboro in a 9-2 Maryland Class 1A West quarterfinal loss to third-seeded Mountain Ridge on Wednesday. Kayla Payne had two hits for the Warriors, who finished the season 10-10. Boonsboro 010 100 0 -- 2 6 2 Mountain Ridge 061 011 X -- 9 9 1 Long, H. Payne (2) and Griffith. Lewis and Hewellyn. WP -- Lewis. LP -- Long (7-7). HR -- B: Lohman (2nd, none on); H. Payne (4th, none on)

The Boonsboro girls basketball team seems to have the second half of its games figured out. The Warriors play with a sense of urgency, find their shooting stroke and distribute the ball when needed. “We play well in the second half,” said Boonsboro coach Max Shaffer. The first half is an entirely different story. Despite outscoring Catoctin 25-16 in the second half on Thursday, the Warriors couldn’t dig themselves out of an early hole, falling to the Cougars 48-44 in the MVAL Antietam.

The Boonsboro football team is hoping to see a couple of droughts end tonight. The Warriors have lost six straight postseason games since a state quarterfinal win over Snow Hill in 2001. That dry spell coincides with one that all of Washington County has endured. No county football team has won in the postseason since North Hagerstown won a region semifinal game in 2006. Boonsboro aims to reverse those trends when it plays host to Mountain Ridge in the Maryland Class 1A West semifinals at Warrior Field.

It took 20 minutes for Brunswick or Boonsboro to record a shot on goal in their Maryland Class 1A West girls soccer semifinal Thursday evening. Brunswick's Dara Demich finally laid a shot on goal from about 20 yards out that sailed over top of the Warriors' defense and struck the top-right corner of the net for the game's only goal, lifting the Railroaders over Boonsboro 1-0. “(Demich) charges us with her scoring,” Brunswick coach Dave Herber said. “That was her 21st goal of the season.

BOONSBORO -- Boonsboro senior Megan Long was solid in the circle as the Warriors defeated Northern Garrett 3-2 in the first round of the Maryland Class 1A West softball playoffs on Thursday. Boonsboro (10-9) will travel to face Mountain Ridge on Monday in the 1A West quarterfinals. "We scrimmaged with Mountain Ridge this year. They're a pretty good team," Warriors coach Lisa Lewis said. "We're going to have to work on our hitting in practice this week. " Long (7-6) struck out four and walked two while scattering two runs and five hits in a complete-game effort.

Britton Beard is not a running back, but he took a handoff Friday night that turned out to be the biggest of the football game. The Boonsboro lineman stripped the ball away from Smithsburg quarterback Brad Spickler in the third quarter, setting up a Warriors touchdown that sparked them to a 34-13 victory over the rival Leopards in an MVAL Antietam game at Warrior Field. The win locks up at least the No. 2 seed in the Maryland Class 1A West playoffs for the Warriors (9-1, 5-1)

Make it two home games and two walk-off victories in the bottom of the seventh inning for the Boonsboro softball team. “They’re going to give me a heart attack,” Warriors coach Traci Humphreys said after Haley Payne launched a two-run home run over the fence in right-center field to give Boonsboro a 4-3 victory over Williamsport in an MVAL Antietam contest in wintry conditions Wednesday. With two outs and Tristan Hartle on first after a single to right, Payne jumped on Ariah Giles’ 3-0 pitch to send the Warriors (3-1, 2-0)

Football games consist of four quarters, but North Hagerstown only really concerns itself with one. The last one. The fourth quarter. That's when the money is on the line. The Hubs played their own version of Moneyball on Friday by scoring with 1:14 to play before tacking on a 6-yard run by Phillip Butler in overtime to steal a 28-21 victory over previously undefeated Boonsboro in the rain and mud of Warrior Stadium. In what was easily the game of the year in Washington County, the Hubs stole top billing after trailing for most of the game.

keller@herald-mail.com One needs to look no farther back than last season to know that anything can happen when Boonsboro and Smithsburg take the field to close the football season. Smithsburg entered the 2004 game at 8-1 and were cruising to a Class 1A West playoff spot. Boonsboro had struggled to get to 3-6, with nothing to look forward to but playing its main rival. Of course, Boonsboro won the game 36-30 and evened up the series record at 19-19. In 2005, the roles are reversed.

Boonsboro and North Hagerstown played about one quarter of their MVAL Antietam girls soccer match on Friday night before lightning interrupted play in the 23rd minute with the Warriors holding a 2-1 lead on the Hubs. After a 40-minute delay, it was ruled that the match would be suspended. It will be resumed from that point at a date to be determined. In the fourth minute, senior midfielder Tricia Hawkins got Boonsboro on the scoreboard first with a goal off the left post. Less than a minute later, the Warriors struck again as freshman forward Leah Cadigan scored to put Boonsboro ahead, 2-0. In the 13th minute, senior defender Tia Kline scored an unassisted goal as the Hubs cut the deficit in half.