Falcons Earn Regional Bye, Eye States Berth

As things tighten up heading into the end of the regular season and postseason, the Severna Park boys soccer team has a room with a view.

A little good fortune from a coin over the weekend would make the path even straighter.

After finishing September with a 7-0 mark, the Falcons went 6-1 in the second half of their season. The goals that came so freely in the first half haven’t come quite as frequently, with Severna Park netting just 18 goals compared to 30 in the first half, but the defense has been equally strong, as they’ve conceded just 13 goals in the 14-game regular season.

Ethan Ribeiro and Caden Morris lead the way with six goals apiece, followed by Nick Reed and Gavin Cliffe with five. On the assist side, Conner Hall paces the team with six. In total, the squad has had 16 players find the net and a total of 22 players have a goal involvement on the season.

Severna Park grinded out several close results, winning 2-1 over Arundel, 2-1 over North County, 2-1 over Chesapeake, 3-1 over Southern and 3-2 over Old Mill. That was combined with a comfortable 5-0 win over Northeast. The lone slip-up during that sequence was a fiercely contested 2-1 loss to Crofton.

That loss, the Falcons’ only blemish on the season, denied them a fourth-straight trip to the county championship game, as Crofton will appear for the first time. The setback also put them in a coin-toss situation with Stephen Decatur to determine the No. 1 overall seed in the 3A East II region playoffs. The results of that coin toss were not available at press time.

What is known is that Severna Park will receive a first-round bye for the region tournament, and they will open with a region semifinal home game on Saturday afternoon, October 31, against one of the first-round winners between Old Mill-James M. Bennett and Arundel-South River.