The balance of power in Carroll county girls basketball has shifted south from North Carroll to Westminster and South Carroll.
The Owls and Cavaliers are easily the class of the county for the second straight season after North Carroll had dominated for two years.
It was interesting to see how a 2A school such as North Carroll could consistently handle 4A Westminster and 3A South Carroll to capture back-to-back county championships.
There was even some speculation that North Carroll could make it three in a row last season, with the likes of standout sophomore point guard Julie Baker, promising junior forward Kandi Lippy and talented senior center Casey Rhoten in the lineup.
But everything began to fall apart for the Panthers when Baker and coach Greg Knill had a disagreement over the style of basketball it takes to win.
Baker, who has a lot of speed and quickness, wanted to run and Knill preferred a more controlled game.
After Baker saw her playing time diminish, she quit the team in early January and transferred to McDonogh for her junior year.
More problems set in for North Carroll as the season progressed. There was jealousy among certain players and disciplinary problems. The team plummeted to a final record of 4-15.
Knill said he wanted to forget everything about the 1993-94 season.
However, it has been impossible to do that.
The fallout prompted another important player, senior forward Jill Ballard, to not come out for the team this season.
Ballard said she felt unwanted by Knill after Baker quit.
"My problem was being friends with Julie," said Ballard. "He [Knill] called me and Julie troublemakers just because we didn't want to go to one of the get-togethers the girls on the team have on their own on game day."
Ballard said Knill does not talk to her and does not want her on the team.
Knill declined to discuss the Ballard situation. But her absence certainly does not help a team that needs all the experience, size and talent it can get.
The Panthers are off to a 2-3 start, losing their first three games before defeating North Harford and Hereford in the past five days.
Those two teams are nowhere near the caliber of Westminster and South Carroll, and there figures to be a lot of long evenings for the Panthers this winter.
A school as small as North Carroll can't afford to consistently lose players like Baker and Ballard and compete for a county championship.
The sudden fall to a 6-18 overall record since going 18-6 in the 1992-93 season has been quite a shock for the players, fans and parents.
County football teams improve
Before getting too far into the winter season, it would be good to assess just how the five county football teams fared in 1994.
The bad news is that no team finished over .500 for the second straight year. The last winning team in Carroll was the 1992 South Carroll squad that went 6-4 with 245-pound fullback Mike Dodd running the ball.
The good news is that the five schools combined for 17 wins, five more than they did in 1993 and 1992.
The biggest improvement in number of wins came at Liberty High, which went from one victory to four. But the Lions played an easier schedule than they did in 1993.
Coach Ken Johnson, also Liberty's athletic director, believes the Lions and all county schools play schedules that are too tough and he is taking steps to change that.
Westminster and South Carroll each finished at 5-5, one game better than in 1993, and North Carroll won its first game after 28 straight losses to finish 1-9.
The only school to go backward was Francis Scott Key, which dropped to 2-8 after a 3-7 season in 1993.
Even though the Owls improved to .500, first-year coach Tim Ebersole had hoped for better.
Westminster had a 5-3 mark before losing to Linganore and South Carroll to end the season.