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Sports

Columbia Athletes in Impact Roles as Salisbury Advances in National Football Tourney

Team headed to national quarterfinals for the first time in 25 years.

The Salisbury University football team is headed to the NCAA Division III national tournament this weekend and several Columbia residents are part of the success story.

Juma Richards, a junior wide receiver from Wilde Lake High School, had one catch for 14 yards on Saturday as the host Sea Gulls beat Kean of New Jersey, 47-45, in triple overtime in the Division III national playoffs.

Salisbury will play this Saturday at Wisconsin-Whitewater in the national quarterfinals.

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Another Columbia resident on the team is sophomore linebacker Matthew Banta (Marriots Ridge High School), who had one tackle against Kean.

In Division I football on Saturday, River Hill High School graduate Michael Campanaro had a game-high six catches for 45 yards as Wake Forest University lost to Vanderbilt University, 41-7. He also ran the ball one time for 18 yards.

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Wake Forest is still eligible for a post-season bowl game.

Vanderbilt is also bowl eligible under first-year head coach James Franklin, the former assistant coach at the University of Maryland.

The special teams coordinator and tight ends coach at Vanderbilt is Charles Bankins, a former Howard County resident who was on the staff with Franklin at Maryland.

The University of Maryland football team lost, 56-41, on Saturday at North Carolina State University and ended the season 2-10 overall under first-year head coach Randy Edsall.

The Wolfpack became bowl eligible with the win.

The roster for the Terps this season included Matt Robinson (Atholton High) and Cody Blue (Wilde Lake), a sophomore defensive lineman who attended Fork Union Military Academy before heading to College Park.

Sophomore defensive back Robinson had 36 tackles in three games this season while Blue had five tackles in four games.

In college basketball, Oakland Mills High School graduate Greg Whittington had seven points and one assist in 16 minutes off the bench Monday for Georgetown University in an 81-58 win at home over Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis at the Verizon Center.

The Georgetown freshman was three of seven from the field, including one of four from three-point range.

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