Howard made its season debut with a big splash, beating Laurel High, 9-1, behind a hat trick by Julia Cocozza. Alyssa Kozlowski, Kendell Neff, Carrie Groman, Nicole Clark, Catherine Thompson, and Rashel Taylor also scored. Howard had five goals in the first half.

Mackenzie Calhoun, Cocozza, Keyona Porter (two), Sierra Hillman-Kroll, and Kozlowski also had assists. Keeper Erin Leatherman had two saves in the opening game of what was meant to be a two-day tournament hosted by Laurel. Laurel's keeper saved 10 goals.

Pallotti spoiled Josh Sullivan's debut as head coach at Reservoir, beating the Gators, 2-1, in overtime. Reservoir held a halftime lead on a goal by Lyndsey Mckeown. Katherine Tuttle got the assist on the play. Pallotti evened the score on a corner kick in the second half and got the game-winner with less than two minutes left in the first overtime.

"We played extremely well, especially for our first game of the season (and using a) new formation. It was a great game all around," Sullivan said.

The Gators hit the crossbar four times, but didn't get lucky and have one bounce in, Sullivan added. Nevertheless, the Gators are "pretty excited about this season. The talent is there."

Glenelg Country School lost a non-conference game to Park, 6-1. Holly Romans had Glenelg's goal, on an assist by Olivia Weinrub. Shayna Keller had eight saves for the Dragons.

Five players scored as Atholton swamped Francis Scott Key, 7-0. Amadi Phillips led the scoring with three goals, and Rachel Aronchick, Diandra Rocke, Brigette Snyder and Divya Chandra added single goals in Atholton's season opener.

Allie Mitzner had three assists and Aronchick, Lizzy Parr, Julia Nicholson and Talisa Henry also had assists. Amy Weinberg had five saves in goal for the Raiders.

Field hockey

Emily Tauber and Lauren Sherer each had two goals and Eunice Chun and Kelly Saunders added single markers as Marriotts Ridge defeated South Carroll, 6-2.

"We lost, 5-0, to South Carroll last year," said Marriotts Ridge coach Stacie Gado, who pointed out how proud she is of her team. "We've been talking about playing smarter and they are putting into game play the drills that they are doing in practice."

Reservoir outplayed and outshot St. Mary's Ryken, but the final score, a 2-1 loss, did not reflect that effort.

Hammond opened its season with a 1-0 loss to Old Mill.

"We did a great job of distributing the ball and dominated the entire game but couldn't get the ball in the net," said Hammond coach Angie Sutherland.

Tropical Storm Hanna messed with last weekend's field hockey tournaments. Centennial had its tournament canceled, and Atholton, Hammond, Howard and Long Reach are trying to figure out how to salvage their tournaments.

Two games in the Long Reach tournament were played Friday before the storm. Long Reach defeated Patterson Mill, 2-0, and Pikesville defeated Oakland Mills, 1-0, in overtime.

Glenelg was to be in the South River tournament. The Gladiators have been able to fit one game into their schedule; the other has been canceled

Reworking tournament games is not an easy task. The state's public school field hockey teams can only play three games in a week once during the season.

Volleyball

Questions surrounded River Hill entering this season after the graduation of player of the year Maddi Lee, but so far the Hawks are flying high. River Hill is now 3-0 after a five-game (25-19, 17-25, 15-25, 25-11, 17-15) win over defending 3A North champion Towson Tuesday night in Clarksville. The Hawks defeated Towson in five games in their opening match last season and went all the way to the state semifinals. With their backs against the wall in game four, down 2-1, senior setter Becky Paynter kept the ship steady and sophomore Sarah Okey was the big gun, smacking seven kills.

Paynter said that with a younger roster, "this year we're more of a team."

She had 34 assists, and was at the service line for the tiebreaking 16th and 17th points in game five, after her team had trailed 13-9. Paynter's kills tied the fifth game twice, at 13 and 14 points.

Okey got her team off to a good start in the decisive fifth game, with her kills accounting for three of the first seven points. Although she's only a sophomore, Okey says that she is prepared to take on her new role.

