The Red Dragons now sit at 10-1-1 on the year and will travel to meet No. 2 Ellicottville at 5 p.m. on Thursday.

Falling, 3-2, to Chautauqua Lake on Friday, Maple Grove was certainly motivated to begin the postseason on a new note last night.

First and foremost, the team was committed to making life difficult for speedster Josh Barresi and the versatile Cole Holland.

“Josh Barresi is really, really fast and we knew that going into it,” Maple Grove coach Cara Abbey said. “So we’ve been talking about him for a couple of days with my back line.”

OBSERVER Photo by Scott Reagle Maple Grove’s Eli Moore attempts a shot on Westfield/Brocton keeper Bradley Babcock.

Abbey added: “We just knew they were going to be sending him balls because of how fast he was, so thankfully I have good speed to match. I’ve got smart defenders that got the job done tonight. Cole Holland is a fantastic player, and when he was on center back we knew that we had to get around him, and then when they moved him up to the center we had to shut him down, too, because he is a playmaker with good speed.”

Whether it was Barresi, Holland, Josh Heim or Darien Swanson leading the way for Westfield/Brocton, Maple Grove’s defense was up to the task.

Offensively, the hosts got started with a pair of chances from Eli Moore, the first of which was a blocked shot while the second was a try fired high of the cage on a rebound chance.

Battling back from those opportunities was Barresi, who found himself in a foot race with Maple Grove goaltender Andrew Auer in the 10th minute. Auer narrowly picked up that ball before Barresi could get a foot on it.

“Our goal was to send the ball wide and get it up the field,” Westfield/Brocton head coach Jared Winder said. “Have our guys run onto it and then make a play from there. The back line did a nice job of holding us onsides and keeping us from getting too deep. Then our runs ended up having to be very long and they were able to backtrack and kind of cut us off, kind of limit our opportunities.”

OBSERVER Photo by Scott Reagle Westfield/Brocton’s Josh Heim takes a shot on goal in Tuesday night’s Section VI Class C soccer game at Maple Grove.

Maple Grove came close to earning its first goal of the night in the 18th minute, when Nick Golando fed Moore for a shot in close that was kicked away in a diving effort by goaltender Brad Babcock.

Two minutes later, the first goal would fall, as Tristan Spillane let a shot fly on net that was punched down at first, but then finished off by Moore who was lingering behind the play.

“For both of them it was good positioning,” Abbey said. “They work well together and they know how to get the job done. They know where to be, and Eli was there to capitalize on that goal.”

With 14 minutes remaining in the half, Maple Grove doubled its lead when RJ Helt struck home a hard finish after finding space in a crowd on the left side of the pitch.

In one of the best chances of the night for the Wolverines, Swanson won a head ball with time winding down, but Auer scooped up that chance before any damage was done.

Ramping up the offense in the second half for Maple Grove was Golando, a senior midfielder.

In the third minute, taking in a ball from midfield, he beat his man up the middle and drove a right-side finish past Babcock to make it 3-0 for the Red Dragons. Golando repeated that performance in the 57th minute, burying an outside shot from the right side for his 10th of the season.

“This is his third year as a starter and each year he has just developed more and more into his position, developing his style, and especially this year with leadership,” Abbey said. “His presence on the field is obvious. He sets a tone and the guys go with him.”

In the 69th minute, Moore collected his second goal of the game for Maple Grove, finishing off a steal inside the 18-yard box after a miscommunication by the Wolverines.

Despite the final score, Babcock put in a complete-game performance for Westfield-Brocton, stopping 17 shots, including a penalty kick by Moore in the second half.

“He’ll be sorely missed,” Winder said of the senior. “He’s done a really nice job for us this year, coming back off of an injury last year. He wasn’t able to play, had a knee injury. He has improved immensely throughout the year. He has really good agility, left and right. Really big punt, makes great kicks, good distribution of the ball. He made some fantastic saves today.”

Similarly, the Red Dragons will move forward with confidence in Auer between the pipes after Tuesday’s shutout. Against back-to-back shots by Barresi in close, the Maple Grove netminder roused the crowd with a pair of excellent saves in the second half.