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The Central High School boys' soccer team was feeling pretty good about itself after winning the County 3A/2A/1A League regular season boys' soccer title.

After a reality check in the form of a 4-0 loss to County 4A League champ Eleanor Roosevelt in the county title game last week, coach Karl Cain had a message for his team.

"We were down after that game, but I tried to tell them that game didn't matter," Cain said.

The Falcons reversed their fortunes Tuesday afternoon, as they opened the 2A South Region playoffs with a 4-0 win in a quarterfinal game against Glenelg High of Howard County.

County 3A/2A/1A League teams have notoriously struggled against out-of-county opponents in the playoffs over the past decade. So the loss to Roosevelt provided a much-needed litmus test for Central, which did not face a team outside of the County 3A/2A/1A League during the season.

"We learned that we had to hit the weight room," Cain said, alluding to the fact that his team lost the physical battle against the Raiders. "I asked one of [Roosevelt's] defenders where he was going to college, he said Cornell. When you're playing against 4A teams, you just get a better class of competition."

With Tuesday's victory, the top-seeded Falcons improved to 10-1 on the season and will play host to Hammond High at 3 p.m Friday in the regional semifinals.

The victory against Glenelg (2-11-1) was significant on several fronts. It marked the second year in a row that a County 3A/2A/1A League boys' team beat a non-county opponent in the playoffs. Crossland beat Westlake in last year's 3A South quarterfinals, snapping a four-year playoff drought for county teams.

The victory against Glenelg had a special meaning for the Falcons.

"The feeling is priceless," said senior defender Alphius Kabia. "This was the first time in my career that we have won a playoff game. It's hard to describe it. It's just exciting. I think this team has character unlike other teams in the past years."

All season, Kabia and his teammates have talked about the mercenary culture that plagued the team last season and seriously hurt the Falcons' cohesion, let alone their chances to win in the postseason.

Cain said he saw his team had a chemistry problem and set up intramural leagues last spring to give players more opportunities to play with and against one another and jell.

Evidence of the Falcons' improved chemistry was on display Tuesday. Milkayis Bayisa scored in the game's 6th minute. Less than 10 minutes later, midfielder Benjamin Mbou scored on an assist from midfielder George Akobundu to give the Falcons a 2-0 lead.

Central controlled the second half and scored twice more, including another from Mbou.

"We knew coming into the Roosevelt game that we were going to be going against players from other counties [in the playoffs] and we felt we could use the level of the Roosevelt game to prepare for this game," said senior captain Dester Njike. "It's definitely a boost for our confidence."

"We're pretty confident," Akobundu added. "We have a lot of talent on this team. Last year, we didn't have any leaders on this team. When it comes to playoffs, our county is not that good. But we feel that we are."

E-mail Terron Hampton at thampton@gazette.net.