"I'm really excited" to be the team's go-to hitter, she said.

Okey had a match-high 20 kills. Paynter had five aces and 11 kills, with eight of them coming in game one, mostly on dumps.

Football

Centennial looked much more like the 8-2 2006 Eagles squad than the 2-8 2007 team in its 21-18 defeat of Howard, Friday night at home. The Eagles led 21-12 at halftime on first quarter touchdowns by Kyle Young, on a 1-yard plunge, and Greg Ortman, on a short pass from Greg Edmonds. In the second quarter, on fourth and six from 22 yards out, Marcos Ocadiz caught a pass and took it outside for what would be the winning touchdown. The Lions pushed hard in the second half. With four minutes left they blocked a punt and recovered it on Centennial's 40 yard line, but the Eagles defense held on for the win.

"(I'm) hoping they put it in perspective, it's only one game, but this is good for the program," coach Ken Senisi said.

Sophomore running back Bray Benning had a strong performance for Centennial, as well as sophomore kicker Matt Hugel, whose 3-for-3 effort on extra points made the difference.

"The big thing for us was holding them on extra points," Senisi said.

Howard's outstanding player was A.J. Bonavitacola, who scored all three touchdowns: on a 70-yard breakaway run, a 5-yard run, and a 60-yard pass reception from Chris Keenan.

Wilde Lake defeated Long Reach, 12-9, in a very competitive game. The Lightning led, 7-6, at halftime and scored a safety in the third quarter to get within a field goals' reach, but the Wildecats were able to hold on. The scoring opened with a Danny March-Juma Richards connection in the second quarter, but Long Reach blocked the extra point and then took the lead after Patrick Blackmon's 67-yard kickoff return and John Stifler's extra point. In the third quarter, Wilde Lake sophomore running back E.J. Gilman broke free for a 35-yard touchdown run, but when the Wildecats tried to make up for the earlier missed extra point by going for the conversion, they came up empty again. The Lightning later scored two points when a Wilde Lake player stepped out of the back of the end zone.

"We hope to see them in the playoffs, that is our goal," Long Reach coach Pete Hughes said.

Wilde Lake's Jerrel Epps led all rushers with 71 yards (teammate Christian Hough had 68), and the Wilde Lake defense held Long Reach to 58 total yards and four first downs.

Reservoir got off to a strong start under new coach Sean Jones, defeating Hammond, 41-0, after leading 28-0 at the half. Six different players scored rushing touchdowns: Tyler Howell, Scott Sutton, Andy Bushong, Bryce Boring, Robbie Greer and Chris Morris.

The defense was led by David Wilson (one interception, three tackles), Tim Willman (six tackles, forced fumble, fumble recovery) and Mitch Joslin (forced fumble recovered by Virgil Hitchens.

Glenelg made it seven wins in a row, dating back to last season, with a 20-7 win over Mt. Hebron. Jon Iwaskiw scored the Vikings touchdown on a one-yard dive. Mt. Hebron not only lost the game but also one of its best players. Jackson Jordan tore his ACL and MCL ending his senior season. Jordan was the state champion in hurdles last spring, and will also miss indoor and outdoor track season.

Jordan was "a three year varsity player and our most physical player," coach Ross Hannon said.

Marriotts Ridge started its playoff campaign with a promising 42-3 win over Oakland Mills.

Girls tennis

Glenelg Country School began its season with a match against Severn at Anne Arundel Community College. Severn moved up to the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference after going undefeated in the B Conference last year. It was a difficult match for Glenelg Country, a B Conference team. The Dragons lost, 5-0.

Sonia Swaray lost, 6-2, 6-1, at No. 1 singles and Catherine Baumgardner lost, 6-0, 6-0, at the No. 2 spot. The doubles teams didn't fare any better.

Mary Tucker and Megan Neunan lost, 6-1, 6-2, at No. 1 doubles. Cattie Kelly and Danni Weiner lost, 6-0, 6-2, at No. 2 doubles and while Laila Handoo and Neha Jhaveri were shut out, 6-0, 6-0, at No. 3 doubles.

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