The biggest winner of Friday afternoon’s Carlmont vs. Woodside High boys soccer showdown wasn’t even on the field.

By day’s end, it was Sequoia that capitalized the most from the 1-1 tie at Woodside. The Cherokees moved into sole possession of first place in the Peninsula Athletic League’s Bay Division by virtue of their 3-0 win over Hillsdale and the draw by erstwhile leader Carlmont.

Not that Sequoia coach Kurt Devlin was celebrating a Bay title quite yet.

“I think it’s wide open. It’s anybody’s,” said Devlin, whose team beat the Scots despite being out-shot and dominated down the stretch. “I think Carlmont might have the inside track. … Carlmont’s a difficult team. They’re big, they’re fast, they’re athletic. They’re not easy to play with at all.”

But thanks largely to its 1-0 victory over the Scots a week ago, Sequoia (8-7-3, 5-0-2 PAL Bay) has a one-point lead over Carlmont (17 points to 16), with three games remaining for each side.

Woodside, ranked No. 3 in the County, remains in the thick of the race. The Wildcats (12 points) sit in third place, but they are the only one of the leaders to have four games left (contrary to the error printed in Saturday’s San Mateo County Times). Sequoia and Carlmont (10-3-2, 5-1-1) have already had their byes.

Carlmont coach Jason Selli knew his team lost a grand opportunity to deliver a blow to Woodside, and said it’s Sequoia that is calling the shots now.

“If we can win the rest of our games, we have the second spot locked up,” Selli said. “(Sequoia is) in the driver’s seat for 1. We’re in the driver’s seat for 2.”

The top two regular-season finishers get automatic Central Coast Section playoff bids. The division’s third postseason slot goes to the winner of an intra-division playoff that pits the Bay’s third- through sixth-place teams.

Woodside coach Juan Caballero now believes Sequoia will almost certainly finish first or second, leaving his side and top-ranked Carlmont in a heated race to avoid the Bay’s postseason play-in.

“One of us is going to be up there,” he said, “just one of us.”

Selli and Caballero were quick to assess sixth-ranked Sequoia’s remaining schedule, mining for a potential upset that would reopen the door for their own title run.

Sequoia has already played Woodside, Terra Nova, Carlmont and Menlo-Atherton–the four teams directly below the Cherokees in the Bay standings. That leaves sixth-place Burlingame, which visits Sequoia on Jan. 30, as the challengers’ best hope to move up.

“Burlingame’s now my best friend,” said Selli, an ironic development, because of the harsh words that led to the cancellation of the postgame handshake following Carlmont’s 1-0 win over the Panthers on Wednesday. “But we still have to take care of our business.”

Devlin sounded just as worried about his team’s next game, a visit to San Mateo, which is tied for last place with Capuchino.

“(They’re) fighting relegation to go down to the Ocean. We don’t have an easy road by any means,” the Sequoia coach said. “They’re difficult because they need points any way possible.”

Devlin’s counterpart in Wednesday’s contest is a familiar face. San Mateo first-year coach Mike Keller has been an assistant on Devlin’s Canada College coaching staff.

Woodside (8-2-6, 3-0-3) needs Sequoia or Carlmont to lose points in order to have a shot at first or second.

Should any of the Bay’s top-three capsize down the stretch, Devlin said the side no one’s talking about from the North County may be the party-crasher.

“Terra Nova is going to roll about six games in a row,” he said. “I think they could finish winning out.”

No. 5 Terra Nova (10-4-1, 3-2-1) sits in fifth place at 10 points, and has already had its bye. No. 8 Menlo-Atherton (fourth place, 11 points) faces Woodside and Terra Nova next week.