Hoping to catch post season fever

Written by: Joe Stokes on Wednesday, October 30th, 2013. Follow Joe Stokes on Twitter.

Every Pa high school football team has a dream in August that they will have the chance to compete for a State Championship. The only way to have that opportunity after this weekend is to have qualified for their District playoffs. In District One AAAA West Chester Rustin, Neshaminy, Garnet Valley, Coatesville and Pennsbury are on top of the eventual sixteen teams that will begin post season action next week.  The teams at the bottom will need a victory and some luck to catch that post season fever. These squads include Council Rock North, Penncrest, Upper Darby and Pennridge . The Central League has two contests that will probably determine playoff seeds. These games include Upper Darby @ Penncrest and Haverford @ Ridley. The winners in these contests keep their post season hopes alive while the losers will have to settle for some regular season games to finish out their seasons.  http://www.pawrsl.com/pfn/rankings_2013_dist01.htm

The same scenarios apply to all other levels in the post season races. The District One AAA has Pottsgrove, Glen Mills, West Chester Henderson, Academy Park, Interboro,  Bishop Shanahan, Springfield (Delco), and Phoenixville as the teams holding the eight playoff spots after week nine. Upper Merion, Upper Moreland and Chichester are still in reach if any of the top eight should falter.

It is now time to dive right in with predictions on five of the most competitive contests this week.

Week nine predictions did not go well with only two of five winning as predicted. Garnet Valley and LaSalle won as projected while Academy Park, Penncrest and Central Bucks West did not pass the test.

The last seven years the prognostication record stands at 342-144 while going 25-15 for this season.

The fields this Friday night may be damp from afternoon showers but this should not ruin the playoff atmosphere at several local stadiums. One interesting contest to watch involves a Central League match with the Upper Darby Royals traveling to visit the Penncrest Lions. This contest appears to decide which of these two teams will have a playoff berth. The loser is out and the victor is in post season play. Penncrest missed a good opportunity to clinch a playoff seed by losing to the Ridley Green Raiders last Friday night. The Lions were able to come from behind late in the third quarter with a 77 yard TD strike from QB Danny Fisher to Lavaughn Frame and an early fourth quarter 14 yard TD run by Danny Fisher to take a 15-14 lead. However the Green Raiders found a way to capture a victory when Ryan Dougherty intercepted a pass deep in Raider territory and running it back 53 yards to set up the winning TD run by Malcolm Strand-Young . The 20-15 win kept Ridley alive in the playoff race and forced Penncrest into a do or die contest this Friday night. Upper Darby started off the season by losing two of its first three games. The Royals have not lost since that third game including last week’s come from behind 19-7 win over Conestoga. If Upper Darby receives the same rushing effort by Cyrus Barlee as they did last week it should be celebration time on Lansdowne Avenue.

Upper Darby  23  Penncrest  17

The next game to check out is also a Central League showdown. The Haverford Fords will travel to Ridley with a possible playoff berth on the line. The winner of this contest needs some help in the form of losses by Unionville, Pennridge and Council Rock North to catch that post season fever. The Fords need a big effort by QB Jack Donaghy to overcome that ever present Green Mystique.  

Haverford  21  Ridley  13

The rest of the fearless forecast:

Downingtown West  31  Coatesville  27

 

Council Rock North  27  Council Rock South  12

 

Neshaminy  34  Pennsbury  28

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4 Responses to “Hoping to catch post season fever”

1. Joe Stokes says:
   October 31st, 2013 at 10:11 pm

   Joe,

   No matter who wins Neshaminy/Pennsbury game they will not face North Penn in the first round unless North Penn were to lose this week.

   If Nehaminy wins they would be 1st seed and Pennsbury would be the 5th seed.

   If Pennsbury wins they would be 2nd seed and Neshaminy 3rd seed.

   Assuming North Penn wins they would be 7th or 8th seed.

   Now if North Penn Lost they would be 14th seed and could play 3rd seed Neshaminy but this is very unlikely.

2. joe says:
   October 31st, 2013 at 9:36 pm

   Does the loser of the Pennsbury-Neshaminy game improve their position by avoiding North Penn in the first round?

3. Joe Stokes says:
   October 31st, 2013 at 11:08 am

   Thanks Rolli

   Worley’s injury was a major factor. I have seen both teams and think it will be close but with Worley out it will be much easier for West to pull an upset.

4. Rollie Ciffo says:
   October 31st, 2013 at 7:18 am

   Gotta think you gave Downingtown the nod over Coatesville due to Daquan Worley’s ACL injury.