Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

Big week for local teams with playoff aspirations

By Bruce Monnin
The seventh week of the high school football regular season saw a few interesting results which greatly affected the computer points standing for area teams.
Marion Local, Ottawa-Glandorf and Defiance all suffered losses which hurt their playoff hopes while St. Marys, New Bremen and Lima Shawnee all moved into the playoff hunt with significant wins.
Only two Western Buckeye League teams (Kenton and Ottawa-Glandorf) are currently in the top eight in their regions. As usual, several WBL teams (St. Marys, Defiance, Lima Shawnee and Van Wert) are on the border of playoff contention and will be fighting to move up during the next three weeks.
Over in the Midwest Athletic Conference, they still have five teams in the top eight of their regions. In Division VI, New Bremen (4-3) now occupies a playoff spot in its region, knocking out Marion Local (3-4) by defeating the Flyers on this past Friday. Due to non-conference results and remaining schedule, the Flyers may actually be in better shape for a playoff berth than the Cardinals.
Parkway and Minster are the only MAC teams with no playoff hopes, though Fort Recovery and Versailles' hopes are tenuous at best.
There are a couple of big games in each conference this week. The Kenton vs. Defiance and St. Marys vs. Van Wert games both have the potential to eliminate a team from playoff contention. Kenton may be able to survive a loss, but the other three will likely lose their playoff hopes with a loss this week.
The MAC has four huge games. The winner of the Coldwater-Delphos St. John's game will probably end up the #1 seed in their respective region, while the loser will still make the playoffs and probably earn a first-round home game.
The Marion Local-Versailles, New Bremen-Anna and St. Henry-Fort Recovery games all have the potential to knock the loser out of playoff contention. Marion Local, Anna and St. Henry all have a chance to survive a loss, but Versailles, New Bremen and Fort Recovery all badly need to win this week.
My apologies to those who noticed I did not have Columbus Bishop Ready's rating correct last week. That will be an ongoing problem, as Ready plays a schedule consisting of four out of state teams and one Ohio team not in the OHSAA. These opponents play other teams whose status with the OHSAA is not known, so Bishop Ready's ranking will always be difficult to determine accurately.
Here is a listing of how all the MAC and WBL teams stand in the computer rankings after the seventh week. The computer points for the three regions involving most area teams can be found at www.nktelco.net/bdmonnin/football.htm

Team - Ranking (Computer Points)
Region 8:
Cincinnati Walnut Hills - 8th (8.07)
Wapakoneta - 27th (0.71)

Region 10:
St. Paris Graham - 8th (8.99)
St. Marys - 12th (8.30)
Defiance - 13th (7.81)
Lima Shawnee - 15th (6.59)
Elida - 19th (3.91)
Celina - 28th (0.00)
The Roughriders' win over Ottawa-Glandorf (5-2) brings them back into playoff contention, moving them past Defiance, which lost to 4-3 Lima Shawnee. St. Marys' three remaining opponents have a combined record of 14-7, so winning out should give the Roughriders more than enough computer points for a playoff berth.
Defiance faces 6-1 Kenton this week in a must-win game since its other two remaining opponents have only 2-5 records. Shawnee's opponents do not have enough wins to make a playoff berth certain if they win out, but the Indians have a game remaining against the Roughriders to continue the WBL tradition of knocking each other out of the playoffs.

Region 14:
Ottawa-Glandorf - 7th (10.47)
Pemberville Eastwood - 8th (9.08)
Lorain Clearview - 9th (8.89)
Van Wert - 15th (5.16)
Ottawa-Glandorf's loss to St. Marys greatly hurt the Titans' playoff hopes. The Titans' three remaining opponents only have a combined record of 6-15, so even winning out will not guarantee a ticket to the playoffs. Van Wert needs to win its last three games to have any playoff chances, with a tough game this week against St. Marys.

Region 16:
Kenton - 4th (12.32)
Jonathan Alder - 8th (9.41)
Lima Bath - 19th (3.11)
Kenton remains undefeated in the WBL and remains fourth in its region. Kenton most likely can afford one loss and still get into the playoffs, so the Wildcats will either need to defeat Defiance this week or St. Marys in week 10.

Region 20:
Coldwater - 1st (14.44)
St. Henry - 3rd (11.18)
Anna - 5th (10.34)
Columbus Bishop Ready - 8th (9.55)
Hamilton Badin - 9th (8.79)
Versailles - 14th (6.43)
Parkway - 30th (0.00)
Coldwater is running away with this region and a win over 7-0 Delphos St. Johns this week should assure the Cavaliers of home-field advantage in the first week of the playoffs. St. Henry only drops to third place despite losing its second game in a row this week, thanks in part to Marion Pleasant and Eaton each coming through with wins. A win over Delphos St. Johns in week 9 would lock up a playoff berth, though if the Redskins lose that game they still look fairly solid if they can defeat 3-4 Fort Recovery this week and 1-6 Minster in the season finale.
Anna holds in fifth place, as much due to wins by Sidney Lehman and Waynesfield as from its destruction of Minster. New Bremen, Versailles and Marion local await the Rockets, and three wins will lock up a playoff spot in this tough region. A loss will make the Rockets more nervous, but a playoff invitation would still be quite possible. Versailles inched closer to the playoffs with a win against 3-4 Fort Recovery, but will still need to take care of Marion Local next week and Anna the week after that.

Region 22:
Delphos St. John's - 1st (13.34)
Columbus Grove - 8th (7.91)
Time for the Blue Jays to start planning for the playoffs, and printing tickets for that home playoff game they will be hosting if they can get by Coldwater next week or St. Henry the week after that.

Region 24:
New Bremen - 7th (6.85)
Sidney Lehman - 8th (6.71)
Marion Local - 9th (6.58)
Fort Recovery - 17th (2.27)
Minster - 18th (1.70)
New Bremen vaults into the playoff hunt with its win over Marion Local, but the Cardinals will likely need to defeat either 6-1 Anna this week or 7-0 Coldwater in week 10 to stay in the top eight. Marion Local falls three places with the loss, but wins by Lima Shawnee and computer points cow Our Lady of Mt. Carmel keep them on the edge of playoff contention. The 3-4 Flyers have a chance to sneak into the playoffs with a 5-5 record, which is a good thing considering they have three difficult games remaining against Versailles, Fort Recovery and Anna.
Fort Recovery (3-4) can still get in if it wins out, but the Indians play St. Henry, Marion Local and Delphos St. John's. Two wins could make things interesting, but unlikely, as the Indians would need a lot of help from games they do not control.
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