By Keith Mills

Regardless of the sport or the venue, the players or the coaches, a Gilman-McDonogh matchup is always about one thing -- the rivalry. The two schools could play a game of checkers and it would be intense and hard-fought. And so it was when the Eagles and Greyhounds opened the MIAA A Conference soccer season at Gilman last Thursday.

McDonogh won the game, 3-2 in overtime, on the second goal from sophomore Julian Griggs, but Gilman proved it is ready to contend for the A Conference championship.   The Greyhounds scored just two minutes into the game on a goal from senior Cooper Brown and held the lead early in the second half before the Eagles tied the game and eventually took the lead.

Brown knotted the game with his second goal as the Greyhounds battled the talented Eagles throughout an afternoon that saw temperatures hit the 90-degree mark. McDonogh finally won in the second overtime when Griggs scored on a cross from Joe Meyer with 51 seconds left and coach Steve Nichols' Eagles opened defense of their league championship with a well-earned win.

Meyer, Griggs, Mamadou Kansaye, Marquez Fernandez and freshman Logan McHugh all played on the Casa Mia Bays Under-15 national championship team coached by Nichols and Baltimore Blast general manager Kevin Healey. Gilman's Joe Cahalan, who was rock solid for the Greyhounds in the center of the field, was also a member of that team.

That stellar play in the midfield, along with Brown, Greg McBride and Diego McQuestion up front, is a big reason why the Greyhounds are clearly among the area's best teams. Coach John Seal, who spent 11 years as an assistant at McDonogh, and his staff have done a marvelous job of upgrading the program to compete in what is the state's premier soccer league.

Then there's the rivalry. Along with City-Poly, Dunbar-Lake Clifton and Towson-Dulaney, Gilman-McDonogh transcends the games. It is an event regardless of the sport.  The football game between the two schools will be played for the 93rd time in two months while last week's A Conference soccer opener was played at an extremely high level with outstanding coaches who are well aware of what the rivalry means.

Former McDonogh headmaster Bo Dixon once said he was blessed to be a part of the rivalry and urged the students from both schools "to never let the rivalry become ordinary or mediocre."

THE NAME'S THE SAME

Time to again play the name game -- Baltimore soccer style.

Bullington, Caringi, Mangione and Wittman are four of most prestigious names in the history of Baltimore soccer, and if you looked at the box score of Calvert Hall's 4-0, season-opening win over St. Paul's, you saw those names once again.

Alex Bullington, Nick Mangione and Pete Caringi III scored goals while Trevor Wittman added an assist as Andy Moore's Cardinals kicked off their season with a win.

Bullington is the grandson of Jim Bullington, who coached Loyola College to the 1976 NCAA Division II national championship. A member of that team was Nick Mangione Jr., an All-American at Loyola who eventually played with the original Baltimore Blast and is the uncle of Nick and Joe Mangione, juniors on the Calvert Hall team. Nick and Joe are the sons of Pete Mangione, one of Nick Jr.'s four brothers.

Got it? Good, because there's more.

Nick Jr.'s three boys -- Nick III, Marco and Nino -- all played at Calvert Hall and Towson University (Marco and Nino are members of the team now) while his daughter Gina is a senior at McDonogh and one of the area's premier players. Nick Jr.'s wife Danielle (formerly Danielle Toskes) was a member of the 1983 Essex Community College national championship team.

Scott Wittman coached the '93 Essex women to that championship. His son Trevor is a junior now for the Cards while Scott and his brother Tim both starred at Calvert Hall for coach Bill Karpovich. Tim Wittman is a member of the Blast Hall of Fame and coached the Blast to the 2003 MISL championship     

In 1975, the University of Baltimore won the NCAA Division II national title behind  coach Dick Edell and future Maryland Soccer Hall of Famers Charlie Meyers, Denny Hresko, Gino Pennachia and captain Pete Caringi Jr..

Pete Caringi Jr., another Calvert Hall grad, is the longtime coach at UMBC and the father of Pete Caringi III, now a junior for Andy Moore's Cardinals.

"You go to a game as an alum to see your son play and you see all of these kids who you watched grow up," Caringi Jr. said. "You played with or against their fathers.  They're like part of the family. It's a lot of fun. It makes you feel a little older but it's a lot of fun."

