They danced and mouthed along as coach Josh Wagener relayed the plan for what became the winning set to the team huddle. That energy carried over into the third set, players still dancing and singing to the melody as they waited for the opening serve. Their looseness came in handy when CMIT-North crawled back from a large deficit to take a late lead. A Wagener timeout reminded his players of the goal, and Patterson Mill pulled back ahead to complete its straight set victory, 25-20, 25-16, 25-22 and clinch a state championship appearance.

“It means the world to all of them to make it to that Saturday,” Wagener said. “That’s the first major goal. I know it means the world. Being so close for so many years, and most of them have been with the varsity for at least three years, just means so much for the whole program.”

This stage has been the ceiling for Patterson Mill in recent years. The Huskies have reached the state semifinal round four years in a row but lost in each of the last three. This year was different because of the senior class that experienced all of those heartbreaks.

“I’ve been with these girls for years, you know the buttons to hit,” Wagener said. “I just put it all in perspective. We’ve been here for four years in a row and came so close, and now we’re a couple points away. You just gotta push. I could see them getting tired and just didn’t want it to go to a fourth set.”

Their experience showed in Tuesday’s win. Patterson Mill controlled the first two sets with big early leads they maintained throughout and fended off a late CMIT-North surge in the final moments.

Patterson Mill will face Clear Spring, a three-set victor over South Carroll in the other 1A semifinal, in Saturday’s state title game at Harford Community College. Until then, practices will be kept light and fun, Wagener said. Just like how they play when it matters.

Bel Air falls to 17-time state champion

The Bobcats knew what they were up against.

Williamsport, the dominant Washington County squad, has controlled the Class 2A girls volleyball bracket for years. The defending state champions’ path back to the top this year took them through Bel Air, which lost in straight sets 25-20, 25-18, 25-22 to end its season Tuesday night in a Class 2A state semifinal on its home court.

“They were just a really good team,” senior right side Annalise Lewis said. “We could have executed better, but at the end of the day, we still played an amazing game. It was our own mistakes, little mistakes.”

Coach Dave Simon felt Tuesday was Bel Air’s first of two state championship games, the next coming Saturday if the Bobcats were to win. Instead, they couldn’t get past the semifinal round for the third time in seven years.

At the center of this year’s team was Lewis. Bel Air’s offense funneled through the imposing senior. “Every time she goes up, you can’t wait to see what’s gonna happen,” Simon said. She was a focal point again in the loss, leading comebacks that fell just short after Bel Air started each set in an early hole that proved too steep to climb out of.

“Just the people,” Lewis said when asked what she’ll remember most about the program. “You can’t get any better than this.”

“Annalise is a true leader,” Simon added. “She’s a great person, loves her teammates, does all the little things right, everything you’d want in a captain. She really ignites us and gets the fire started. And we want to keep it burning.”

Bel Air seems to reload every year, replacing county players of the year with ease to fuel its next deep postseason run. Last season, it was Anna Kane. This season was Lewis’ turn. There’s some underclassmen Simon has his eye on to take over in 2026. He’s confident his Bobcats will be back.

“We’ll kind of have to hit the reset button, to a degree,” Simon said. “We’re not starting from scratch. We’ll remain competitive.”

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In a brief interview with The Baltimore Sun on Tuesday, Smith did not answer if Locksley will remain Maryland’s coach into 2026, saying he will coach the team’s final three games this season and “we’ll determine at the end of the year where we are.”

“He’s gonna coach against Illinois, then he’s gonna coach against Michigan, and then he’s gonna coach against Michigan State,” Smith said. “We got a chance to win three games and go to a bowl game. We can’t make a decision right now. That’d be silly.”

After the answer, Smith and athletic department spokesperson Jason Yellin cut off a follow-up question about if Smith would view a five-win season as “progress,” as Locksley opined last week, before Smith said “I know you have an angle” and “every coach is being evaluated every week” and walking away.

Smith’s answer comes three weeks after he voiced support for Locksley in an interview with The Sun. Since that interview, in which Smith said he’s “probably more optimistic than many of our fans,” the Terps are 0-2 with a point differential of minus-60.

Locksley similarly appeared comfortable despite his team’s five-game losing skid during his Tuesday news conference at SECU Stadium. Asked if he feels he’s coaching for his job with three games to play, the coach bluntly said “no.” He added he feels he deserves to remain Maryland’s coach beyond this season and, asked why, said “because I’m the head coach.”

“I really can tell you this team is trending in the right direction,” Locksley said.

Smith was hired in May to replace former athletic director Damon Evans and inherited Locksley and new men’s basketball coach Buzz Williams. Smith has not yet been tasked with hiring or firing any coaches, instead spending the early months of his tenure focused on driving revenue and revamping the football game-day experience. What to do with Locksley will be Smith’s first consequential decision.

