There is no question that Prophet Pat strikes fear in the hearts of coaches who shudder when he picks them to lose the week after he's had a bad week of picking games.
Traditionally, the rage of a sage over his 14 years of predicting games always has roared back followinga disastrous effort. It's like 99 percent sure that he will be perfect or nearly perfect after a bad outing.
Two weeks ago, the Prophet handed in an embarrassing 1-5 card, but he came back with a 5-1 log, including Chesapeake's 17-16 upset in overtime over Severna Park, snapping the Falcons' 57-game winning streak in girls lacrosse.
That brought the fearless prognosticator's record to 149-70 (.680).
The sage said last week, "The Prophet always bounces back," and he added about the Chesapeake/Severna Park girls stick game, "Here it is, the Upset of the Week." It was, as the Cougars of Coach Jim Buchan won by the predicted one goal.
Arundel'sbaseball team was tabbed by the Prophet to lose at Calvert Hall and win at home against Severna Park in a big Class 4A Region IV showdown. The Wildcats of Coach Bernie Walter did just that, losing at the Hall last Friday, 5-2, and coming back Monday to hammer Severna Park, 7-1, behind the two-hit pitching of southpaw Zach Collins.
Also, inbaseball, the Prophet has put Old Mill over Northeast by one run in the "W" column, even though the game isn't over. With two outs in thetop of the 13th of a wild, controversial marathon, Old Mill holds the lead, 6-5, with the Eagles still to bat.
The Prophet feels that the suspended game is in the bag in favor of the Pats, and if not, hewill adjust his record after the game is completed.
In boys lacrosse the sage went 1-1, calling the shot on St. Mary's and missing on Arundel at North County. St. Mary's was a three-goal favorite over Baltimore's Gilman and rolled, 9-1, while North County dropped its first game after eight straight wins by 5-4 to Arundel (6-3).
The Wildcats went into North County as a one-point underdog.
This week therage of a sage has a diversified smattering of games in lacrosse, baseball and softball.
GIRLS LACROSSE ST. MARY'S AT OLD MILL
5 p.m.Friday. Old Mill coach Bruce Sponsler calls this one "a very important game to us as far as qualifying for the playoffs."
Sponsler's Patriots ran their overall record to 7-4 Tuesday with a 20-12 romp over Meade (1-7) as Alison Zaetz and Michelle Salmon each scored seven goals.
The same day, St. Mary's (7-4) notched its seventh win over Catholic school rival, Archbishop Spalding, 15-11, with Mandy Lewis firing in five goals and assisting on one other.
"The top eight teams qualify, and we are right there with seven wins and a win over St.Mary's would really help our chances," said Sponsler, who dramatically has turned around a team that was 2-10 a year ago.
Look for thePatriots to take this one in a high-scoring affair with Zaetz, the county's leading scorer with 112 points on 52 goals and eight assists,having another prolific game.
Old Mill plus 1 over St. Mary's (something like 16-15).
BOYS LACROSSE SOUTHERN AT BROADNECK
7:30 p.m. Friday. Coming off its big 8-5 win over South River (6-3) last Friday, the host Bruins of Coach Clay White need this one to remain one game behind Annapolis in the loss column in the county 4A League.
Broadneck is 4-1 in league games, while Annapolis is 7-0. The Bruins can solidify their chances of one of the top seedings in the upcoming playoffs with a home victory over a very good Class 2A squad in Southern.
The Dawgs are 5-4 playing against the bigger 4A schools. LastFriday Southern stuck it to 2-9 Old Mill, 7-2, and gave Severna Park(7-2) all it could handle Tuesday night before bowing, 9-7.
Southern held a 7-6 lead over the Falcons going into the final period at Harwood before the Falcons exploded for three unanswered goals in the closing moments.
There is no question that Southern can win this game, but the Prophet is giving the edge to the Bruins because of the home turf in Cape St. Claire.
It could be a replay of the Severna Park game for Southern, with the Bruins coming from behind to nip it in the last period. As good and gutty as the Bulldogs are, Southern (a 2A school) just doesn't have the numbers of those 4A schools, and it takes its toll.
