SAINTS PERSERVED: St. Mary's defender Joe Bonanni (above) and his Saints' teammates edged Anne Arundel County neighbor Archbishop Spalding for a higher seed in next week's MIAA A Conference playoffs. The fifth seeded Saints will visit McDonogh, and the sixth seeded Cavaliers will travel to Calvert Hall.
UNSCATHED: Sophomore faceoff midfielder Duncan Hutchins (above) and his Gilman teammates are top seeded at 17-0 entering next week's MIAA A Conference playoffs, in which defending champ, Loyola, is the No. 2 seed. Hutchins and the Greyhounds will play Tuesday's St. Mary's/McDonogh winner on Friday, the same day the Dons will face Tuesday's Archbishop Spalding/ Calvert Hall winner. Friday's games will be played at Towson University's Johnny Unitas Stadium.
by Gary Adornato and Lem Satterfield
A topsy turvey final day of the regular season in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association's A Conference began with five teams alive for just two playoff positions.
And when St. Paul's rallied to score a 9-7 win over long-time rival Boys' Latin, it appeared as if Coach Rick Brocato's Crusaders were in strong position to climb into the post-season.
Those chances then improved when St. Mary's guaranteed it's place in the playoffs by eliminating arch-rival Severn, 11-10, in overtime -- this, vanquishing a team which owned a head-to-head win over St. Paul's.
As it turned out, however, the race was far from over.
Things changed, dramatically, when the season's final game concluded, and Archbishop Spalding stunned Loyola, 12-9, to step up and snatch the final playoff spot.
St. Mary's (14-5 overall, 5-5 league) and Archbishop Spalding (8-7, 5-5) finished in a tie for the fifth spot. But with the Saints owning the tie-breaker by virtue of a head-to-head win, the Cavaliers were relegated to the sixth and final seed for a playoff berth.
St. Paul's (10-10) and Boys' Latin (13-7) -- traditional league powers and playoff regulars -- each finished at 4-6 in the conference, and, thus, were left on the outside looking in.
Rarely does either team miss the playoffs, much less both in the same year.
For Archbishop Spalding, however, this season marks the first time since the Cavaliers -- of first-year coach Zack Burke -- moved to the A Conference in 2003 that their program has reached the post-season.
In fact, the Cavaliers won only one conference game last year.
As far as the rest of the seeds, undefeated Gilman (17-0, 10-0) is the No. 1 seed, followed by No. 2 seed Loyola (11-4, 8-2), No. 3 seed Calvert Hall (15-2, 8-2) and No. 4 seed McDonogh (14-5, 6-4).
The Loyola Dons, who are the defending MIAA A Conference tournament champions, edged the Calvert Hall Cardinals for the second seed by virtue of their 11-10 victory over the Cardinals, earlier this year.
The quarterfinal round of the playoffs will take place on Tuesday, with Archbishop Spalding visiting Calvert Hall, and McDonogh playing host to St. Mary's.
The semifinals will be played on Friday, as part of a MIAA/STX double-header at Towson University's Johnny Unitas Stadium.
The first game will faceoff at 5 p.m., with Loyola meeting the Calvert Hall/Archbishop Spalding winner.
Gilman will then meet the St. Mary's/McDonogh winner at 7:15 p.m.
The MIAA/STX A Confernece Championship Game will be played at Unitas Stadium on Tuesday, May 20 at 7:30 p.m., as part of a championship triple-header to include the C and B Conference title games.
The A Conference game will also be taped for broadcast by FOX 45. The game will air on Saturday, May 24 at 1 p.m. on channel 45, and again at 6 p.m. on channel 54.
MIAA A Conference regular season standings (Top six teams qualify for the postseason):
* = earned playoff berth
*Gilman (10-0 league, 17-0 overall)
*Loyola (8-2, 11-4)
*Calvert Hall (8-2, 15-2)
*McDonogh (6-4, 14-5)
*St. Mary's (5-5, 14-5)
*Archbishop Spalding (5-5, 14-5)
St. Paul's (4-6, 10-10)
Boys' Latin (4-6, 13-7)
Severn (3-7, 11-10)
Mount St. Joseph (2-8, 8-10)
Friends (0-10, 4-11)