GOLD MEDAL HOMECOMING  FOR CARMELO ANTHONY

Kurk Lee asked the kids to make some noise and they did. Lee, the former All-Metro basketball scoring machine at Dunbar and Calvert Hall and collegiate standout at Towson University, introduced Carmelo Anthony to hundreds of area elementary school kids and they welcomed the Towson Catholic graduate with open arms and loud screams.

"This is home," Carmelo told the kids from the Crossroads School and Inner Harbor East Academy. "I am glad to be here."

When Anthony returned from the Olympics with a gold medal, he stopped in Denver and Las Vegas, where Team USA trained before the Beijing games. But there was really only one place he wanted to be and that was exactly where he was last Friday -- on the basketball court of the Carmelo Anthony Youth Development Center on Fayette Street in East Baltimore.

Anthony donated $1.5 million to build the center three years ago and gives $300,000 annually to keep the faciltiy open.

Two days later, he was standing at midfield at M&T Bank Stadium, high-fiving Ray Lewis and being honored by the Ravens before their season-opening win against the Cincinnati Bengals.

"I came a long way," said Anthony, who wore a No. 15 Ravens jersey and the gold medal around his neck. "It's a great deal to be at the Ravens' first game, their home opener. I never thought I would be doing the coin toss here. It's just an honor for me."

Anthony has now won an Olympic gold medal and an NCAA championship. If he wins an NBA title, he would be just the eighth player in U.S. history to pull off the rare triple.   Clyde Lovellette, K.C. Jones, Bill Russell, Jerry Lucas, Quinn Buckner, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan are the only players to have won Olympic gold and NCAA and NBA championships.

Among the players who have won two are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson, Larry Bird and David Robinson. Bird, Jordan, Johnson and Robinson were teammates on the 1992 Olympic Dream Team. Bird won three NBA championships with the Celtics and Robinson two with the Spurs. Neither, however, won an NCAA title.

Anthony is still young, 24, and at the top of his game and delighted to be home, where his mother Mary Anthony joined hundreds of local youngsters and thousands of Ravens fans in honoring yet another Baltimore Olympic champion.

CATCHING UP

Ray Cotton Jr. lived up to the hype. Cotton, transfer from Faith Academy in Mobile, Ala., played his first game at Meade High School and led the Mustangs to a 42-7 win over Franklin. The senior quarterback completed 16 of 22 passes for 245 yards and three touchdowns and also rushed for 80 yards. Cotton hit Trevor Turner on a 40-yard touchdown to start the game, and his 2-yard touchdown run gave the Mustangs a 12-0 lead in the first quarter.

***

About 20 miles from Meade High School in Odenton, Arundel High opened defense of its region championship with an impressive 28-13 win over Broadneck in the Bruins home opener in Cape St. Claire.

Billy Cosh, who replaced All-State quarterback Nick Elko in Arundel's high-powered attack, threw three first-half touchdowns as the Wildcats opened up a 21-7 lead and never looked back. Cosh, the son of Maryland defensive coordinator Chris Cosh, threw for 169 yards with touchdown passes to Alec Lemon, Sean Fitzgerald and R.J. Harris.

RUDY COMING  TO BALTIMORE

In 1975 Daniel Eugene "Rudy" Ruettiger was just another student at Notre Dame and certainly just another member of the Fighting Irish football practice squad. But all that changed Nov. 8 of that year. Irish coach Dan Devine inserted the 5-foot-7, 165-pound senior into the game against Georgia Tech and "Rudy" became a South Bend icon.

In 1993, director David Anspaugh and producer Rob Fried teamed to make a movie about the former St. Joliet Catholic High graduate, who played defensive back for the school's football team.

One of 14 children, Ruettiger was played by Sean Astin in the movie and was carried off the field that November afternoon in South Bend by his Notre Dame teammates. Ruettiger has parlayed his brief, one-game career and the successful movie into a career of motivational speaking. He will be in Baltimore Saturday night, speaking at Cardinal Gibbons High School on Caton Avenue in West Baltimore and sharing his Hollywood story. 

For more information contact Joe Loverde at 410-288-2425 or Jim Malone at 410-207-2531.

Issue 3.37: September 11, 2008