Locksley, the state of Maryland’s highest-paid employee, is under contract at just more than $6 million per year through the 2028 season. His reported buyout — the amount the Terps must pay him to terminate the contract — is just over $13 million if the move is made before Dec. 1. Maryland’s season finale is Nov. 29. The early signing period, the first chance for high school seniors to formally commit to a school before another period in February, is Dec. 3. The transfer portal opens Jan. 2, the last key offseason date Maryland and Smith must consider when weighing to make a move.

As Locksley’s seventh season leading the Terps nears an end, the team is again in danger of missing a bowl game and concluding Big Ten play with just one conference win. Maryland started 4-0 with a win over Wisconsin but has lost five consecutive games, including narrow defeats to Washington, Nebraska and UCLA before a 45-point loss to No. 2 Indiana.

The announced sellout crowd started “fire Locksley” chants in the second quarter of that game, which Locksley said he heard but didn’t concern him. It also hasn’t seeped into the locker room, players said.

“I haven’t seen too much,” freshman quarterback Malik Washington said about growing calls for Locksley’s job. “The fans are going to be fans regardless. When teams aren’t doing well, it’s expected. People are going to feel some type of way about the team they’re supporting.”

The Terps followed their loss to the Hoosiers with another to Rutgers, the second consecutive meeting that ended in a loss by two touchdowns after Maryland won the previous three matchups. Locksley said after the game: “we’re down to playing for pride and opportunities for these guys.” The coach is now 16-41 against Big Ten opponents over his seven seasons.

He’ll have at least three more chances. Smith declined to answer if anything beyond that is guaranteed.

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He must have taken it off at some point during the celebration. But he had a team photo to take. So his teammates paused, giving their star player a moment to go fetch it from the nearby locker room that music was still blaring out of.

“It was electric,” Tanguay said. “I love those guys.”

Fallston boys soccer wouldn’t be here without Tanguay, who scored two goals in regulation of the Cougars’ thrilling win over C. Milton Wright in their Class 2A semifinal on Friday. But he simultaneously almost cost them the game. He was responsible for his team’s first miss in penalty kicks after two scoreless overtimes. But his teammates held his head up and had his back. They converted the next five tries, the last one capped by a mad dash to the bleachers to meet their friends and family.

C. Milton Wright and Fallston high schools are just 6 miles apart. However, their boys soccer teams needed to play deep into the playoffs to see each other for the first time in two months — and needed sudden death PKs to decide a winner. Fallston will play for its first boys soccer state championship since 1992 and will make its third title game appearance in the last six years next week. Getting over that roadblock is all that’s left for coach Christopher Hoover’s dominant squad. They’ll face the winner of Saturday’s Glenelg-Hereford semifinal.

“I’m damn well bound to get one soon,” the coach joked. “It’s gonna take another effort like this.”

An even first half at Bel Air High on Friday ended in a 1-1 tie. CMW’s Owen Davis scored on a Charlie Kitz assist for the game’s first tally, then Tanguay notched Fallston’s first score on a penalty less than two minutes later. Tanguay added on midway through the second half, his second score of the night giving the Cougars their first lead.

“Every special team I’ve had, you have that connection. Sometimes it’s with one player, sometimes it’s with a bunch,” Hoover said. “I have a very special connection with Levi. He means a ton to us.”

Six minutes later, though, it was tied again when Ben Mroz notched the equalizer with 15 minutes to play in the second half.

A Mroz shot with three seconds remaining nearly won it for C. Milton Wright, but instead, overtime was needed. Ten scoreless minutes called for a second extra period. Another 10 scoreless minutes brought on penalty kicks.

Tanguay went second and missed as C. Milton Wright was successful on its first three tries. Henry Buyse’s attempt was off the mark on his team’s fourth shot and it was even after five apiece. Mason Judd made Fallston’s winning kick before Kitz’s next try was blocked — by Fallston’s backup goalie after its starter was injured in the state quarterfinals — to win it for the Cougars.

“We were talking about this at the beginning of the season,” Tanguay said. “We knew it was our year.”

C. Milton Wright caps memorable season

Coach Eric Riedlbauer knows his team, the defending 2A state champion, played with a target on its back all season. And yet, the Mustangs were right back playing into November again and one win away from another trip to the title game.

“Everybody wants to beat who won the state championship the year before,” Riedlbauer said. “I wouldn’t change anything in this game. We had plenty of chances and just didn’t convert.”

C. Milton Wright, which won the regular season meeting between these teams, overcame immense hardship this year. Zach Griffin, a senior on the team, was involved in the car crash that killed Blake Elliott, member of the school’s girls soccer team, earlier this fall. Teammates and coach visited Griffin in the hospital, and when he returned home, Griffin spent much of his time on the Mustang sidelines.

