The Final Score - FNP Podcasts

With his team off to its best start in more than a decade, Walkersville High School wrestling coach Andre Jackson is this week's guest on The Final Score podcast. After years of futility, the Lions came into the week with a 14-1 record and thoughts of contending for the Class 2A state duals championship this season. Jackson talks with host Greg Swatek about why his team is wrestling so well, what...

As the Frederick Flying Cows prepare for their second season of professional basketball in The Basketball League (TBL), the team's general manager, Chris Jenkins, is this week's guest on The Final Score podcast. Jenkins, a Frederick native, chats with host Greg Swatek about the remarkable amount of success the Flying Cows experienced in their first season of existence. The team went 20-6, playing...

As a new boys basketball season begins across Frederick County, Thomas Johnson head coach John Manley is this week's guest on The Final Score podcast. Manley is the longest-tenured boys basketball coach in the county, having been the head coach at TJ for 17 years and on staff there for 22. He chats with host Greg Swatek about his longevity, what keeps him going in the job, how he has evolved and b...

With the Linganore High football team preparing to play in another state final, assistant coaches Scott Willett and Herman King are this week's guests on The Final Score podcast. Willett and King chat with host Greg Swatek about their own experiences with Linganore football, but also the remarkable career of head coach Rick Conner, who is wrapping up his 23rd season as the Lancers' head coach with...

With his team set to play in a Class 2A-1A state semifinal, Middletown High Football coach Collin Delauter is this week's guest on The Final Score podcast. Delauter chats with host Greg Swatek about the Knights season so far and the formidable challenge that lies ahead. They are 10-2 and will travel to southern Maryland to unbeaten Patuxent (12-0), which knocked them out in the state quarterfinal...

As his team prepares to host Bel Air in a Class 3A state quarterfinal, longtime Linganore High football coach is this week's guest on The Final Score podcast. Conner chats with host Greg Swatek about a season that has exceeded just about everyone's expectations around the program. The Lancers graduated more than 30 seniors from last year's team that faced Oakdale for the Class 3A state championshi...

As they prepare for their third state final in four years, Brunswick High boys soccer coach Shawn Baker and two of his top players, Chase Malone and Graham Putnam, are this week's guests on The Final Score podcast. The Railroaders (14-2-2) will face Liberty (15-1) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday (November 16) at Loyola University in Baltimore for the Class 1A championship. If they win, it will mark their si...

With its team preparing to host its annual tip-off tournament this weekend, Hood College men's basketball coach Chad Dickman is this week's guest on The FInal Score podcast. Dickman chats with host Greg Swatek about the tip-off tournament, which features Randolph-Macon, nationally ranked in Division III, and its coach Josh Merkel, a Frederick County native, as well as Salisbury and Notre Dame of M...

With the start of the season about a week away, Mount St. Mary's women's basketball coach Antoine White is this week's guest on The Final Score podcast. White chats with host Greg Swatek about his young team. Nine of the Mountaineers 14 players are either freshmen or sophomores, an intentional move during the recruiting process that will allow the team to grow together. He also talks about the sha...

With his first season as the men's basketball coach at Mount St. Mary's about to begin, Donny Lind is this week's guest on The Final Score podcast. Lind chats with host Greg Swatek about his expectations for the coming season. What have his first six months on the job been like? What style of basketball will the Mountaineers look to play on both ends of the floor? Who will the players to watch be?...

After recently announcing that he was stepping down following eight years as Urbana's boys track and field coach, Kyle Grimm is this week's guest on The Final Score podcast. Grimm chats with host Greg Swatek about the difficulty of the decision and why not was the right time to step away from the program. He discusses how he came into the job and why he loved it so much. And he talks about the fut...

Coming off a couple of important matches against Linganore and North Hagerstown, Urbana High volleyball coach Emily Sexton is this week's guest on The Final Score podcast. Sexton chats with host Greg Swatek about her background playing volleyball at Urbana and later coaching there. How did the opportunity come about for her? What has she learned about coaching since she has taken the job? She also...

