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The Blake field hockey team's 1-0 loss to Hereford during Saturday night's 3A state final brought a close to a surprising postseason for Montgomery County teams.

The 2009 regular season played out largely as usual. Perennial county heavyweights Bethesda-Chevy Chase (12-3), Quince Orchard (13-4), Springbrook (9-4), Walter Johnson (11-3), Whitman (9-6) and Magruder (10-7) were all among the top tier of teams.

The postseason was anything but business as usual, with the emergence of the Bengals and Paint Branch. Both programs won their first-ever regional titles and went on to state play, while the usual suspects watched from the stands.

In Burtonsville, head coach Dan Feher transformed Paint Branch from a mid-pack program to one of the county's best teams. The Panthers were led by an explosive offense featuring sisters Kelly and Heather Jenney.

Their only two regular season losses were to Damascus (5-8) and B-CC, and they accomplished their stated goal of winning the program's first division championship. They just kept going during the playoffs, beating Magruder, 2-1, in the 4A South Region championship game.

Paint Branch's magical season ended in a 4-0 loss to 4A West Region champion and eventual state runner-up Westminster in last week's state semifinals.

"I'm just proud of these of these girls," Panthers coach Dan Feher said. "What we accomplished [and] their confidence grew, grew and grew. They thought they were here for a reason. I'm just super proud of the effort."

Considering Paint Branch's success in the regular season, which included wins against Magruder and Springbrook and a 2-1 overtime loss to the Barons, the Panthers' play in the playoffs was not unexpected.

The same cannot be said for Blake, which finished the regular season with a 5-7 record. That was partially down to a rugged schedule that included early-season matches with Springbrook, B-CC, Magruder, Blair, Paint Branch, Whitman and Walter Johnson.

First-year Bengals coach Patrick Howley said those numerous clashes helped prepare his squad for the postseason, which saw Blake (9-8) outscore its five playoff opponents by a combined 20-3 score, including wins of 3-1 over Quince Orchard in the 3A West Region final and 6-0 over Northern-Calvert County in the state semifinals.

Blake also played well against six-time state champion Hereford during Saturday's final, but an early goal by the Bulls (16-2) held up the rest of the way.

"This team just got better and better as the season went on," Howley said. "It was a whole new team. We only had a few returners that got a lot of playing time last year. So the girls gained chemistry as the season went on. We really wanted this. The team was determined and it showed it today. We played a very skilled field hockey team today. No one really expected us to be here."

The Montgomery County teams that have played for championships recently — B-CC, Quince Orchard and Poolesville — all fell in regional finals. The Barons, who lost 2-0 to Westminster in the 4A West Region final, had reached the state tournament 22 times overall and eight times this decade, with four titles.

The Cougars had their string of three straight state playoff appearances snapped with the loss to Blake, while the Falcons failed to reach the state semifinals for the second straight year after going every year from 2001-07. Poolesville lost in double overtime in the 2A West Region final.