Catonsville-Arbutus Times looks back at fall moments to remember from local sports teams

Although no champions were crowned at Catonsville, Lansdowne or Western Tech, there were some memorable moments produced during the fall sports season.

For Catonsville and Western Tech, that season ended at the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association cross country championships on Nov. 11.

Here’s a look back at how the Comets and Wolverines finished at the state meet and some other highlight moments from public schools in the Catonsville and Arbutus area.

Cross country

The Catonsville boys finished 13th with 365 points in the Class 3A state meet held at Hereford and won by the Towson boys.

The Comets, who were coming off a fourth-place finish at regionals, were led by senior Evan Wasser (60th, 17:55.43), sophomore Aidan Foster (71st, 18:02.67), junior Degenet Riggs (79th, 18:08.98), junior Justin Bretiere (92nd, 18:22.57) and sophomore Sebastian Wautel (98th, 18:25.95).

The Catonsville girls also finished fourth at the regional meet, but injuries to top runners Olivia Virago, Casey Fisher and Peyton Snyder left them without a complete team at the state meet.

Finishers for the Comets included senior Charlotte Kearns (53rd, 21:52.94), junior Linnea Gierasch (58th, 22:20.97), senior Molly James (115th, 24:14.78) and freshman Erin Taylor (134th, 24:14.78).

In the Class 1A race, the Western Tech boys placed 15th with 431 points. The Wolverines were led by juniors Samir Illidge (90th, 20:19.17) and Ilijah Walker (93rd, 20:25.64), senior Jabari Adekoya (95th, 20:27.34), sophomore Sam Adekoya (96th, 20:29.51) and junior Sam May (119th, 22:02.91).

The Western Tech girls were represented by senior Evelyn Sangree (26th, 22:43.83), freshman Makiyah Simms (97th, 29:43.92) and senior Stella Alumonah (98th, 30;27.66).

Field hockey

Catonsville celebrated its second consecutive shutout win over Perry Hall with five goals in the first half on the way to an 8-0 victory.

Lindsay Taylor and Alison Capka each had two goals and two assists and Lucy Rehmert had a goal in the first half, while Jade Pannutty had three goals in the second half.

The Comets enjoyed another convincing victory in the regional semifinals when they defeated Franklin, 7-1, but they lost in the finals to Westminster, 4-0.

Football

Catonsville opened its season with a 23-17 road victory over host Dulaney. Senior Mike Owens caught five passes for 149 yards and a 67-yard touchdown, junior quarterback Gunnar Gemmell completed eight passes for 204 yards and sophomore Tyler Boyd rushed for 98 yards.

The following week, Boyd crossed the 1,000-yard mark for his career in a 48-0 victory over Chesapeake-BC. He was running behind linemen Allen Kohel, Josh Perry, Brayden Godwin, Isaiah Briscoe, Taylor Caudill and Cole Lovell.

“I was just following my blocks, my linemen. I love my linemen,” said Boyd, who rushed for 52 yards on 11 carries and had a 37-yard punt return in the game.

On homecoming night, the Comets got an 82-yard punt return for a touchdown from junior Evan Paylor in a 35-24 victory over Woodlawn.

Boyd, who had 108 of the Comets’ 243 total yards, scored three touchdowns for the Comets, who improved to 3-1 with the victory.

“I just wanted to get a win on homecoming,” Boyd said. “I didn’t want to embarrass myself or the team so I did everything I could.”

Golf

Catonsville’s Eli Hess and Lucas Williams qualified for the state golf tournament and senior Ellie Capka won the Baltimore County novice tournament.

Boys soccer

Western Tech continued its unbeaten season with a 2-0 victory over Pikesville on Oct. 4. Sophomore Matias Morel and senior Tristan Jareb-Grabner scored first-half goals and senior goalie Angel Bautista had nine saves.

The Wolverines extended the best start in school history to 8-0. Their previous high mark was a 6-0 start.

