We entered Tuesday with four local teams vying for a shot at state supremacy.
East Juniata and Greenwood each sent two teams to the PIAA tournament. But at the end of the day, it was the Tigers with a sour taste in their mouths.
The East Juniata girls and boys soccer clubs were eliminated in the first round both in close affairs. But the Wildcats just kept on winning.
The Greenwood boys soccer team and the field hockey team will have a chance to crack the state final four Saturday as they will be playing quarterfinal games.
Here's a look at both matchups:
Boys soccer
Who: Greenwood vs. Mountain View
Game info: 3 p.m. at Northern Lehigh
Records: Greenwood 20-2; Mountain View 15-0
How they got here: Greenwood, the winner of District 3 to qualify, was a 1-0 winner over Benton in the Tuesday in the first round thanks to Tyler Fegley's goal. Mountain View comes out as the winner of District 2. It beat Williams Valley 6-1 in the opening round.
The story: Up until this year, Greenwood had made the state tournament one other time. That was last year when it lost to East Juniata in the first round.
For many years, since Greenwood is a co-op with Newport, the Wildcats were classified as Class AA. That's when the PIAA counted both school's male population. But Greenwood wasn't getting the turnout it would have liked.
Then the PIAA changed the co-op rules. Now, the smaller school's male population is only counted by half, putting Greenwood in Class A. So now the Wildcat's chances of reaching the state playoffs have grown.
"The bottom line is we weren't getting the turnout from Newport," coach Tom Magill said. "Don't get me wrong, I love double-A soccer."
On Saturday, the Wildcats will make a two-hour trip to Northern Lehigh to take on Mountain View. Mountain View is a school located just off Interstate-81, north of Scranton.
Coming off a hard-fought 1-0 win over Benton, in which the Wildcats didn't finish like they could have, Magill hopes that this weekend's result will be the same to reach the state final four.
"We played well, we just didn't finish," he said.
In that game, the Wildcats had 24 shots. The kicker is that the Benton keeper only made six saves.
"We've had that issue the whole season," Magill said "Our energy was good, and we created all kinds of chances."
Mountain View is wheeling into the state tournament for the third consecutive year. The Eagles scored six goals on Williams Valley, who came into that game unbeaten. The winner will go on to face Trinity or New Hope-Solebury in the state final four.
Field hockey
Who: Greenwood vs. Forbes Road
Game info: 12 p.m. at Lower Dauphin
Records: Greenwood 19-2-2; Forbes Road 15-2-1
How they got here: Greenwood was District 3 runner-up to qualify. It beat Line Mountain 3-0 in first round. Forbes Road was the winner of District 5. The Cardinals topped Shady Side Academy 2-1 in overtime in the first round.
The story: Greenwood played a familiar opponent in the first round of states. The Wildcats had already beaten Tri-Valley League foe Line Mountain twice in the regular season before topping the Eagles a third time to advance to the quarterfinals.
But now Greenwood is entering uncharted waters. Greenwood and District 5 champion Forbes Road never crossed paths in the regular season, so it won't be as clear on Saturday what to expect until both teams take the field.
Uncertainty aside, Greenwood has some strong credentials going into the game, including TVL Most Valuable Player Taylor Tompkins and other first-team selections Brittany Fleisher, Hattie Kuhns, Lauren Fried and Katie Osborne.
Composed of TVL standouts, Greenwood has the mental approach to the game one might expect from such a high-caliber team. After losing in penalty strokes to Oley Valley for the District 3 Class AA title, coach Kent Houser said he was a little concerned about the way his girls would recover mentally. But after the 3-0 win over Line Mountain, Houser was pleased with the way his team rebounded.
As far as recent experience in the state tournament goes, Greenwood has the upper hand in regard to time and experience at states. Last year, Greenwood dropped out in the quarterfinals with a 5-1 loss to Villa Maria Malvern, and in 2010 the Wildcats made it to the first round, where they lost 3-1 to Crestwood.
Forbes Road's current roster, however, is experiencing states for the first time. In 2005 Forbes Road lost out to Shady Side Academy in the first round, but that was long before any of this year's girls were on the team.
In the end, what it all comes down to is which team has the most goals at the end of the match. Whichever team wins will advance to the state final four to take on the winner of the Selinsgrove/Crestwood matchup.
