THE NO. 1 STUNNERS

Oakland Mills’ 1-0 win over Class 3A state champ Mount Hebron continued its trend of taking down top teams. “We’ve beaten the co-Class 4A state champions, Thomas Johnson. We’ve beaten the defending 2A state champions, Hammond,” said Scorpions’ senior midfielder Cory Marcon.

The win was the fifth for the Scorpions in six league games, raising their overall record to 7-3.

The Scorpions were coming off of Friday’s 3-2 overtime loss to Mariotts’ Ridge, a game, during
which Oakland Mills blew seperate leads of 1-0, and, 2-1.

Senior midfielder Cory Marcon, who scored the Scorpions’ second goal against Marriotts’ Ridge, called the win over Mount Hebron, “a huge victory,” and, “a big, confidence booster.”

“Now, we’ve beaten the co-Class 4A state champions, Thomas Johnson. We’ve beaten the defending
2A state champions, Hammond, and, now, we’ve beaten the defending 3A state champions,” said Marcon, who leads the Scorpions with seven goals and four assists.

“For us to do those things, it gives us a lot of momentum,” Marcon said. “Now, we have to prepare for next week’s games at Glenelg on Tuesday and at home here against Atholton on Thursday.”

Mount Hebron, winner of last year’s county, region and Class 3A state tournaments, slipped to 3-3-1
overall, and, 3-2-1 against Howard County League rivals.

The Vikings had to play short a man over the game’s final 19 minutes after one of its top players received a red card for unsportsmanlike play.

“Our team played hard, but we had two mental lapses. One on just not playing good, transition defense, and one just being out of control and not disciplined,” said Mount Hebron coach Mike Linsenmeyer.

“We’re not good enough where we can’t be disciplined, and that’s where lost the game,” Linsenmeyer
said. “Once we start getting disciplined and start playing hard and smart, we’ll start actually winning
games.”

The decisive scoring sequence developed as Scorpions’ junior forward Francis Ekiko, a transfer from Cameroon, brought the ball down the left side of the field, according to Cutler.

The 6-1, 218-pound Ekiko “attempted to serve the ball, and it kind of got knocked down and pushed across the middle,” said Cutler.  “It kind of bounced around and sort of happened to land on Kevin’s foot.”

Ekiko said that after receiving a cross from senior midfielder Thomas Consiglio, he “jumped for the ball and flicked it on with my head” to senior defender Jared Yarn.

From there, Jared Yarn fed the ball to Sullivan.

“The ball came to Jared, but he had a man on him, so he cut it back to me as I came in behind him from the 18,” said Sullivan, a slender, brace-toothed, 6-foot, 143-pounder with red hair.

“I was a little less than 18 yards out at that point, maybe 15 yards out,” said Sullivan. “I was able to place it into the left side corner. To me, this was the game of the week. So it’s a big win.”

Not counting tournament losses to Urbana and Fallston of Frederick and Harford counties, respectively, the Scorpions have won seven of their past eight games.

The shutout was the fifth for Scorpions’ junior goalie Josh Yarn, who made four saves behind his defense of sophomore sweeper J.C. Abarcar, freshman Sean Wassel, junior David Jannati and senior Freddy Pina.

That defense shut out the Vikings’ top two scorers who have combined for eight each in goals and assists.

“Last year, we lost to these guys in a well-played game, 1-0, in the first overtime,” said Cutler, whose Scorpions were 9-5-1 last season.

 “We ended up losing to Atholton at their place in the regional semifinals, but we had actually beaten
Atholton and Hammond in the regular-season,” said Cutler. “Hammond ended up [beating Atholton] in the regional final and going all the way, so the playoff loss was a little disappointing in that we didn’t go farther.”

Cutler called the county race, “completely upside down,” adding that, “everyone can beat everyone.”

“Mount Hebron beat River Hill, which is one of the strongest teams in the county. Mount Hebron
tied Marriotts’ Ridge, which beat us. And then, we beat Mount Hebron,” Cutler said. “I just tell the kids that we have a chance to win as much as we have a chance to lose every time out.”