MOORHEAD — The Moorhead boys soccer team couldn't have asked for a better start to its postseason on Thursday night.
The top-seeded Spuds scored four goals — including two from senior Osama Allawi — en route to a 4-0 victory over eighth-seeded Elk River in the Section 8AAA quarterfinals at Jim Gotta Field.
With the win, Moorhead advances to Tuesday's section semifinals and will host fifth-seeded Bemidji (9-7-1) at 6 p.m. Tuesday. The Lumberjacks defeated Sartell 2-0 in the other quarterfinal game Thursday for the right to face the Spuds next week. Elk River ends its season with a record of 1-15-1.
"You always have a little bit of nerves coming into the first game of a game you're supposed to win on paper," Moorhead head coach Ben Patrie said after his team's victory over the Elks. "But they're not won on paper and we took care of business. It was a good one to comfortably start this push."

The Spuds got the scoring started in the 19th minute when senior Colin Baumgartner found fellow senior Revar Qaqos on what was roughly a 30-yard pass up the pitch. Qaqos snuck past the Elks defense and fielded the touch cleanly for a breakaway chance. He beat Elk River senior goalkeeper Jacob Tentis for his 19th goal of the season and a 1-0 Moorhead lead.
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Nearly 14 minutes after that, Allawi tallied his first goal of the match in the 32nd minute on a cross from junior Parker Gast. Gast and junior Mohammed Namuq connected on a give-and-go play which allowed Gast to walk in on the left side before crossing it over to Allawi for the finish on the right. That would ultimately give Moorhead a 2-0 lead going into halftime.
Allawi scored his second of the night in the 58th minute on a pass from senior Brandon Obowa over to Allawi on the right who finished the play from about 15 yards out to make it 3-0.
Gast added another tally with 55 seconds remaining on a pass from Qaqos to end the match with an exclamation point for the Spuds.

Patrie said the key to continued success in the semifinals is keeping the intensity levels high throughout the match.
"I think we let our intensity and our focus drop in a couple of moments and we allowed (Elk River) some chances," he said. "I think we got a little bit sloppy and maybe a little bit selfish in a couple of moments so that's something we'll try and be cleaner on."

The Spuds are now 12-4-1 and will square off with a Bemidji team they bested twice in the regular season. Moorhead has won the previous six contests with the Lumberjacks dating back to 2019.
"We beat Bemidji twice and we know Bemidji can play," Patrie said. "Bemidji is really well-organized and well-coached."
Should the Spuds win in the semifinals, they'll have a chance to defend their Section 8AAA crown from a season ago next week as well.
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"We're just hoping to make that push and keep our consistency as we go forward," Patrie said.