Although unable to take the field, Griffin was present throughout his team’s semifinal run. Every C. Milton Wright player shaved their hair in solidarity with Griffin, who after the accident needed a craniotomy, a surgery that temporarily removes part of the skull to access the brain, among other surgeries, according to updates posted to a GoFundMe page organized by a family friend.

In that, C. Milton Wright was playing for more.

“The fact that he’s back walking around, going to school, that’s worth more to me than any game,” Riedlbauer said. “The real life part of it of Zach and having him still here, you can’t put a price on it.”

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Maryland football flaunted an announced sellout crowd, its second of the season. It should have been a display of the impressive job athletic director Jim Smith has done in the early months of his tenure to highlight a successful homecoming weekend. But by the second quarter of a 55-10 loss to Indiana, many in that sea of red that Smith reeled in were chanting for the school — for Smith — to fire the football coach.

Terps’ student section with “Fire Locksley” chants as the first half comes to a close.

Maryland trails No. 2 Indiana, 20-3. pic.twitter.com/85Lme8Lo8K

— Ben Geffner (@BenGeffner) November 1, 2025

Michael Locksley heard them, he said Tuesday. It actually made him smile.

“I would have probably chanted it, too, if I had a few beers and we played the way we played,” the coach said. “I’d like to follow those guys to their jobs that scream ‘Fire Locksley,’ put a camera on them, watch them do their work, and see how motivated they are to do theirs.”

Was it the entire crowd? No. Was it even a majority? Probably not. But that it happened is jarring. Maryland football fans, historically a group synonymous with apathy and comfortable with mediocrity, have rarely, if ever, made their voices heard as loudly as they did Saturday. Even if it was just a handful of rowdy students, they’re growing restless.

There’s perhaps no better contrast of the jobs Smith and Locksley have done recently than that image. Smith, creative and innovative, has done all he can to reimagine the game day experience in College Park, and fans have responded accordingly. Locksley, whose team has lost four straight games and gets worse every week, is the source of ire among many of those same fans who pack SECU Stadium despite their displeasure.

It’s now obvious that Maryland, more specifically Smith, is at a crossroads.

A decision looms for the first-year athletic director, whose approval rating is at an all-time high as he shows face at Saturday tailgates and hasn’t been asked to do anything that might draw criticism. That’ll change soon, when he must examine this offseason whether Locksley deserves more time or if a fresh start is required.

What Smith does with Locksley will be his first test as athletic director. He’s under pressure to make a move. It’ll be the first decision (or lack of one) we can judge him on, his first choice that has real stakes.

That examination is probably already happening. It wouldn’t be hyperbole to suggest that Locksley is coaching for his job over these final four weeks of the season. Finishing with eight consecutive losses would make it impossible for Smith to sell the fan base on the promise of next year. Conversely, wins against Rutgers (4-5) and Michigan State (3-6) would allow Smith to point to an improved record (and bowl eligibility) with a youthful team. Locksley on Tuesday said that five wins and two conference victories would mark “progress.”

He can get there Saturday in New Jersey against a team Maryland has historically dominated — the Terps have won seven of the past 10 matchups against Rutgers but are coming off a 31-17 defeat last year. The season finale against the lowly Spartans will provide Locksley a final opportunity to show his boss he deserves to keep his job.

What would firing Locksley this offseason look like? First, he’d be owed a sizable buyout. Not on the level of what LSU, Penn State or Florida will pay their departed coaches, but one that could give Smith pause, although he told The Baltimore Sun last month that would not be a factor in his decision. Next, Maryland would be competing for candidates with what will likely end up being more than a dozen power conference openings. Eight Southeastern Conference, Big Ten, Atlantic Coast Conference and Big 12 teams have already fired coaches, with more surely to come. Lastly, the Terps would like to hold onto quarterback Malik Washington, his talented classmates and top incoming recruit Zion Elee. If Locksley’s gone, they could be, too, and with them goes the comfortable stability the veteran coach provides.

That’s all part of the calculus. So, too, is the damage that keeping Locksley could bring. Is being stuck in Big Ten purgatory — good enough to beat up on basement dwellers but never coming close to knocking off a top dog — what Smith wants from his football program? He said he will demand the opposite, actually. But that’s all Locksley’s been for seven years with zero signs of improving, no matter how many postgame news conferences he promises to “get it fixed.” An apathetic fan base for the school’s most profitable team is bad business.

This is all Smith’s job to weigh.

Key stakeholders around the program are increasingly anti-Locksley as the losses pile up. Last month, The Sun spoke to five longtime donors who all said, in their own words: I still support Locksley, but there’s a growing number of my peers who don’t (of course, they wouldn’t say that to a reporter if they truly believed in the coach, they’d instead dismiss the question). “Some of them want changes,” prominent booster Tom McCausland said. A mix of fans, alumni and former players, less influential but still important, have also told The Sun in recent weeks that they’re beginning to question if Locksley is capable.

