River Hill has won three state boys soccer titles but hasn't been to the state finals for the past two seasons, and that peeves Hawks coach Bill Stara.
The second-ranked Hawks took a giant step toward rectifying that situation last night at Howard, where they defeated Mount Hebron, 1-0, in the Class 3A East region championship game.
"Anything less than the state finals is unacceptable," Stara said.
The Hawks will play Liberty on Monday in the state semifinals.
It was the second straight region championship loss for the Vikings, who were upended by Severna Park last season. The Vikings won state titles in 1999 and 2000.
"The outcome was very disappointing, but I'm proud of my boys," said Vikings coach Mike Linsenmeyer. "They played hard and had their chances to win. Bill did a good job of coaching."
After a scoreless first half, in which the Hawks outshot Mount Hebron 6-1, River Hill (14-2-1) switched to a three-man front line about five minutes into the second half. The move quickly produced the game's only goal in the 49th minute.
Victor Argueta joined Mo Hamzeh and Justin Hughes up top, and Argueta got the ball in the box, made a couple of fancy moves, spun to his left and shot the ball. It deflected off at least three players before bouncing over to Mike Stromberg, who kicked it into the right side of the goal.
"In the first half I thought I didn't play as well as I should, so I played harder in the second half," Stromberg said. "We knew the first goal would be huge. I was where I was supposed to be. Mount Hebron played real strong. They gave us a tough game."
Stara said: "We needed more one-on-one confrontation up top, so we went to three up top and Victor set it up."
River Hill successfully marked Vikings midfielder Brian Swiech.
"David Marquart [goalkeeper] played big, as did all our backs, especially Jonathan Csanady," Stara said.
River Hill outshot Mount Hebron 12-3, but the Vikings (10-8) failed to convert two dangerous chances in the last 11 minutes.
Class 2A West region
Hammond 1, North Hagerstown 0: The Bears (9-6-1) won their second straight region title on an hard 18-yard shot by Kwaku Boateng with 20 minutes left to play. It was his 15th goal, and seventh in the playoffs.
Sweeper Dan Slaughter held the defense together against North Hagerstown (15-2).
Hammond will play the winner of Stephen Decatur/Parkside on Monday in the state semifinals.