Broadneck plus 1 over Southern.
ST. PAUL'S VS. ST. MARY'S
At Weems-Whelan Field in Annapolis, 3:45 p.m. Tuesday. This won't be any piece of cake for Coach Jim Moorhead's Saints (8-2) like the one they had Tuesday over Gilman. St. Paul's (7-3) is reallytough, as evidenced by its strong showing Tuesday in a 6-5 loss to top-ranked Boys' Latin.
Boys' Latin (10-1), the only team to beat defending Maryland Scholastic Association A Conference champion Loyolathis season, built up a 5-2 lead at the half against St. Paul's and had to hold on as the Crusaders rallied for three goals in the final period.
An advantage Moorhead and his Saints -- who are second in Division I behind Loyola -- have is that they can put together an extensive scouting report on St. Paul's come Saturday. St. Paul's plays host to Severn (13-4) at 3 p.m. Saturday, while St. Mary's plays tomorrow at home against Mount St. Joseph (0-8).
Nobody prepares a team better than Moorhead, and it looks like senior attackman Rob Chomo has his touch back after a nagging injury as shown by his four goals and one assist in Tuesday's 9-1 rout of Gilman.
St. Mary's plus 1 over St. Paul's.
GILMAN AT SEVERN
3:45 p.m. Tuesday. The Prophet hasn't slept much since last Thursday night when Severn coach Peter Trau called on the 24-hour Sportsline and railed him pretty good.
Trau, who has been upset with the Prophet's little digs about the Admirals' "cream puff" schedule (five wins over inferior California teams that look better on the beach than they do in the crease), sounded off on the Sportsline.
"I was having a good day until I read your little ditty in the Anne Arundel County Sun today," said Trau, the first-year head coach of the Admirals.
"I don't really know you, but I'm just kind of tired reading all this crap about our team. I'm kind of sick reading about the sage, and the sage sticking it to us all the time."
Reading verbatim from last week's Prophet, Trau went on, "Severn's boys stick team upset Boys' Latin in the rain, which was anequalizer in the Prophet's opinion, and he has no control over the weather.
"Well, you don't have much control over anything, and I would really like you to come see us play. Because as of right now, I don't have a helluva lot of respect for what you're writing about us. If you want to cut us down, come see us play."
The Prophet called back to tell Trau he had seen them play several times but was not dressed in his cape and turban.
Because the Prophet doesn't like to tick anyone off, the sage promised Trau he would be nice this week. So, the rage of a sage is picking the 13-4 Admirals over 5-4 Gilman by two goals on Tuesday.
To prove how nice he is and how he truly wants to make up, the Prophet did not pick the Admirals' game at St. Paul's Saturday because he knows they're going to lose that one.
So here is the Prophet's first-ever dedication pick to Pete Trau of Severn:
Severn plus 2 over Gilman.
BASEBALL MEADE AT GLEN BURNIE
3:45 p.m. Friday. The Class 4A baseball games are starting to get crucial in the hunt for the four Region IV playoff berths, and both these clubs, Meade (7-4) and Glen Burnie (5-5) need this one.
Arundel (10-2), Severna Park (9-2) and Old Mill (7-4) are ahead of Meade and Glen Burnie with Broadneck (6-5) right there with the latter two teams.So, this one counts big.
The Prophet is playing a hunch that Meade senior pitcher/hitter Lance Taylor will do something to rope the Gophers.
Meade plus 1 over Glen Burnie.
SOFTBALL CHESAPEAKE AT GLENBURNIE
3:45 p.m. today. Will the Cougars (9-2) bounce back from Tuesday's 4-3 loss in 11 innings to Severna Park (10-1)?
The Prophet doesn't think they will against Bob Broccolino's sky-high Gophers (7-2), who still are riding the crest of last week's stunning 4-3, 16-inning upset of Northeast to halt the Eagles' 64-game winning streak.
Mandy Albrecht does it again on the hill, and Michelle Ackerman gets a couple of key hits for the Gophers.
Glen Burnie plus 1 over Chesapeake.
The Prophet to date
Right... ... Wrong... ... Pct.
149..... ... 70...... ... .680