Maintaining booster support is critical. Locksley needs their money. Spiraling further could make them cautious of investing in a coach they deem unworthy of their checks. That would give Smith no choice but to make a move. He’s not there yet.

“I know what’s going on inside the building,” Locksley said Tuesday. “The supporters and people that really know us get a really good understanding. We’ve got a pretty solid foundation to build on.”

Locksley seems to have a grasp on things internally. But Smith knows where the outside stands. The longer he does nothing, the louder those “fire Locksley” chants will get.

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But it’s just what the Mavericks have done all season.

Their Thursday victory resembled many of their other 14 wins prior to this one. Manchester Valley entered the heavyweight bout winners of nine straight. Over that stretch, it has outscored opponents 43-3. And after beating the Mustangs in the 2A state semifinal, the defending state champs are one step closer to making it two in a row.

“It’s very exciting,” coach Jen Etzel said. “The girls have worked so hard this season. We knew the end goal we would want to get there. But we really have played game by game by game. It is obviously the ultimate goal. And it’s always been our vision. So it’s really exciting now that we’re here.”

Sophomore attack Lily Brookhart scored twice in her team’s win. Allyson Zour and Makenna Etzel added the other two goals.

Zour’s score was the game’s first less than three minutes into the opening quarter. Brookhart tallied her first in the second quarter to give Manchester Valley a two-goal halftime lead. Two goals within 90 seconds of each other doubled the Mavericks’ advantage late in the third.

Meanwhile, they held the Mustangs out of the net and hardly let them get close. C. Milton Wright’s lone penalty corner attempt was thwarted and other shots on goal were stopped. The score felt more insurmountable as it widened.

“This year, I’m definitely more prepared,” Brookhart said, a freshman on last year’s championship winning team who will be more of a contributor this time around. “I know what I’m going into. Freshman year, I was definitely really nervous. But it’s all really exciting.”

C. Milton Wright falls short in otherwise dominant season

The Mustangs entered Tuesday on a stretch as similarly impressive as their opponent. C. Milton Wright was a perfect 14-0 before the loss and hadn’t allowed a goal in four games. But even they couldn’t solve Manchester Valley’s stifling defense and timely offense — the Mustangs allowed as many goals Thursday as they had all season prior to their first loss.

“That’s a tough pill to swallow,” coach Kelsey Lovelace said. “We knew we had our work cut out.”

The season marked a remarkable turnaround. C. Milton Wright went 6-7-1 in 2024 and a year later found itself playing for the program’s sixth state semifinal appearance in school history. Graduating 12 seniors but returning their leading scorer, Lovelace knows it’ll be difficult to replicate this season but is hopeful of what it’ll do for the program’s momentum.

“We’re gonna miss a lot of depth next year,” the coach said. “We return a solid core. We’ll just have a lot of holes that we have to plug.”

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None of those characters are around anymore. Maryland is starting fresh. New coach Buzz Williams brought in an entirely new roster (sans one walk-on). The new guys aren’t expected to immediately pick up where Kevin Willard, Derik Queen and company left off, although the expectation is that they’ll someday get there.

Monday was the crew’s first impression on a strong contingent of Maryland fans who made the early evening contest against Coppin State at CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore. In an 83-61 Terps win, the revamped team showed glimpses of what a Williams-coached group will play like and provided introductions to fans who were so invested last year and are surely ready to be again.

“I think we came out with the impression that we’re willing to fight,” leading scorer Pharrel Payne said. “That’s one of our pillars, that we’re always willing to fight.”

There were also stretches of disjointed play that should be expected for a group learning each other. Coppin State cut the Maryland lead to seven midway through the second half before the Terps eventually pulled away to beat the outmatched opponent by 22.

It could be a while before they look as good as last year’s team. A difficult nonconference schedule will be the test.

“I think we played five guys tonight that had never done this,” Williams said.

Williams has Maryland competing in the Players’ Era Festival, an 18-team tournament in Las Vegas later this month that awards name, image and likeness money to every participant and a greater sum to the winner. The Terps will also play Georgetown, Virginia and Marquette in their nonconference slate. Although most of it was put together by Willard and not Williams, Maryland’s schedule will be much more difficult — and entertaining — than the ones Willard’s teams played.

Monday’s game was also arranged before Williams took the job and was Maryland’s first time playing in Baltimore since 2018. Asked if it’s something he’ll look to do more of, Williams — who said he’s been to Baltimore three times now after seeing the National Aquarium and an Orioles game this summer — said he hasn’t thought about it, but that he isn’t opposed to more neutral site games and recognizes the importance of the city.

He talked with Gary Williams before Monday about the history of playing in Baltimore. The legendary coach shared a story of a 1994 game against Temple and Mark Macon.

