Battle in Baltimore: New York-Maryland Challenge

You ever look at those LaxPower, MaxPreps and ESPN Rise national rankings and think, "OK, but it's kind of arbitrary"? They are a pretty good gauge - and the best we've got on a national scope - but without those teams playing each other there's always room for debate. We've all heard or made some form of despite-the-rankings argument: "___ has played tougher competition" or " ___ could beat ___ head-to-head." A prime example is the hypothetical Garden City versus McDonogh argument.

Well, after next Saturday there'll be a little less need for such conjecture.
Garden City, St. Anthony's and Hauppauge will square off against Maryland's best teams in the New York-Maryland Challenge at St. Paul's School for Girls in Brooklandville, MD. The Trojans, Friars and Eagles are arguably Long Island's top teams - they are in Newsday's Big 10 rankings, at least - and they're all nationally ranked.

Laxageddon! (I know that one's terrible, but I'm going with it anyway.)

Hauppauge will face St. Paul's at 10 a.m.: Hauppauge is ranked No. 11 in the country and St. Paul's No. 25, according to ESPN Rise.

St. Anthony’s against Bryn Mawr at noon: St. Anthony's is ranked fourth in the country and Bryn Mawr is No. 3.

West Genesee vs. John Carroll at 2 p.m. (It's a "NY-MD" challenge so it couldn't be all Long Island teams. Although an argument could be made...)

Garden City vs. McDonogh at 4 p.m: This, of course, has the "main event" billing as it's been years in the making (waiting). McDonogh finished last season ranked No. 1 in ESPN Rise's and LaxPower's polls, and Garden City was No. 2 in both. They're one-two in ESPN's 2012 ranking.