Throughout the regular season in the Baltimore Catholic League and the MIAA A Conference Mount St. Joe, St. Frances and Calvert Hall were known as the big three, as the talent level between these three schools and the rest in each league seemed pretty lopsided. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, when talk of the big three arose, they were usually thought of as the weakest of the group. They lost to both St. Joe and St. Frances in the regular season, and then lost again to St. Frances in last week's MIAA semifinals.

Senior goalie Nick Kokkinakos made 39 saves as Calvert Hall beat #1 seed and previously unbeaten St. Paul's, 3-1, to win its 3rd straight MIAA "A" Conference title at Piney Orchard Ice Rink on February 18, 2010. Seniors Ben West and Matt Williams and sophomore Jack Brust scored for the Cardinals. The Hall (#6 seed) will begin defense of its 2009 state title with a 1st round match-up against #3 Gonzaga on February 22, 2010.

Rodney Elliott's two free throws with 5.8 seconds remaining left clinched a hard fought 46-42 victory for the visiting John Carroll Patriots over the Loyola Dons in a MIAA quarterfinal matchup. The Patriots were led by the duo of Ronald Scott, who finished with 21 points, and Malcolm McMillan, who added 17. Matt Mathias led the way for Loyola with 22 points.

Red-Hot Ricky Harris

• Reigning A-10 Player of the Week Ricky Harris has been amazing of late. He has his three best scoring games in his last three contests with 32 vs. Rhode Island, 29 at Duquesne and 27 vs. Saint Joseph's. He is averaging 29.3 in that trio and 27.4 in his last five games, scoring at least 25 in four of the games. He has at least 23 points in each of his last six games. Maybe even more impressive is that he is shooting 50 percent from the floor. He has raised his scoring average to 19.5, second in the A-10, 0.1 behind Xavier's Jordan Crawford.

Number one ranked Mount St. Joseph went on the road to face the second ranked Panthers of St. Frances, looking to lock up the outright BCL championship and at worst, a share of the MIAA championship. Though it wasn't easy, their mission is accomplished.

The battles between Mt. St. Joseph, St. Frances and Calvert Hall this year should be some interesting contests. So far St. Joe and St. Frances have each had a shot at each other, with the Panthers winning the first matchup last week down in South Carolina at the Beach Ball Classic, and the Gaels returning the favor this evening on their home court in Irvington.

Behind a solid defensive effort and strong performances by their two star players(Eric Atkins and Riley Beaumont) St. Joe took a lead late in the 1st quarter and never trailed again in their 56-46 victory over St. Frances.

The tipoff to the Ray Mullis Classic at Cardinal Gibbons High School was a matchup between the upstart, and #14 ranked, Glenelg Country and the old school, #9 Digital Harbor. The young, but very talented, Dragons of Glenelg started off strong thanks to the inside play of sophomore Isaiah Miles and led the Rams by 5 at the half. But senior Davon Usher overcame his slow 1st half (5ts) to light it up in the 2nd half for 18 points, and lead the Rams to a come from behind 63-54 victory.

On Monday Night, the 2nd Annual Crab Bowl took place on a frosty cold night at Towson University's Johnny Unitas Stadium. Once again it was a great display of the best football players in the state of Maryland, with the squad from DC holding to a 24-21 victory over Baltimore, taking a 2-0 series lead. After watching the game and evaluating the tape, I am going to take a look at some of the players that turned in impressive performances.

Most Outstanding Player

Earlier in the week MIAA and BCL powerhouse Calvert hall went on the road to face one of the counties top public scool programs, Milford Mill, and were given all they could handle before pulling out a late victory. This evening, another top tier MIAA and BCL program, St. Frances, also traveled to a Baltimore County favorite, Parkville. The Panthers of St. Frances got off to a tremendous start and seemed to be in control of the game before a furious 4th quarter comeback by Parkville left the Knights just short.

The Cardinals of Calvert Call College came up with just enough key plays down the stretch to hold off a feisty crew from Milford Mill, 65-56, in front of a packed house at the Millers home gymnasium. Holding on to a slim 1 point lead with 1:27 to play Damion Lee came up with a clutch rebound off a missed shot from the Cards Michael Wade and then assissted nicely to Donya Jackson to up the Cardinal lead to 3. On the Millers following possession the Cards Jonathan Graham got a huge blocked shot and nice outlet pass, which led to a layup for Wade, and the Cards could breathe a sigh of relief.