“I was a senior in college,” Buzz Williams said. “I adored Coach Williams. I didn’t watch the game. There wasn’t cable.”

Baltimore, despite the new coach still learning its history, has been kind to Maryland over the years.

Most recently, Queen led last season’s team to the Sweet 16 with a buzzer-beating bank shot that will live in fans’ memories forever. Julian Reese, Queen’s sidekick on that team and fixture over the past four seasons, also prepped at St. Frances — less than two miles away from CFG Bank Arena. Going further back, Jalen Smith, Darryl Morsell and Juan Dixon all starred for Baltimore-area high schools before doing the same in College Park.

Starting with Monday’s win, Williams hopes that relationship continues.

Maryland vs. Coppin State in men’s basketball, November 3, 2025 | PHOTOS

Some players who will likely be starters didn’t play in the victory and will have to wait until at least Friday against Georgetown to make their first impressions. Myles Rice, an Indiana transfer, and Solomon Washington, one of four who followed Williams from Texas A&M, were both out Monday with ankle injuries.

That instead allowed Payne, another former Aggie, Darius Adams, a five-star freshman and No. 15 overall prospect in the class, and Elijah Saunders, a Virginia transfer, to play expanded roles in their first games as Terps.

Adams operated as the point guard, a role Rice might move him from once he returns, and was the team’s second leading scorer. Saunders logged an efficient 14 points. And Payne, the last Terp introduced pregame, displayed his rebounding prowess manning the middle and paced Maryland with 21 points.

“In general, I’m leaning on my guys,” Payne said when asked about establishing chemistry with such a new group. “It takes a whole team to get it done. They had my back. I had their back. And that’s why we were able to come out with the win.”

What could the Terps look like in Williams’ first campaign? He’d like them not to take as many 3-pointers as they did Monday: “That’s not what we’ll end up being able to do, nor what we would want,” the coach said. But Maryland’s 20 forced turnovers, Williams said, should be a sign of their aggressiveness on defense.

Andre Mills, who redshirted last season at Texas A&M, connected on three 3-pointers and added 13 points. David Coit, a Kansas transfer, played the most minutes off the bench. Isaiah Watts, who played the last two years at Washington State, logged the second most. Guillermo Del Pino, a freshman from Spain, was one of two freshman starters. There are zero Maryland natives on the roster.

That’s a lot of new names to learn — and an encapsulation of the new norm. This group’s next job will be to get Maryland fans, who dove into last year’s team only to be hurt in the end, to care again despite all those obstacles and challenges.

They have plenty of time.

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That changed in Thursday’s 28-6 win over the Miami Dolphins, when Jackson returned and so, too, did contributions from Mark Andrews, Isaiah Likely and Charlie Kolar to give the Ravens their second straight victory to move to 3-5 as they chase down a steep comeback in the division race.

Each of the Ravens’ first three touchdowns came from Jackson and to a tight end, two to Andrews and the third to Kolar. It’s the first time Andrews, whose career has seen all the peaks and valleys one can, scored a touchdown in a winning effort since Week 18 of last season after being perhaps the most maligned Raven over the past 12 months. And it was a reminder of Jackson’s ability to lead a balanced offense that can trash opposing defenses in seemingly unlimited ways when healthy.

“I feel like when Mark scored the first two touchdowns, I was like, ‘Yeah, this is probably going to be one of our games,” Likely said. “We just kept going.”

Jackson focused on Baltimore’s tight ends early and often in his return from a hamstring injury that held him out for three games. “They do it all — block, catch the ball, run sometimes,” the quarterback said. Jackson found Andrews open in the back of the end zone for the game’s first touchdown four plays after the Ravens’ defense recovered a fumble deep in Dolphins territory.

Jackson hit Likely for a 35-yard gain down the right sideline to spark the next possession, and two plays later connected with Andrews again on a crossing route for a 20-yard score. After a trio of three-and-outs, Kolar capped the 11-play drive that opened the second half with his second touchdown in as many weeks to put the Ravens ahead, 21-6.

“I guess I did that much. It was a pretty awesome scheme, I was pretty open,” Kolar quipped. “[Offensive coordinator Todd] Monken did a great job.

Baltimore tight ends finished Thursday’s win with a combined seven catches for 105 yards and three touchdowns. Only Zay Flowers had more receptions than any of the top tight ends.

It’s Andrews’ second two-touchdown game of the season, but his first highly productive game of the year in a victory. The 30-year-old never got going with Jackson on the field and struggled even more to connect with the team’s backup signal callers. It surely wasn’t the start Andrews, on the heels of last year’s playoff disaster in Buffalo, envisioned to help erase those lingering memories. And that performance, which overshadowed a bounce-back 2024 for Andrews, came after an injury-derailed 2023 campaign that prompted offseason ankle surgery and a frustrating recovery.

