Selfridge Takes Control, and the Gladiators Take the Title

CATONSVILLE, Md., May 23 -- Glenelg's deliberate game plan had overwhelmed Fallston until midway through the fourth quarter. Then the Cougars began finding an offensive rhythm.

That was until Gladiators junior goalie Jon Selfridge took over, leading the Glenelg to a 6-3 win and its first state title in the Maryland 3A/2A championship game Wednesday at UMBC.

With a little more than nine minutes left in regulation, Fallston fired a shot low on Selfridge. He made a sliding kick save, sprung to his feet in joy and pumped his fists as the ball bounced in front of his cage.

"That's where it turned on," Selfridge said. "All the adrenaline started rushing. I was just thinking: 'This is my game. These are all my shots. Get out of my goal.' "

Selfridge had 15 saves, including 10 in the fourth quarter.

"The adrenaline gets going so quick, and your reaction times get faster," Selfridge said. "There's nothing they could do about it. The game was over."

Glenelg Coach Josh Hatmaker watched three tapes on Fallston for an estimated 16 hours. He showed them to his team for 25 minutes. Since forcing too much and losing to River Hill and Centennial in back-to-back games, the players have bought into Hatmaker's plan.

Fallston excelled on fast breaks, but Glenelg was patient on offense, and its defense did well to break up quick passes.

"We were running our offense real well, but we kind of kept them out of their game," Gladiators junior Chris Gotschall said. "We slowed the game down and kept it on our terms."

Sophomore midfielder Curtis Adams put the Gladiators (14-3) up first with an unassisted goal. Fallston (17-2) followed with a score 3 minutes 32 seconds later before Adams struck again with one second left in the first quarter.

Each team scored in the second quarter and was shut down in the third, and the Gladiators led 3-2 heading into the final period.

But as Hatmaker said, he couldn't plan on his goalie coming under so much fire at the end of the game.

"Jon Selfridge; good Lord that kid was incredible," Hatmaker said just before handing his goalie the game ball. "I think this is yours."

Glenelg 6, Fallston 3 Finally: Glenelg had been to four state finals before winning yesterday. "This is for the '83 team, the '97 team, the 2000 team and the 2004 team," Hatmaker said. "I've been a part of two of those teams, and I just told the kids, 'Believe me, I know how that feels.' " Howard Rules: A team from Howard County has won the past four 3A/2A tournaments, with Mount Hebron winning last year and Centennial the two previous seasons.