This is the final regular season weekend for District One football and for many teams it will be the end of any hope for that championship season. Last week saw another few changes in playoff rankings. Pennsbury’s win over Central Bucks South pushed them up to the third seed while CB South dipped to a tie for the fifth seed. The top five squads at the AAAA level are now Coatesville, Quakertown, Pennsbury, West Chester Rustin, Upper Dublin and Central Bucks South. So it is easy to see that just one loss can have a big effect on playoff standings even this late in the season. It might be interesting to take a look at the teams that are fighting it out for post season survival. At the present time Conestoga, Pennridge, Downingtown West, Truman and Abington hold the final 13th through 16th qualifying playoff seeds. However several teams are just a few points behind and if they win their final game could find themselves post season bound. These teams include Ridley, Haverford, Methacton and Unionville. Close attention will be paid to several contests in this week that will have impact on the final seeding.
The AAA level has the undefeated Springfield Cougars, Great Valley, Bishop Shanahan, Academy Park and Pottsgrove in good position at this point to be the top five. The matchups if the season ended last week would be Octorara @ Springfield, Interboro @ Great Valley, Upper Moreland @ Bishop Shanahan and Pottsgrove @ Academy Park.
The last eight years the prognostication record stands at 393-168 while going 29-11 for this season. Pennsbury, Garnet Valley and Perkiomen Valley while Quakertown’s win over Council Rock North and Great Valley’s win over Unionville accounted for the failed picks. Only top competitive games have been chosen for this fearless forecast.
It is now time for the predictions for this week’s contests. The Central League has one contest that will have great impact on playoff seeds. The Ridley Green Raiders travel to Haverford with the losing squad eliminated from any post season action. The Fords had an opportunity to clinch a playoff spot last week and early in the fourth quarter they held a 41-29 lead over Garnet Valley. However the Jags rose to the occasion and raced to an exciting 44-41 win with just seconds remaining in the game. The Green Raiders swept to a 42-0 victory over Lower Merion to keep their playoff hopes alive. Ridley followed the lead running back Dasante Callis who rushed 126 yards with two TD’s in the last home game of his senior season. Haverford will need a big game from QB Jack Donaghy and receivers Nick Costello, Dan Boyle and Sam Romanofski to overcome a stingy Ridley defense. Good defense over good offense in this shootout.
Ridley 27 Haverford 17
Another game to watch will be a Suburban One League showdown between North Penn and Abington. The Galloping Ghosts enter this contest with a 5-4 record and a tie for the final slot in AAAA playoff ranking. The North Penn Knights have a 6-3 record with an eleventh place playoff ranking entering this contest. While the Ghosts will be desperate the Knights will prevail as a result of their superior schedule.
North Penn 33 Abington 20
The rest of the fearless forecast:
Coatesville 42 Downingtown West 20
Pennsbury 38 Neshaminy 26
Interboro 24 Chester 12
