With the end of the regular season PLAYOFF Season is upon us... and boy oh the 540 will be represented well but this week I wanna touch on ALL of the teams that made it. So to do that I will separate my previews by district, and first up is the Commonwealth District. This district will see 4 teams in playoff action tonight One in Class 6 and 3 in Class 5, so let's get into it.
#7 Patrick Henry (Roanoke) (7-3) at #2 Massaponax (7-1)
Well hello there Massaponax. Funny seeing you here. I remember when you were 0-1 and your first game was suspended and you were down 21-14 and people were in my Twitter DMs calling me biased for keeping you in my top 10. Couple of months later you're 7-1 and the number 2 seed in the region. I incorrectly picked against Massaponax as I thought the Eagles would pull an upset off in a must win game. But the Panthers dominated the second half and Forge got in the playoffs anyway so I was wrong on both accounts. This one has the potential to be ugly. Ponax has hit their stride and are now running offensively like a well-oiled machine. Patrick Henry I'm sure has spent all week doing their best to prepare for the triple option making that long trip to the 540 and actually playing it for the first time is a different story. Donte Hawthorne and Kimble may both score just off of missed assignments by the Patriots tomorrow night. If there is one thing that worries me about the Panthers is there defense which has at times given up some points but the triple option will do a good job of limiting the Patriots opportunities. I have always said there are 2 times you never want to play Ponax... Late in the season and for the first time... PH will fit in both of those categories tonight.
Prediction: Massaponax 39 Patrick Henry 24
#6 Woodgrove (7-2) at #3 Mountain View (9-1)
The Wildcats simply did not look like themselves last week. A lot of that is because of the way Riverbend played last week and maybe the Bears are better than Mountain View but that much better? With the loss the Wildcats fell a spot in the seeding and will now have to square off against the 2018 Class 4 State Champion Woodgrove Wolverines. This is a program that has experienced excellence not long ago. The Wolverines are a big team with a lot of size in their front 7. However there are still questions about how good the Wolverines are. A look at their resume shows only 2 wins over playoff teams (Independence 6-3) and (Forest Park 5-5) the latter of which Mountain View beat 35-6 compared to the 50-47 win the Wolverines had. Their are no blowout victories even over Briar Woods and Riverside who finished a combined 1-19... But while their resume has questions there are a couple of things that don't. The Wolverines are big and physical and last week we saw physical beat the Wildcats. And when you add on the fact we saw starting QB Jackson Sigler go down on the last play of the half and never return in the game it is clear that he may be out tonight. All things considered this one looks ripe for an upset. The Wildcats will be the faster team, but they will need to be tough if they want to move on and play another week.
Prediction: Woodgrove 21 Mountain View 38
#5 Albemarle (8-2) at #4 Riverbend (8-2)
Once upon a time these were two commonwealth district teams. And if we're being honest it wasn't two teams people were breaking their necks to watch play. Things have changed now however as these two programs both had one of the best regular seasons in recent memory. Both teams towards the end of the year put on displays that made Class 5 raise their eyebrows. First the Patriots did it when then beat the Louisa Lions handily 23-7 eventually winning a share of the Jefferson District crown. A week later it was the Bears turn to turn some heads when that physically dominated previously unbeaten Mountain View 28-6 and claiming a piece of the Commonwealth District title. Both of these teams have shown to have a suffocating defense the last few weeks and both will look for that to carry them tonight. For the Bears the legs and defensive leadership of Aiden Fisher is what will be the X-Factor in this game. Not just anyone will be able to walk into Riverbend and take that group down. The Patriots must be on their A-Game of they want to move on.
Prediction: Albemarle 7 Riverbend 31
#8 Colonial Forge (4-6) at #1 Battlefield (10-0)
Well here's a shocker, Greg Hatfield finishing a regular season undefeated and entering the playoffs as a top seed? Yeah never seen that before. In all seriousness it is great to see how successful Hatfield has been at his new spot and seeing him bring Battlefield back to the place that we have seen it in its glory years. Isaiah Walters has done a masterful job running that offense and the defense has been a unsung hero all year long for the unbeaten Bobcats. On the other hand for the Eagles it has been a disappointing season to say the least. For some programs making the playoffs is a success. Colonial Forge is not other programs. Our Preseason number one team just never got it together in the regular season. When I picked the Eagles to be number one despite their lack of a pass game last season I did it for a few reasons. 1. I thought that early in the year the Eagles would have a dominate run game behind a great Oline with pieces like Nolan McConnel and VJ Byrd. 2. I thought the Eagles would have a really good defense that that would keep them in games early in the season. 3. With 1 and 2 in place I thought that with a real offseason the Eagles would game by game get better at passing the football by the time the playoffs came. Instead of these things being the case 1. Teams stacked the box and took away the run game never giving it a chance to be dominate. 2. The Eagles defense truly struggled this season I mean REALLY struggled giving up 40+ points 4 times this season. 3. While the passing attack had some decent moments in the season it never became consistent like I thought it would. All in all you get a very weird 4-6 year for the Eagles. I don't think the Bobcats are unbeatable at all. However do I think Forge is the team to beat them? It'll take a game from Forge that we have not seen from them yet this season.
Prediction: Colonial Forge 13 Battlefield 30
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