By Kalle Oakes,Staff Writer

RUMFORD – In the early rounds of the schoolboy soccer playoffs, who you are and what you know aren’t necessarily as important as who you’ve played.

No. 9 Lake Region, for example, entered the Western Class B bracket with only four wins. Considering that the Lakers consume a steady diet of Class A and B opponents every autumn in the Western Maine Conference, however, that total is more worthy of cheers than sneers.

The Lakers made it five victories and earned a rematch with one of those supremely talented southern rivals by shutting out No. 8 Mountain Valley 3-0 in Wednesday night’s preliminary game at Hosmer Field.

Lake Region (5-8-2) will travel to top-seeded Falmouth for a Saturday quarterfinal clash. It was the first playoff win in recent memory for the Lakers’ program.

“I wouldn’t want to say it’s the first playoff win, for sure, but it’s definitely been a while. We played such a tough schedule,” said Lake Region coach Peter Webb. “There’s no question that made a real difference.”

Junior co-captain Todd Shigo scored two first-half goals to propel the Lakers. Tavish Leland assisted Shigo’s strike just 4 minutes, 23 seconds into the contest, while Dan Casey fed the second goal in the 20th minute.

Two more captains capped the scoring with less than two minutes remaining in the game, when Alex Toews converted a cross from Brandon Webb.

Mountain Valley (6-8-1) didn’t lose for a lack of opportunities. The Falcons matched the Lakers with 27 shots, and senior catalysts Byron Glaus and Jon Gamble enjoyed enough legitimate two-on-one bids against Lake Region goaltender Evan Thurlow to keep it interesting.

Thurlow finished with 15 saves. Bryan Canwell made 10 stops for the Falcons, who faced only one Class B opponent, Lisbon, during the Mountain Valley Conference regular season.

“Their league’s overall competition is better. I’m not going to candy-coat it,” said Mountain Valley coach Wade McLaughlin. “We played Georges Valley and Monmouth and beat Telstar, which was a 10-win team. But we don’t see that level every game like they do.”

Lake Region marked Glaus and Gamble effectively throughout the game. Senior Seth Newton drew the primary duty against Glaus, while Brandon Chase shadowed Gamble.

“No. 13 (Glaus) and No. 20 (Gamble) are nice players,” Webb said. “You can see he’s built that team around them. I would do the same thing.”

Chase, Leland and Casey are freshmen. The Falcons, meanwhile, are a senior-dominated team, with 10 of the 25 players appearing in their final game.

There were many hugs and frequent breaks for applause during an emotional post-game huddle for Mountain Valley, which concluded its MVC campaign with four straight wins to earn the home playoff game.

“At least three of those guys, Glaus, Gamble and (Josh) Burke, are irreplaceable, as far as I’m concerned,” McLaughlin said. “I know I’m biased, but in my book, they all should be first-team MVC all-stars.”