Coming off an important victory over arch rival Frederick High, Thomas Johnson boys soccer coach Jonathan Thayil is this week's guest on The Final Score podcast. Thayil chats with host Greg Swatek about a momentous week for the Patriots soccer program, during which they honored the man that started it 50 years ago, Fred Dayton, and then went out and pulled out a 3-2 victory over the Cadets on a la...

Now enjoying retired life after 31 years of coaching in Frederick County, former Walkersville golf and basketball coach Bruce Zimmerman is this week's guest on The Final Score podcast. Zimmerman chats with host Greg Swatek about his lifelong passion for sports and how he got into coaching. Zimmerman recounts how he didn't play golf and knew very little about the sport when he joined Tom Dickman's...

Taking time out of his busy schedule to talk sports, not politics, Michael O'Connor, the Mayor of the City of Frederick, is this week's guest on The Final Score podcast. O'Connor chats with Greg Swatek about his love of sports, particularly his love for the Baltimore Orioles. He talks about his favorite Orioles and his favorite Orioles teams, as well as his hatred for the New York Yankees. He also...

After recently taking over the athletic director's job at Urbana High School, Mitch Rubin is this week's guest on The Final Score podcast. Rubin chats with host Greg Swatek about how he is adjusting to his new job. What has the transition been like from coaching to a more administrative role? He talks about why he wanted to take on this challenge at this advanced stage of his career and why Urbana...

As the high school football season gets set to kickoff this week across Frederick County, Pat Cadden, the second-year head football coach at Frederick High, is this week's guest on The Final Score podcast. Cadden chats with host Greg Swatek about his team at Frederick High this season, which is once again brimming with talent at the skill positions. The Cadets added a pair of transfers from Walker...

Fresh off of his wedding weekend and with the start of his team's season looming, Thomas Johnson High football coach Beau Traber is this week's guest on The Final Score podcast. Traber chats with host Greg Swatek about his wedding in upstate New York. He acknowledges the timing was not ideal with the start of the season so close. But he and his now wife, Kristen, had set the date a few years ago,...

With his first season as the head coach of the Walkersville High football team nearing, Tyler Thompson is this week's guest on The Final Score podcast. Thompson chats with host Greg Swatek about what he expects for his first season in charge of the program. Walkersville got significantly better over the course of last season and advanced all the way to the Class 2A state semifinals. Thompson takes...

As he prepares for his second season as the football coach at Tuscarora High School, Ryan Hines is this week's guest on The Final Score podcast. Hines chats with host Greg Swatek about the challenges facing the program, particularly coming off a 1-9 season. Is the focus still on making incremental progress or has it shifted to winning more games? The coach talks about his first season on the job a...

With the start of the high school football season looming on the horizon, the Final Score podcast kicks off its preview with Oakdale High coach Kurt Stein. Last season, the Bears finished 14-0 for the first time and captured their second state title with a 42-35 victory over Linganore in the Class 3A championship game. It marked the first state football final contested between Frederick County tea...

As she swings and climbs her way through life, superhero style, Urbana High graduate Jessie Graff is this week's guest on The Final Score podcast. After making her American Ninja Warrior debut in 2013 (Season 5), Graff talks with host Greg Swatek about what keeps bringing her back to the show more than a decade later. She's participating in the current season on NBC (Season 16) and recently qualif...

After winning the 103rd Maryland Open golf tournament on July 10 in Easton, former two-time state champion from Middletown High, Alex Hoffman, is this week's guest on The Final Score podcast. Hoffman, now 32 and an assistant pro at Columbia Country Club, talks with host Greg Swatek about winning the prestigious tournament and how he has benefitted as a result, including getting a shout out on ESPN...

As his soccer club enjoys a momentous summer, FC Frederick Executive Director and Director of Coaching Bo Eskay is this week's guest on The Final Score podcast. Eskay chats with host Greg Swatek about a variety of happenings at the club, including the 16U girls team playing in a national-championship tournament next week in Orlando, Florida, its men's semi-pro team reaching the National Premiere S...

As he prepares for his first season with the stories University of Miami football program, quarterback Reese Poffenbarger, a Middletown High School graduate, is this week's guest on The Final Score podcast. Poffenbarger speaks with host Greg Swatek about what his life has been like since transferring to Miami in January from the University of Albany, where he led the Great Danes to the Football Ch...