Attempting to get back to its first state final four since 2007, River Hill came into this year's 3A East regional playoffs facing one of the toughest possible draws.
After losing just four times during the regular season, the Hawks ended up with the ninth seed, a first-round meeting with an Atholton squad they lost to a week earlier and the prospect of having to play the entire postseason on the road.
But for all the things working against it, River Hill came out Friday night and played one of its best games of the season.
Scoring twice in the first half on set pieces and once more in the second half on a terrific finish by Jake Turney, the Hawks earned a 3-0 shutout victory over the Raiders on a blustery evening in Columbia.
"I think we've got the toughest draw you can get, but the big thing we've talked about is just looking at what's in front of us," River Hill coach Matt Shagogue said. "Tonight, against a very good Atholton team, I thought we stayed in the moment very well. If in the end we put it all together, it would be one incredible run, but for now we're just happy to live on and play another day."
With the win, River Hill now advances to face the region's top seed Stephen Decatur on Tuesday. Among the others advancing to the quarterfinal round with victories to open the playoffs were Mt. Hebron (6-1 over Annapolis), Wilde Lake (3-1 over Howard) Hammond (3-2 over Northeast in PKs) in 3A East, along with Glenelg (3-0 over Chesapeake-BC) and Oakland Mills (4-3 over Long Reach) in 2A North.
River Hill, which had dropped a 2-1 overtime decision to Atholton to close the regular season, had to dodge a bullet early on in the game on Friday night.
With the score still knotted at 0-0 eight minutes in, Atholton's Nick Bellamy got free on the left wing and found himself one-on-one with Hawk goalie Nick Voyton. Bellamy struck a hard shot toward the right corner, but Voyton got his hands on it and deflected it wide.
For an Atholton team that had struck first last Thursday, the momentum seemed to swing on that play.
"It was early, but that was a definite game-changer," Atholton coach Roch DeFrances said. "It's so hard to beat a team like that twice, especially in the same week, so that first goal was even more important today."
River Hill ended up getting that first score four minutes after Bellamy's chance. Junior Michael Behrman stepped up to take a free kick just outside the box and hit a perfect ball into the upper left corner of the net.
A little more than 20 minutes later, the Hawks upped the lead to 2-0 on another set piece. This time Kevin Kim played a free kick into the box and Andrew Levy was able to head it just under the crossbar.
"We must have been out there 90 minutes to two hours yesterday doing just set pieces," Shagogue said. "And sure enough, that's how we got those first two (goals) today."
There was no let up for River Hill in the second half, with the Hawks not allowing Atholton a single shot on goal during the final 40 minutes. Voyton had to clear a couple balls out of the air late, but all four of his saves came in the opening half.
With 17:35 left Turney essentially put the game out of reach off a feed from Zach Riso. Turney's shot from the left wing curled just inside the right post to make it 3-0.
On the other side of the bracket, Mt. Hebron picked up a convincing 6-1 victory over Annapolis on the road Thursday. The Vikings got a four-goal night from Chris Park, including a first-half hat trick, to lead the offensive onslaught.
Lucas Rose chipped in with a goal and an assist, Danny Beatty had a goal, while Will Rice and Brian Shade each had an assist for the Vikings.
Mt. Hebron now advances to face second-seeded Reservoir, a team it beat during the regular season, on Tuesday at 5 p.m.
In its game, Hammond got into overtime with Northeast thanks to a goal by Colin Mason in the final minutes of regulation to tie the game at 2-2. Then, after two scoreless overtime periods, the Golden Bears prevailed in penalty kicks, 3-2, to earn a meeting on Tuesday with third-seeded J.M. Bennett.
Jon Lippitt, Michael Waters and Alex Gladstone all converted penalty kicks for Hammond, while goalie Will Sandish came up with two huge stops of Northeast shots in the shootout.
The Bears had gotten their goal early in the game on a score by Lippitt.
Wilde Lake picked up its victory over Howard on the strength of two goals from Zach Johnson and another from Sam Worchesky. Jason Seinfeld picked up the assist on all three goals.
The Wildecats now will face fourth-seeded Centennial in the quarterfinals.