Opening day of any sports season rarely features top-notch league contests, but Carroll County’s field hockey teams dove right into the thick of things Friday – with results that could make a big difference in the county race come October.

No. 10 Century and No. 11 Winters Mill, sort of co-favorites in preseason, both lost by the narrowest of margins on Friday to the other two top contenders. No. 15 North Carroll and unranked Westminster, which graduated 12 seniors, were expected to be in the four-team race, but they upended it right from the get-go. North Carroll nipped Winters Mill in penalty strokes and Westminster edged Century, 2-1, in overtime.

The next round comes today when Westminster plays host to Winters Mill at 4 p.m. Then, North Carroll plays Century a week from tomorrow.

Not all of the fireworks will end in the first two weeks though. The final meeting among the big four doesn’t come until North Carroll plays host to Westminster on Oct. 17, the last day of the Panthers’ season.

-- Katherine Dunn