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The first round of the boys soccer regional playoffs went according to plan for Montgomery County teams, meaning almost every good team was still alive entering Tuesday's quarterfinal games.
- In the 4A West Region, five games were played over the weekend, with the teams with the better record winning each. On Friday, No. 4 seed Blair advanced to a second home game with a 1-0 ouster of Churchill, thanks to striker Aaron Baldwin's ninth goal of the season.
Its second-round opponent was Whitman, which got two goals from its own game-changing forward, Scott Gerfen, in a 2-0 victory at Wootton.
That set the stage for a fantastic matchup, featuring two of the hottest teams in the entire draw. The Vikings won four in a row in the second half of the season, while the host Blazers nabbed six wins over the last month, including back-to-back 2-0 victories over Walter Johnson and Sherwood.
The bracket's top three seeds — Sherwood, Northwest and Bethesda-Chevy Chase — all had opening-round byes, but each had stiff tests on tap Tuesday. The top-seeded Warriors faced Magruder, the region's champion last fall, which topped Paint Branch 4-1 on Thursday. In the lower half of the bracket, the No. 2 Jaguars faced Walter Johnson, the 4A West Division runner-up, which topped Richard Montgomery, 6-1, on Saturday. And even the red-hot Barons must have been nervous for their duel with No. 11 Gaithersburg, a 2-1 winner over Springbrook on Thursday, which led B-CC deep into the second half Oct. 19.
- In the 3A West, Quince Orchard put a five-spot on Einstein for the second time this season, while Seneca Valley also scored a quintet of goals in a triumph of South Hagerstown. That victory set the Eagles to host a surging Watkins Mill, which posted an impressive 3-1 first-round victory over Damascus.
- Among the eliminated from the weekend's matches include Blake, Kennedy, Rockville and 3A/2A West Division champion Poolesville, which fell to Winters Mill, 1-0.
- Tuesday's quarterfinal games finished too late to be included in this week's editions. See www.gazette.net/montsports for daily, up-to-date coverage.