CARLMONT — The proclamation stuck out because of its boldness, for sure, but also for its timing. Imagine my surprise when I received this mid-December voice mail.

“I’m letting you know right now that, on the 5th, we’re going to beat Carlmont.”

The voice was that of Damian Cohen, coach of Woodside Priory’s girls soccer team.

At that time, Cohen’s Panthers were mired in a 1-6 start. Sure, they had proved their resiliency by hanging with some of the Bay Area’s best teams, and with an undermanned side at that. And yes, the Panthers were expecting their full complement of players back after the New Year (from Olympic Development Program and club team commitments, as well as from injury).

But nonetheless, Cohen stepped out on what appeared to be quite a limb by predicting a victory over Carlmont.

Keep in mind: the prediction came when the Scots were still undefeated–before their 2-1 loss to Burlingame on Dec. 20. (Incidentally, Cohen was in attendance at that match of PAL Bay leaders.) And the sixth-year Priory coach was all too aware of Carlmont’s prodigious feats of recents seasons (eight straight PAL Bay titles, CCS titles in 2004-05 and 05-06) as a former Scots assistant and three-year JV coach.

Given all that … it turns out Cohen knew what he was talking about.

In a dominant performance, Priory scored twice in the first 5 minutes to lay the groundwork for a stunning, 3-0 victory at Carlmont.

The match, originally scheduled for Jan. 5 and subsequently postponed a week, was expected to be the Panthers’ last true test of the regular season (with the defending West Bay Athletic League champs widely expected to run the table this season).

Talk about acing the test.

“We came out fast,” a smiling Cohen said afterwards. “We came out on fire. We were ready to win. I told you we were going to win. I wasn’t going to call you if I didn’t think we were going to win.”

And then came Carlmont coach Jim Kelly’s postgame analysis, which had to rank nearly as surprising as Cohen’s prediction of month ago.

“I figured Woodside Priory would beat us,” said Kelly, who couldn’t recall ever losing by three goals in his nine seasons. “They’re talented and well-coached, and we’ve been struggling.”

“They’re very, very organized,” continued Kelly, whose team dropped to 8-2-3. “He’s a great coach.”

The fallout of the contest, as it pertains to Priory (now 5-6), seems obvious:

1. Take the Panthers’ early results with a heavy dose of salt: Other than its two losses to Los Altos, a now fully-loaded Panthers side has the pop to field some significant advantages over St. Francis, Palo Alto, Mitty and Sacred Heart Prep, all of whom it suffered defeats to.

2. Go ahead and skyrocket Priory up the County rankings: the Panthers were slotted at No. 9 before the holiday break. While even that low of a ranking may have been a stretch for the less-than-full-strength Priory, it’s perfectly clear the side from Portola Valley belongs top-five. At least.

3. The Panthers have the weapons to compete with, if not outright defeat, any PAL Bay side: Gone are the days when Priory loses 3-0 to Woodside, or 4-0 to Menlo School, as it did a year ago. Saturday’s showing proved that, and much more.

4. One victory does not a championship make: the Panthers’ designs on the program’s first-ever Central Coast Section title seem attainable, especially because Priory is ticketed for the Division III (weakest) bracket. But the reason the Panthers gave Carlmont fits is because of the shear numbers of playmakers. If any of them is injured ….

(And three quick bits of Carlmont fallout, as well, according to Kelly):

5. “We have to fix what happened in the first 5 minutes of both halves.”

6. “They need to learn how to solve problems.”

7. “Just like every game, we’re there, but we can’t finish it.”

But Saturday belonged to Priory. So much so, that it’s tough to believe they can’t improve leaps and bounds on last season’s historic run (the Panthers had never before won a CCS game). And improvement means a CCS title-game appearance, at a minimum.

“If we go into CCS with 15 healthy players, we can win CCS,” Cohen said Saturday, with a sly grin.

What?! Hedging your bets, coach? No brash predictions?

OK. OK. I’ll wait for my phone to ring.