“It feels great really, I can’t complain,” said Jareb-Grabner, whose goal came on his sixth penalty kick conversion of the season. “I was just waiting for the keeper to move.”

The Wolverines finished 11-3 and tied for first in its division. They lost to South Carroll, 2-1, in the regional semifinals. Forward Muhamed Thiam scored a team-high 17 goals for the Wolverines.

Nine days after the Catonsville boys defeated Dulaney, 4-2, on goals by Austin Haywood, Adam Stephen, Tony Argueta and Kap Thang Thuang the Comets got their biggest win when they defeated Hereford, 2-1, on Sept. 29.

Just over six minutes into their game against the Bulls, the host Comets allowed an own-goal after an errant pass back toward the keeper. However, the Comets overcame the mistake and rallied for the victory over the previously unbeaten Bulls.

“This team is good. They stay positive, they battle back and we don’t give up even when bizarre things like the own-goal happen,” Catonsville coach Brendan Kennedy said.

Catonsville scored the equalizer with 6:20 left in the first half when Thuang converted a Tommy Bolster throw-in off the post for his second goal of the season.

Catonsville’s first shot attempt of the second half resulted in a goal by Argueta. He gathered a pass from 20 yards out, spun and fired past keeper Garrett Pflugard with 25:25 left in the second half.

“It was a fantastic hit by Tony,” Kennedy said. “I love that we have a guy you can count on to create early and take those chances and help us attack direct and get balls on frame, so it’s great move from him, great shot.”

Girls soccer

Catonsville’s seniors were already under the spotlight on senior night, but they proceeded to make sure they fully owned the evening.

The Comets scored three goals in the first half and made it stand in a 3-0 triumph over Atholton.

Senior Sydney Mah scored the first two goals and senior Ellie Altmann scored the final one.

“Senior night, energy was fantastic and I mean, we just felt good coming in,” Catonsville coach Jon Salvino said. ‘We’ve been playing really well the last two weeks, but we just haven’t been able to finish it in the final third. And today we came out and once we got the first one, I knew it was going to start clicking. And two and three came shortly after and they were great goals, great team effort and it was just fantastic to see.”

Volleyball

After pulling away late and winning the first set, the Lansdowne volleyball team dominated the final two sets and defeated visiting Woodlawn, 25-20, 25-8, 25-10 on Sept. 28 behind an improved service game and strong hitting from junior Morgan Mallard and setting from senior Haylee Beard.

Mallard had seven kills and two aces in the second set. Five of her kills came with Brittany Ashby on the service line when the Vikings scored nine consecutive points and raced to a 23-6 lead.

The win was the fifth in six games for the Vikings, who won their first playoff game last year under Sarah Curran in her seventh season at the helm.

“This has definitely been a surprise,” Curran said. “We won our first game which was great and then we were on a winning streak which was really nice to see, playing hard and I’ve got a solid six to seven people that are really the core to us doing well which is nice.”

The top-seeded Vikings finished 14-3 and earned a first-round bye in the Class 3A North Region before losing to Dulaney, 25-15, 25-16, 25-23, in the semifinals.

The Catonsville volleyball team only won six matches during the season, but one of their triumphs was a four-set victory over Towson on Oct. 5.

In the regional playoffs, the Comets swept Overlea and Franklin before falling to Dulaney, 25-16, 25-8, 23-25, 25-17 in the championship game.

The highlight of the loss was the third set, which the Comets won after Dulaney had 17 of its 21 aces in the first two sets.

The third set was tied at 23 when Kira King’s diving dig and a block by Lazama led to a Dulaney hitting error. The Comets closed out the set with a two-handed push kill to the corner by Zhane-Marie Lazama.

Senior Abby Tartal led the Comets with 10 kills in the match.

“They turned it on,” Catonsville coach Amanda Kaufman said. “They have the ability to be phenomenal and I’m glad that in their last game of the season they were able to show Dulaney how good of a team that they can be. This was a nice way to end the season, with some wins and kind of go out with a positive note.”