BRUNSWICK

It’s been quite the boys soccer season in the Midcoast.

Mt. Ararat has gone from a No. 9 seed in Class A North last season to a No. 3 seed this season and is flying high into the playoffs. After missing the postseason last fall, Morse and Wiscasset have completed comeback seasons and are in the field.

In fact, the Heal Point Standings are final and all local sides are in the playoffs, which are scheduled to begin today, though Mother Nature may have something to say about that, with rain forecast throughout the day.

Here’s a look at the boys high school soccer postseason picture.

Class A North

After a strong 10-3-1 finish in 2015, for a while, it looked as if Brunswick might be hard-pressed to make the playoffs this season. The Dragons started 0-2-2 under coach Mark Roma and had to wait until Sept. 15 against Oxford Hills to get into the win column.

But, form has vastly improved since a 6-1 win against Hampden Academy on Sept. 23 and now Brunswick (5-6-3) is slated to face the Broncos again in a Class A North preliminary playoff game in Brunswick tonight at 6 p.m.

Roma and company, attempting to rebound from a 1-0 loss to Bangor in last year’s quarterfinals, will have some momentum heading into the match, having defeated Cony and Skowhegan by a combined 12-0 in the final two fixtures on the regular season schedule.

With a year under his belt at Mt. Ararat, this season turned into a special one for coach Jack Rioux and his squad.

One of the Eagles’ league-leading 12 wins came against the defending state-champion Lewiston Blue Devils on Sept. 23 and now they’re headed straight to the quarterfinals to face No. 6 Messalonskee (7 p.m. Tuesday), which they defeated 4-1 on Sept. 30.

Mt. Ararat graduated 19 seniors before Rioux took over last year, and he says this season the group has grown and improved together. Now they’re ready for a deep run.

“We’re feeling really confident,” Rioux said. “Last year, it was my first year with the team, I think I got the guys for about a week in July before the hands-off period. We only graduated three last year, so we had everybody coming back. We built off last year, that’s been the biggest thing.”

The Eagles (12-2) have only lost once (Oct. 7 to Bangor) since the monumental win over Lewiston and Rioux is looking for much more than a prelim loss to Edward Little like last season. Mt. Ararat has proven it can play with anybody in Class A North, and now it’s just about playing the full match as a group.

“They key for us is to play a full 80 minutes,” Rioux said. “We’ve put really good stretches in games together — if we can do it for a full 80 minutes and everyone be on the same page, I think the sky is the limit. This group, they really want it, and if we show up, I think we can go pretty deep.”

No. 9 Mt. Blue battles No. 8 Brewer in the other prelim in Class A North, while No. 1 Edward Little and No. 2 Bangor (the only two sides to defeat Mt. Ararat), will wait on those prelim results to determine which team they’ll be hosting in the quarterfinals.

Class B South

Even after a disappointing overtime loss to Lincoln Academy this past Tuesday, Morse coach Chuck Reece called his team’s 7-7 finish “a step in the right direction.”

Thanks to a bit of help from other Class B South sides, the Shipbuilders snuck into the 12-team playoff field as the No. 12 seed and will travel to Carrabec/Madison for a prelim today at 3 p.m. (rain date is Monday at 3 p.m.)

It’s a big improvement from Reece’s first season at the helm in 2015, when Morse missed the postseason after finishing 4-9-1. In fact, it’s the first time the Shipbuilders have made the playoffs since 2011.

Reece and his squad will be limping up to North Anson, though, having lost three straight matches. The two sides didn’t play in the regular season.

Down in Freeport, the Falcons certainly haven’t forgotten about the painful 2-1 prelim overtime loss to Cape Elizabeth last season.

As the No. 9 seed this time around, coach Joe Heathco and his team will have another shot at a postseason run, beginning with a trip up to Newcastle to face No. 8 Lincoln Academy tonight at 6 p.m.

The Falcons (6-7-1) are also in unfavorable form heading into tonight, falling to York (3-2), Cape Elizabeth (4-1) and Yarmouth (8-0) in their last three matches. They haven’t faced Lincoln Academy this season, but if they manage to move on, they’ll have a date with the undefeated and No. 1- seeded Maranacook Black Bears in the quarterfinals.

No. 10 Fryeburg Academy will meet No. 7 Gray-New Gloucester and No. 6 Greely will host No. 11 Leavitt in the other two prelims, while Yarmouth, Cape Elizabeth and York will head straight to the quarterfinals with Maranacook.

Class C South

No. 2 Wiscasset and No. 3 Lisbon avoided the lone prelim in Class C South (Mt. Abram at Sacopee Valley) and move straight into the quarterfinals.

Lisbon (8-3-3), which fell to Traip Academy 2-1 in a prelim as the No. 8 seed last season, will host No. 6 Telstar. Despite the seeding, the Greyhounds have had some trouble with the Rebels this season, falling 2-1 at home on Oct. 10 and 3-2 in the regular season finale this past Tuesday.

Sandwiched between those two losses was a big 3-0 win over rival Oak Hill and a hard-fought 1-1 draw with Wiscasset.

It’ll be a much less familiar match for Chris Cossette and the Wolverines when they host No. 7 Waynflete.

Wiscasset finished 4-9-1 and missed the postseason last year for the third straight season. The last winning season came in 2013, where an 8-4-2 record led to a loss to Maranacook in the quarterfinals.

The 1-1 draw against Lisbon this past Friday was the last fixture of the season for Wiscasset, which won four matches in a row before that. All four of the Wolverines’ losses this season came in the first half of the schedule, and Cossette and company have found the right form at the right time.

Unlike Lisbon’s draw, they’ll be faced with an unknown opponent in Waynflete.

No. 4 Hall-Dale with host No. 5 North Yarmouth Academy in another quarterfinal and No. 1 Monmouth will await the winner of the prelim.

Class D South

All the talk in Class D South is of No. 1 Richmond and No. 3 Buckfield. The Bobcats fell 2-1 in a wild overtime game on Sept. 20. but bounced back to defeat the Bucks 2-0 this past Tuesday.

Last season, Buckfield ousted Peter Gardner and his team from the playoffs with another wild 1-0 regional final game that ended in penalty kicks. The two sides may be on a collision course again this time around, but Gardner is keeping things in perspective.

“It’s the same thing all year long — it’s each game treated by itself,” Gardner said. “We never look beyond that game.”

That first game for Richmond will be decided after No. 9 Searsport takes on No. 8 Gould Academy in one of two prelims. In two fixtures against Searsport this season, the Bobcats won 3-0 and 6-1.

More than just revenge, the big 2-0 win over Buckfield this week was a big confidence booster.

“When they went up there Tuesday, a lot of them felt like ‘OK, we got the monkey off our back in terms of coming up here.’ If we would have to go back there, I think they would have the confidence to go back there.”

Luckily for the Bobcats (13-1), as the No. 1 seed, the road to the state championship will go through Richmond High School.

“One of the goals was to play in the last game of the season,” Gardner said. “We’ve worked towards each game individually as we’ve gone along. What we’ve got to do now is defend our home turf as they say. If it comes down to us and Buckfield, that’s going to be a tough match because we’re so even.”

Elsewhere in the region, No. 10 Rangeley visits Vinalhaven/ North Haven in a prelim, with the winner facing second seeded Seacoast Christian in the quarterfinals. No. 6 Greenville visits No. 3 Buckfield, while Temple hosts Islesboro in a 4-5 quarterfinal matchup.