Andrews finished with fewer than 30 yards and no scores in five of seven games before Thursday. Likely had just 26 receiving yards on the season, stunted by an injured reserve stint that held him out until Week 4. Kolar was kept off the stat sheet entirely in four games.

“It’s just a stress relief, being able to run with the ball in your hands and celebrate,” Likely said, acknowledging his contributions Thursday will help as he recovers from his late start to the season.

In Thursday’s win, Likely and Kolar set season highs in receiving yards and Andrews posted his 12th career multi-touchdown game in a result that showed how the trio can best complement each other. All three have largely never been in such lockstep as they were Thursday. But they haven’t had Jackson throwing to them in a long time, either.

“To see those guys come alive — and you knew they were there, it’s just a matter of getting them the ball,” coach John Harbaugh said. “We want to be able to spread it around and go to everybody. I think that’s what we want to be.”

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Here’s a roundup of those regional final matchups and a look at what’s ahead for the winners.

Field hockey

The Cougars field hockey team opened a Tuesday night triple header at Fallston high school. Its boys and girls soccer teams also hosted region championship games as the top seeds in their brackets. All three won on home turf.

“Basically every class, you had kids who were getting ready to play that day,” coach Jackie Cummings said, describing the energy at school that afternoon. “It doesn’t happen often.”

For field hockey, Cummings’ squad has gotten used to deep playoff runs. They’re right there again this year after a win over Harford Tech in the 1A North II region final, in which Ava Moffett scored three goals and Layla King added a pair. The Cougars will see Sparrows Point in the state quarterfinals, a team they’ve matched up with three other times over the past two seasons. Fallston won 2-1 back in September, which Cummings has already watched back the film of; 4-3 during last year’s regular season; and 4-0 in last season’s state quarterfinal.

“Being a part of Fallston field hockey, there’s a notion that you have to play to a certain level,” Cummings said. “We try to take the mindset of, if we do our best, we should be able to handle any of our competitors. Now is that always the case? No. It’s not that it’s expected, but they know we should be making a playoff run because we have the talent and we work really hard and that’s the goal of our season.”

Elsewhere, at C. Milton Wright on Tuesday night, the Mustangs beat Bel Air, 3-0, to take the 2A North II region championship. They’ll host Hereford in the state quarterfinals.

Boys soccer

C. Milton Wright, defending 2A state champions, is another step closer to repeating after its victory over Bel Air on Tuesday in the 2A East I region final. Ben Mroz and Owen Davis scored their team’s two goals in the narrow 2-1 win, with Mroz also assisting on Davis’ tally.

The Mustangs went 10-2 in the regular season, opening with six consecutive wins before two losses in a span of three games to Patterson Mill and Hereford. That proved only to be a temporary stumble as C. Milton Wright has now won six consecutive games entering its state quarterfinal matchup. The second-seed in the 2A bracket will host Calvert on Saturday.

Two other Harford County boys soccer teams will be representing the area this weekend. Fallston topped Sparrows Point in the 2A North II region final, led by Levi Tanguay’s two goals. The Cougars host North Caroline. Also, Patterson Mill defeated Harford Tech, 2-0, in the 1A North Region I final and will host Liberty. In the 3A bracket, Aberdeen’s season ended after a 4-0 loss to Towson.

Girls soccer

North Harford’s miracle run continued Tuesday when Mia Honig, who also scored her team’s game-winning penalty kick in the regional semifinal against Bel Air, tapped in a corner kick late in double overtime to clinch the Hawks a region championship and a trip to the state quarterfinals with a win over C. Milton Wright in the 2A East I region final.

“My mind was set on, ‘let’s just get to PKs,’” Hawks coach Chuck Travis said. “The girls start to believe in themselves and understand that, although we’re not the most talented team individually, as a group we are the most disciplined. They’re starting to believe in the system. When we came into the C. Milton Wright game, I heard the girls saying, ‘we can do this.’ Before the Bel Air game, I don’t think they were 100% sure.”

Honig missed time toward the end of the regular season and is still not entirely healthy, Travis said Wednesday, Still, she’s coming through in the brightest moments to lead a team that went 5-6-1 in the regular season, won just two games last year, and is starting four freshmen this playoffs to two games away from a state championship game.

The Hawks will see Kent Island, the top seed in the 2A bracket, in the state quarterfinal Friday.

Elsewhere, Harford Tech cruised past Havre de Grace, 6-0, in the 1A North I region final and is the 3-seed moving forward after reseeding. The Cobras will host Carver A&T in the state quarterfinals. Also, Fallston beat Sparrows Point, 2-1, in overtime to capture the 2A North II region final and will host Century to make it three Harford County girls soccer teams in the state quarterfinals.

