Let me start by saying Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I hope your holiday is filled with good food, family, fun and while we're at it, maybe a little football.
Seriously, what would Thanksgiving Day be without football? Ladies, please don't hate me for that question.
While the professionals take center stage on Thursday, two local teams will follow up with two pretty important games the next two days.
Aberdeen and Perryville are both playing in state semifinal games and both will be on the road.
The Eagles will get it started Friday night with a trip to River Hill, while Perryville gets the long haul, making the trip to Allegany, for a Saturday matchup with Fort Hill.
These are the last remaining teams from a decent fall sports season. The question is, will there be another week or is this it?
The rest of our rooting interests each finished up their respective seasons last week and sad to say, none came home with what they left for — a state title.
My crazy week last week ended with the girls volleyball doubleheader at the University of Maryland's Ritchie Coliseum in College Park, where teams from Fallston and Perryville were each vying for respective state crowns.
Fallston, the defending Class 2A state champ, was back in pretty good shape, so I thought. State final opponent Century was better than I expected. Still, the Cougars won the first game and after jumping out to a 6-1 lead in game two, I figured Fallston was a short time away from another title.
Well, wrong I was. Century battled back in game two, played even in game three and then came from behind to win the clinching game four, just when it looked like we were headed for a game five.
The Cougars, though bummed a bit, had nothing to be ashamed about. They didn't throw the games away, they were beaten by a good team who got the better of it on Saturday.
A slightly different story in the 1A finals for Perryville.
The Panthers were making history by playing in the school's first ever girls volleyball state final. Unfortunately, that's where the history ended. The Panthers were up against a Smithsburg Leopards team that was seeking its third straight championship.
In was obvious from the start, this wasn't going to go well for the Panthers. In this case, I was right.
Smithsburg played at a completely different level and that's a fact. Perryville was just overmatched and there's no shame in that. If nothing else, it shows them where and what they need to strive toward.
Saturday night the Fallston boys soccer team went to battle with Marriotts Ridge in the 2A title match at UMBC. Marriotts Ridge was seeking its third straight 2A crown, a run that began with a 1-0 overtime win over Fallston in 2009.
It wasn't quite déjà vu, but the Cougars fell again in a 1-0 match. Definitely gut-wrenching for those who were part of both losses.