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Defending Class 4A state football champion Quince Orchard was upset enough over its performance in a 26-21, season-opening win over Wootton. Then the Cougars had to spend the rest of the 10-week regular season listening to people speculate.

Second-seeded Quince Orchard set things straight Friday in the Class 4A West Region semifinals, with a 36-0 trouncing of those same Patriots in Gaithersburg.

"After that first game, Wootton's excuse was, if they had two more minutes they would've beat us," said Quince Orchard senior running back Dawuan Genies, who rushed for 121 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries. "We kept that in our minds and said it wasn't going to be like that this time; there weren't going to be any excuses."

The Cougars (10-1) face top-seeded Sherwood, responsible for their only loss this fall, in the 4A West Region final Friday in Sandy Spring.

Quince Orchard is still without junior quarterback Kevin Adams, sidelined with a broken Collarbone sustained in that 14-6 loss to Sherwood Oct. 17. But the Cougars have the personnel and manpower to overcome such adversity.

Multifaceted senior Travis Hawkins, who last month verbally committed to play football at the University of Maryland, made his second start at quarterback this fall. He completed 2 of 7 passes for 101 yards and a touchdown, launching a 62-yard pass to junior Nick Goss in the end zone.

Hawkins is surrounded by a talented cast. Running backs Genies, who also scored on a 65-yard free kick return, and junior Ben Sasu helmed the Cougars' prosperous ground game; 187 of Quince Orchard's 288 total offensive yards came on the ground. Sasu finished with 47 total yards and a touchdown.

Perhaps more impressive than the Cougars' attack was their defense. Led by senior defensive back Cody Schecter, who nabbed a first-half interception in the end zone, Quince Orchard stifled the Patriots' normally efficient offense.

The Cougars struggled against the Patriots' passing attack in the season opener; Wootton (7-4) is powered by a tricky no-huddle offense ripe with complex plays.

Friday Quince Orchard held Wootton senior quarterback Mike Mooney, the county's leading passer on the season with 3,062 yards and 27 touchdowns, to just 113 yards.

"I've got to give this game to the defense," Genies said. "They were prepared for Wootton's offense. They were on every take."

Friday's duel didn't live up to the hype; Wootton couldn't stand up to Quince Orchard's bigger and stronger line like it did in the teams' previous meeting.

But once the disappointment of the lopsided loss subsides, the Patriots, making their first postseason appearance since 1991, will be able to reflect on the program's best season in nearly two decades.