Tuesday was a bad night to be a team atop the county standings.
Reservoir and River Hill, which came into the day tied for first with one county loss apiece, each ended up on the wrong end of one-goal decisions.
Marriotts Ridge was responsible for upending the Gators, capitalizing on a goal midway through the second half for a 1-0 victory. Centennial, meanwhile, took down the Hawks, 2-1, thanks to a game-winning goal from Mike Ward in the second half.
It all adds up to an exciting conclusion to the regular season on Thursday, where four teams are still technically alive to claim at least a share of the county title. River Hill (8-2, 10-3) and Reservoir (8-2, 9-2-1) control their destinies, meaning that if they win their games against Atholton and Wilde Lake, respectively, then they are assured of being at least co-champions.
Centennial, at 7-2-1 in county play, needs a victory and a tie or loss by both Reservoir and River Hill to get itself back in the championship mix. Marriotts Ridge (7-3, 9-3), which plays Centennial in its regular season finale Thursday, would need to win and have both Reservoir and River Hill lose to share the title.
Marriotts Ridge was coming off a 1-0 loss to River Hill on Monday in game it dominated time of possession and offensive opportunities. And for the first half and early part of the second half against Reservoir, the Mustangs found themselves in a similar predicament - lots of shots, but no goals.
Brad Martinelli, however, made sure this time around was going to be different.
Taking a cross from Nick Applegate, Martinelli finished from right in front of the goal with 26 minutes left in regulation to stake his team to a 1-0 advantage.
"We're doing the stuff we want to do offensively and defensively, we just weren't getting rewarded for it," Marriotts Ridge coach Kevin Flynn said. "Fortunately we finally got one to go in there. And I'm actually really proud of the boys for coming out after yesterday's loss, against a great Reservoir team today, and matching them like they did."
Reservoir, which had been sluggish for the majority of the first 60 minutes, began generating a few more opportunities down the stretch.
However, any comeback hopes were hindered by the Gators picking up a pair of red cards in a five-minute span late in the half. Playing down two men for the final eight minutes, Reservoir was unable to get the equalizer.
"We came out very flat. It actually reminded me a lot of the game we lost against Mt. Hebron … eerily familiar," Reservoir coach Paul Linkins said. "It shouldn't take what went on in the second half to get us going. We need to have that fire and desire from the beginning. By the time we finally started playing our game, it was too late."
Elsewhere, Centennial came into Tuesday as one of the county's hottest teams at 6-0-1 in its previous seven games and played like it.
After falling behind in the first 10 minutes on a great individual effort from River Hill's David Kaiser, the Eagles regrouped to tie things roughly 15 minutes later. William Vea finished a bouncing ball in the box that was directed to him by Mark Colby.
The game went into the half tied at one.
"Had this been earlier in the season, when we felt like we needed to shut out the other team to have a chance to win, I think there would have been a little more concern when we fell behind," Centennial coach Jim Zehe said. "But these last few games, the offense has been scoring some goals, so there really wasn't any panic."
Then in the second half, the Eagles got the winner on another scramble in front of the net. Ward finished off a goal that was assisted by Heston Priestley, creating the final 2-1 margin.
While pleased with the effort of his entire team, Zehe was especially impressed with the play of Jackson Bicknell (5 saves) in goal.
"He was outstanding on the long balls tonight. He really neutralized those dangerous long throws they have," Zehe said. "He had five saves, but there were probably six or eight other balls that he grabbed out of the air."
Box scores and other game recaps:
Marriotts Ridge 1, Reservoir 0
Goal: MR - Martinelli.
Assist: MR - Applegate.
Saves: MR - Shepherd 2; Re - Dooley 4.
Half: 0-0.
Centennial 2, River Hill 1
Goals: C - Vea, Ward; RH - Kaiser.
Assists: C - Colby, Priestley.
Saves: C - Bicknell 5; RH - Voyton 5.
Half: 1-1.
Oakland Mills 1, Wilde Lake 0
Goal: OM - Joseph.
Saves: OM - Mustafa 9; WL - Alligood 2, Park 1.
Half: 1-0 OM.
Atholton 7, Long Reach 2
Goals: A - Pitt-Bey 2, Burns, Jacobs, Hersey, Altamirano, Peart; LR - N/A.
Assists: A - Burns, Altamirano, Courtney; LR - N/A.
Saves: A - Graham 5, Forbes 2; LR - N/A.
Howard 6, Hammond 1
Aided by a huge game from Austin Phillips, who finished with five goals, the Lions knocked off the Golden Bears. Ryan Binkley added the other score for Howard and starting goalie Jake Spalding made two saves, in a victory that improved the team to 5-5 in county play.