Marriotts Ridge coach Quinn Khouri delivered a fiery halftime speech as his Mustangs trailed by a goal at Mt. Hebron. He implored his players to dig deep, show their heart and find another level.

The coach ended that passionate halftime talk with four words: “Play focused and determined.” The Mustangs responded to his challenge, netting two second-half goals to complete a 3-2 comeback victory over fierce rival Mt. Hebron.

“That’s something you can’t teach,” Khouri said after his team improved to 3-1. “It’s something that has to come from within. It’s got to come from these guys’ hearts. And that’s something that when the chips are down this season, so far, they’ve showed that they have the heart to win those games. To win those 1-0 games and if a team is going to play a long high school season, you’re going to have to win those games to go far. This team is already showing that. We’d rather not get in that position, but when we do, it’s nice to know that I can trust these boys to step up and get us back to where we need to be.”

Marriotts Ridge’s midfield group, led by Gabe Montenegro, spearheaded that change. After the group struggled to win 50-50 balls at the outset, they won seemingly all of them in the second half. They also made a concerted effort to play more organized. That improved organization and heightened intensity level set up the go-ahead goal in the 74th minute.

Junior Ethan Spellen earned a takeaway and fed senior Mamdouh Babkir, who had tunnel vision for the goal. Babkir took a touch, cut inside and chipped the ball over Mt. Hebron goalie Logan Dempsey for his second goal of the game.

Mt. Hebron was generating prime scoring chances early. The Vikings took it to the Mustangs, netting a pair of goals in the first 16 minutes. Senior Jonathan Sanchez opened the scoring in the 10th minute with a rocket into the bottom corner of the net. Shortly after, Dominic Broccolino doubled the Vikings’ lead off a volley.

However, the Vikings were unable to sustain that momentum.

Marriotts Ridge cut into the deficit in the 38th minute. After a long cross in, Babkir found Jeremy Lee for the tally that brought the Mustangs within one. That gave them some momentum entering the second half, where the focus was simple: playing harder than the Vikings.

Babkir didn’t wait long to showcase that fight, netting the equalizer in the 42nd minute.

Other boys soccer scores:

Severna Park 2, South River 0: Severna Park’s long-awaited revenge against South River boiled through 60 minutes of scoreless, unrelenting melee on Tuesday.

That is, until Falcons junior Aiden Min peeled away. He felt the South River back hounding his heels, but he stayed with the ball, speeding up the rain-slick turf toward the eventual goal in a 2-0 win.

“It was really unexpected,” admitted Min, who was soon followed by Garrett Moden in scoring. “We couldn’t get much passing to the middle. For the second half, we really talked through it and got our goal. We deserved it.”

To Falcons coach Ryan Parisi, Tuesday’s contest with South River “was just another game.” In truth, both teams graduated key figures from each other’s storied clashes — regular season, county championship and playoffs. But for those wearing Severna Park colors who were there last fall, the victory certainly meant something. South River shut them out on their own pitch on its way to winning a state title.

“We weren’t ready back then. For this one, we talked about it through the whole week,” Moden said.

— Katherine Fominykh

South Carroll 4, Thomas Johnson 0: South Carroll continued its dominant start to the 2024 season with a 4-0 win over visiting Thomas Johnson on Tuesday. The victory pushes the Cavaliers’ record to 6-0 in the new season.

South Carroll is off to one of its best starts in recent history. Through their first six games, they have scored 21 goals while conceding only one.

Tuesday’s win over the Patriots was a perfect encapsulation of the Cavaliers’ season thus far: aggressive offense, suffocating defense and heightened team chemistry.

“I think it’s the team chemistry; these guys love playing for each other,” coach Ed Wharton said when asked the reasons for his team’s success. “They love the game, they love each other and I think that’s what’s showing through.”

— Antonio Chaurand, for Baltimore Sun Media

Eastern Tech 3, Franklin 0

Century 3, Sparrows Point 1

Gerstell 1, Towson 1

Westminster 1, Perry Hall 1

Havre de Grace 3, Edgewood 2

Broadneck 6, Severn Run 0

Annapolis 2, Northeast 0

Chesapeake-AA 2, Crofton 1

Old Mill 2, Glen Burnie 1

Liberty 5, Frederick 0

Girls soccer

Severna Park 4, South River 1: The Severna Park girls needed a different sort of motivation than their boy counterparts from their scoring to ultimately earn their 4-1 victory.

When sophomore Izzy Burleson broke free, crossed into the box and lost her South River defender for just a second, long enough to line her shot into the far corner of the net, she set a tone Severna Park intended to carry for much longer than it did.

The Falcons squad that blazed to an unbeaten record and the Class 3A state title last fall largely returned, with notable exceptions on defense. Those who remain learned swiftly last week that they could not repeat last year’s events bar by bar.

Hardly any team could score on Severna Park in 2023, let alone first. Yet, that’s exactly what Arundel did, off a penalty kick. And then, on Tuesday, just as the Falcons assumed a 1-0 lead, South River fired back the same way.

Seahawks senior Colleen Creswell challenged for a ball and felt a Falcon collide with her. Her teammates chirped support behind her. Creswell settled in; at the whistle, she lurched forward and goalkeeper Lily Diedrich moved with her. The shot seemed to come to life. Even as Diedrich appeared to make the stop, the ball switched behind her and struck the net.

South River’s celebration rang out — but not for long.

Falcons junior Addison Murphy broke loose from the crowd and deposited her goal moments after South River’s to regain the lead. A resume-play whistle and simple possession later, junior Emma Lawrence did the same to make it 3-1.

“They’re not afraid. If they go behind, they’re gonna rise to the challenge,” Falcons coach Rick Stimpson said.

— Katherine Fominykh

Winters Mill 8, Catoctin 0

Westminster 2, Perry Hall 1

Harford Tech 1, North Harford 0

Fallston 2, Patterson Mill 1

Elkton 6, Edgewood 2

Western Tech 6, Patapsco 3

Howard 5, Atholton 1

Reservoir 6, Oakland Mills 2

River Hill 2, Long Reach 0

Arundel 3, North County 1

Field hockey

Manchester Valley 6, Dulaney 0

Centennial 3, Wilde Lake 0

C. Milton Wright 0, Mercy 0

North County 7, Glen Burnie 0

Broadneck 4, Chesapeake-AA 0

Severna Park 1, South River 0 (OT)

Arundel 3, Old Mill 2

Volleyball

C. Milton Wright 3, Bohemia Manor 2

Crofton 3, Glen Burnie 0

Perryville 3, Aberdeen 1

Bel Air 3, Rising Sun 0

Edgewood 3, Elkton 0

Patterson Mill 3, Fallston 0

Annapolis 3, North County 0

South River 3, Severn Run 0

Century 3, Winters Mill 1

Liberty 3, Francis Scott Key 0

Marriotts Ridge 3, Mt. Hebron 0

Long Reach 3, River Hill 2

Howard 3, Atholton 0

Golf

Manchester Valley 153, Century 178

Hammond boys 67, Wilde Lake 28

Wilde Lake girls 25, Hammond 5

River Hill boys 85, Mt. Hebron 69

River Hill girls 56, Mt. Hebron 3