Have a news tip? Contact Taylor Lyons at tlyons@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/TaylorJLyons.

These results are also weighing on some of the program’s most influential donors.

Most Maryland boosters are still publicly backing coach Michael Locksley despite another October collapse, five boosters who spoke with The Baltimore Sun said, but, they added, others are privately calling for a change in leadership. Proponents of Locksley are pointing to a promising roster led by freshmen as a reason to stick with him into 2026 and beyond, but those supporters are more recently having to convince a subset of their peers that Locksley just needs more time and resources.

“Within our own football suite, we have about 10 guys and their spouses. Some of them have been Locksley fans, as I have been for 20 years, and some of them want changes,” said Tom McCausland, a longtime prominent booster who gives “a fairly sizable amount” of money to the program. “Some of them want to win now, some are disgruntled, and some are like me.”

Locksley, who agreed to an amended contract after the 2022 season, is signed through 2028 at an average salary of $6.1 million per season. According to a USA Today database, that figure ranks 15th in the Big Ten and 41st in the country, and it comes with a $13.9 million buyout if he’s fired before Dec. 1. Maryland concludes its regular season at Michigan State on Nov. 29.

Jim Smith told The Sun last week that Locksley’s buyout is “not the determining factor” when asked if he must take that figure into account. Asked about some calling for change, Smith said: “If it’s based in fact, you absolutely have to look at it. If it’s based in emotion, then you’ve got to take it in that context.”

Boosters who spoke with The Sun also voiced confidence in the first-year athletic director to provide Locksley the resources they say the coach needs — and to make the correct decision on what to do with him.

“I’m very patient when it comes to this stuff,” said Barry Gossett, a member of the university’s Board of Trustees and the namesake of the new basketball practice facility. “I think the future’s bright with [Smith] leading us.”

Smith told The Sun in August that he expected Maryland football to be “very competitive” and “make our way toward the top of the Big Ten.” Last week, he reaffirmed his commitment to Locksley, telling The Sun: “We can debate play calls and end results all we want, but I believe that we’ve got the talent to head in the right direction.”

“Some, like me, are supportive of Mike,” said Harry Geller, a member of the university’s Board of Trustees who founded and ran two name, image and likeness collectives that supported the men’s basketball program but shut down this summer. “He’s a good coach and wants to be here. But the results haven’t been what people want. That’s the overall feeling. It’s like, ‘Yeah, but.’”

That qualifier has been the thorn in Locksley’s side as he’s fallen short of the heights his new boss is demanding. Locksley took over in 2019 after four consecutive losing seasons and provided the stability Maryland longed for, becoming the only Terps coach to win three consecutive bowl games and the first to lead three straight winning seasons since Ralph Friedgen did so in the mid-2000s. But Locksley is 17-43 in the Big Ten and has never beaten a ranked conference opponent.

His leash has been abnormally long: he has the second-worst winning percentage among the 14 power conference coaches who have been at their current jobs as long as Locksley’s led Maryland. And next year’s recruiting class, despite being led by No. 2 overall player Zion Elee (who visited South Carolina last week despite previously saying that he’d shut down his recruitment), ranks 55th in the nation and 14th in the Big Ten, according to Rivals.

Under Locksley, the Terps have resided squarely in the bottom half of the now-18-team conference that Smith wants to be atop.

“I can see the frustration other people have,” said Rick Jaklitsch, the former president of the Terrapin Club, the athletic department’s fundraising arm. “I can understand why there’s pressure to make a move. But making a move in the middle of the season, it doesn’t pan out and really hurts recruiting. I have a ton of faith in Jim Smith. He’ll make the right decision.”

“Mike is getting the team in a position to do well,” McCausland said. “Everybody’s disappointed in the last three games. Those that were Locksley fans see the improvement, see him closing the gap. And then those that were not crazy about a 4-8 season last year are just going to be as anti-Locksley as before.”

Locksley acknowledged this summer that he “lost the locker room” during last year’s 4-8 campaign, citing disparities in how much certain players were earning in NIL money compared with teammates. To remedy that, Locksley hung a sign in the locker room that reads: “Leave your bank statements, car keys and Louis [Vuitton] belts at the door.”

Maryland went through extensive roster turnover after that disappointing season, and Gossett and Geller said Maryland’s locker room — “a more mature group” than last season, Gossett said — remains intact despite this losing streak that features three blown fourth-quarter leads. It won’t get easier for the young team: No. 2 Indiana and No. 21 Michigan loom.

In fact, the Hoosiers’ success is a driving force behind the growing impatience from some boosters: “If Indiana can be No. 2 in the country, Maryland can be No. 2 in the country,” Jaklitsch said.

But others recognize the key differences between the two programs that might forever keep Maryland from reaching Smith’s goals, regardless of who the coach is.

