Hanging on to a lead

Written by: Joe Stokes on Wednesday, October 24th, 2012. Follow Joe Stokes on Twitter.

 

Those teams fortunate enough to be holding a post season playoff berth, the simple goal is to hold that slot or improve. The simple solution is to win their remaining games and hope for the best outcomes in other contests that will impact their final rank. Simple does not mean easy as every fan has a story of witnessing a lost opportunity, a bad call by a referee or a freak mistake that has cost their favorite team a key game victory.

There are several games this weekend that will have great impact on the eventual playoff picture. These include Springfield @ Strath Haven, Coatesville @ Downingtown West, Conestoga @ Haverford, Abington @ Neshaminy and Perkiomen Valley @ Pottsgrove.

Week eight predictions went perfect as this future teller went 5-0. Ridley, Haverford, Coatesville, Pennridge and Downingtown East all won as predicted.

The last six years the prognostication record stands at 293-114 while going 26-9 for the 2012 season.

This ninth week of the season offers another great set of games for local fans to check out.

One of the great Central League matchups will feature Springfield traveling to face the Panthers of Strath Haven. Springfield suffered a 7-3 setback last Friday to the Ridley Green Raiders. The Cougars high powered running attack that averages 269 yard per game was held to 101 yards and no TD’s by the hard charging Ridley defense. The loss dropped Springfield from a second to fifth seed in the District One AAA playoff race. Another loss could cost the Cougars a deeper drop and an unfavorable post season match-up. Strath Haven put a scare into Haverford (7-1) last Friday but came up short as a late game TD by the Fords spoiled a second half comeback effort by the Panthers and a 42-36 loss. Springfield’s offense should be back in the game this week as the Haven defense should not be as difficult to deal with as Ridley’s. However Strath Haven (4-4) will be fighting for their playoff lives and they feature loads of offense. Panther’s QB Kevin Mohollen lead a spirited 22 point second half surge for a brief lead over Haverford. The 451 total yards on the night was impressive even in defeat. Springfield must recover quickly from last week and get big efforts from running backs Rob Murphy, Isaac Payton and Mike Dougherty to stay competitive in this contest. This game could come down to which team has the ball last. My guess is the Cougars hang on to their playoff hopes in a high scoring affair

Springfield  41  Strath Haven  34

The rest of this week’s fearless forecast:

Pottsgrove  23  Perkiomen Valley  12

Neshaminy  17  Abington  13

Haverford  38  Conestoga  21

Coatesville  31  Downingtown West  20   

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