In a situation that is becoming more and more common in high school sports, Maple Grove’s boys soccer team will play in a New York State Public High School Athletic Association quarterfinal boys soccer game this evening without having to win a sectional playoff game to get there.

The Red Dragons were the only Class D team in Section VI this fall and automatically qualified for the Far West Regional. They will take on Section V champion Fillmore at 5 p.m. tonight at West Seneca West High School.

“At the first coaches meeting, (Section VI chairman) Todd Marquardt congratulated us for winning the section. I congratulated the guys at our first practice for all their hard work to be section champs,” Maple Grove head coach Andrew Lindstrom joked Thursday night. “It’s been a nice season in that aspect. We’ve been able to try new things and learn new things. We’ve treated some games that way because we were already in the playoffs and nonleague games didn’t matter as much.”

Sports classifications are determined by a school’s BEDS number — essentially the number of students in the high school. Maple Grove’s for the 2025-26 school year is 132. Any school with a BEDS number of 143 and below is a Class D program for boys soccer.

Local schools with BEDS numbers below 143, in addition to Maple Grove, are Brocton, Ellicottville, Franklinville, Clymer, Sherman, Panama, Forestville and Pine Valley. They would all be Class D programs if they fielded boys soccer teams. Ellicottville and Franklinville merged prior to this season.

Forestville has been merged with Silver Creek, Pine Valley has been merged with Gowanda and Brocton has been merged with Westfield for a number of years. Clymer, Sherman and Panama don’t field boys soccer teams.

Franklinville’s girls are in the same boat as Maple Grove’s boys and will play in their Far West Regional at Geneseo High School tomorrow at 11 a.m. against Fillmore.

Maple Grove hasn’t played a game since beating Silver Creek/Forestville 6-1 to close the regular season Oct. 14. The Red Dragons finished 8-6-0 overall and 3-5-0 in Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division III. They will have gone 23 days without a game when they take the field this evening.

“We’ve put different forms together for going up a couple of goals or getting down a couple,” Lindstrom said. “We’ve been watching a lot of film on Fillmore.”

Maple Grove listed just 14 players on its roster for the regular season and one of them is injured.

“That makes it really hard. It’s hard to create in-game scenarios and simulate certain things,” Lindstrom said of his 13 healthy players. “We’ve been going hard every practice. The boys have done really well staying focused all three weeks, coming to practice and staying ready.”

Junior Ty Oste scored 25 of the Red Dragons’ 41 goals and added nine assists. Senior Ty Kraft scored 10 goals and had 12 assists.

“We have one of the best duos in the county,” Lindstrom said. “They have kind of pulled the team to all of our victories.”

Senior goalkeeper Liam Colburn made 95 saves in 14 games, allowing 16 goals against.

“Our defense has really stepped it up this year,” Lindstrom said. “It’s a brand new back line with Zeke Padd, Will Bryant, Dylan Moore and Jack Reynolds.”

Fillmore went 15-1-0 this season and earned the No. 2 seed in Section V’s Class D1. The Eagles beat Honeoye 5-1 in the sectional quarterfinals, Genesee Valley-Belfast 2-1 in the semifinals and Northstar Christian 1-0 in the final. Then, in the Class D crossover, Fillmore beat D2 champion Avoca Prattsburgh 5-2 to advance to tonight’s game.

Senior Isaiah Sisson leads the Eagles with 33 goals to go along with four assists while sophomore Brayden Watson has 16 goals and 12 assists. Sophomore goalkeeper Jared Boon has made 98 saves and allowed just nine goals.

“They score a lot on set pieces and corners. If we can shut that down, I think we have a good chance of putting a goal in,” Lindstrom said. “Our defense and our center-mids have been really strong. We haven’t gotten many goals scored on us this year.”

The winner of today’s game will advance to the Class D final four at Middletown High School. The state semifinal will take place at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 15 with the title game set for 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 16.