“A lot of this is a money game. And Maryland, no matter what Mike does, just doesn’t have that network of donors willing to give huge money to athletics,” Geller said. “God bless [Under Armour CEO] Kevin Plank and Barry Gossett and a few others, but that’s about it.”

Asked to summarize his and his fellow fans’ support for Locksley, Bob Baker, a season-ticker holder since 1971 who boasts that he went to every home game for 50 straight seasons, said that “the people I travel with are optimistic” but acknowledged that others have opposing views.

“If you had to put a number on it, I’d say it’s like 80% are supportive of Locksley, then there’s some others, maybe not so much,” Baker said. “But overall, there’s support for him. We just gotta stay the course.”

Eight power conference schools — Penn State, LSU, Florida, UCLA, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma State, Stanford and Arkansas — have already fired their coaches before November to set up what figures to be a competitive coaching carousel this offseason. Those schools’ willingness to part ways with coaches and pay them tens of millions in buyouts speaks to the fickle nature of the profession. It’s also a reality the Maryland coach is beginning to wrestle with.

“It’s the landscape,” Locksley said two days after Franklin’s surprising dismissal. “That’s why the best is now and not ahead. We learned very quickly that you’re only as good as the last game you played and the last game you won.”

That’ll be 42 days ago this Saturday.

Baltimore Sun reporter Edward Lee contributed to this article. Have a news tip? Contact Taylor Lyons at tlyons@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/taylorjlyons.

The reigning Harford County champions, their coach believed, had the talent to repeat. It was just a matter of their rising juniors stepping into leadership roles — namely a set of brothers.

The biggest threat to that premonition came late Tuesday evening. The Cobras trailed, 2-1, in the county title game against Fallston, needing to win the final two to retain the championship. Coach Gary Clement preached calmness.

“’We just gotta relax,’” Philip Kozlowski said of what Clement told the huddle. “We just gotta play our game.”

“Do the things we’re good at doing,” Peter Kozlowski added.

Harford Tech won fourth and fifth sets to capture its second consecutive Harford County boys volleyball championship in its third straight appearance in the title game.

“Some things weren’t falling our way,” Clement said. “Then we started getting it, playing intense, and pulled through.”

Fallston took the opening set, 25-23, behind a comeback led by Shaughn Kelly. Down by one late, Kelly sparked a surge that pulled his team ahead by two and maintained that separation until the end. It was similarly close toward the end of the second set before Harford Tech pulled away late. A 19-19 tie became a 25-22 win for the Cobras to even the match.

After closely contested first and second sets, the third was a game of runs.

Harford Tech raced out to a 16-10 lead, which prompted a Cougars coach Bill Stewart timeout. Then his team took six of the next seven points to shrink their deficit to one and draw a Clement stoppage. Fallston took its first lead of the third set at 19-18 and controlled things the rest of the way to clinch a 26-24 win and a 2-1 lead.

The Cobras, sans another late Cougars surge that this time fell short, controlled the fourth set to fend off elimination and force a fifth and final battle. They took 4-0 and 11-7 leads and held that lead in the decisive 15-11 match-clinching victory.

“We needed to get back here,” Peter said. “It’s an awesome feeling.”

Fallston and Harford Tech matched up once in the regular season, an early September bout that the Cougars took in five sets as a part of their 8-0 start to the campaign. After a narrow loss to C. Milton Wright, Fallston went on another winning streak: five consecutive victories entering Tuesday.

Harford Tech similarly cruised through its regular season. That loss to Fallston was its only defeat all year. Clement went back to that film leading up to Tuesday to identify weaknesses and learn what his team did wrong the first time. And, Clement said, that result humbled a group that otherwise was hardly tested all season.

“Having that loss, it helped us refocus,” Clement said.

The Kozlowskis inherited their volleyball skills from their mother, an accomplished player herself who had her boys playing since they were 8 years old. They’re only juniors, yet Clement says they see things on the court even the veteran coach misses, and they’re the source of hope that Harford Tech can make it three consecutive championships in 2026.

“It’s the same group,” Philip said. “We’ve gotten even better.”

Fallston falls just short in impressive season

The Cougars’ offensive strategy is simple: find Kelly.

The ball seems to always make its way to Kelly’s rocket right arm. Then it usually smacks against the opponent’s side of the court. Kelly’s been a force for the Cougars all year and helped them finish the regular season with just one loss and the top seed in the Harford County tournament.

“You gotta get past 29 and 19,” Stewart said, a nod to the Kozlowski brothers. “They’re their two big guns.”

Kelly and Fallston came up just short Tuesday, but it was nonetheless a memorable season almost capped by a county title. Looking to next season, Stewart knows he’ll have to replace several key starters but believes this campaign has the program moving in the right direction.

Have a news tip? Contact Taylor Lyons at tlyons@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/TaylorJLyons.