After an opening week that saw every local boys soccer team lose at least once to a county foe, the division of power this fall is finally starting to reveal itself.
The top four teams in the county standings — Centennial, Glenelg, Howard and Mt. Hebron — all picked up victories on Tuesday night to further cement their position at or near the top. Hammond and River Hill also won, moving to .500 or better in league play.
Mt. Hebron (4-1, 6-1), which defeated Atholton 2-0 on the strength of goals from Johnny Linsenmeyer and Trevor Namie, extended its winning streak to four straight games.
The Vikings are currently tied for first with Glenelg (4-1, 4-3) — a 6-3 winner of Reservoir (2-4, 2-4) on Tuesday — and Centennial (4-1, 6-2) — which earned a 1-0 victory Tuesday over Marriotts Ridge (2-3, 2-5) in double overtime.
Ramzy Ahmed was the star for the Gladiators with five goals against the Gators, while Nick Haskins provided the game-winning goal for the Eagles.
Howard (4-2, 5-3), meanwhile, is a half game back of first after its 2-1 victory over Wilde Lake (2-3, 4-3-1) in overtime. Mark Bruner provided the game-winning score in the extra period.
Hammond (3-2, 4-4) knocked off Long Reach (1-3-1, 2-5-1) in a 1-0 game thanks to a goal from Ivan Osemobor off an assist from Anthony Perez. The team's back line, led by Zach Lee and Ethan Fox, then did the rest to secure the shutout. River Hill (2-2-1, 3-4-1), meanwhile, came back in the second half to defeat Oakland Mills (2-3, 3-5) by a score of 3-2. Evan Doten, Josh Ditman and Danny Fuentes all scored in the final 32 minutes of the contest for the Hawks to erase a 2-0 deficit.
All of the county teams are off Wednesday before action picks up again on Thursday.
Box scores:
Mt. Hebron 2, Atholton 0
Goals: MH – Namie, Linsenmeyer.
Assists: MH – Rice, V. Broccolino.
Saves: MH – Jones 8; A – N/A.
Centennial 1, Marriotts Ridge 0 2OT
Goal: C – Haskins.
Glenelg 6, Reservoir 3
Goals: G – Ahmed 5, Mavronis; Re - Schulden 2, Appiah.
Saves: G – N/A; Re – Foley 2.
Half: 2-1 G.
River Hill 3, Oakland Mills 2
Goals: RH – Doten, Ditman, Fuentes; OM – N/A.
Assists: RH – Gupta, Fuentes; OM – N/A.
Saves: RH – Sherlock 2; OM – N/A.
Half: 0-0.
Howard 2, Wilde Lake 1 OT
Goals: Ho – Marakchi, M. Bruner; WL – own goal.
Assists: Ho – McKinney 2.
Saves: Ho – Hartlove.
Hammond 1, Long Reach 0
Goal: Ha – Osemobor.
Assist: Ha – Perez.
Saves: Ha – Bradford 4.