With the end of the regular season PLAYOFF Season is upon us... The 540 will be represented well and we have breakdowns for a lot of the teams that made it. Congrats to all of the teams that get to play another week and know that we will be rooting for you! Now lets get into the games.
Region 6B
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#7 Forest Park (6-4) at #2 Mountain View (10-0)
After losing key offensive starters (QB) Jackson Sigler, Ike Daniels, (WR) Jaiden Fair, and (WR) Colin Carroll to graduation, many thought that Mountain View would take a step back and it would be someone else's turn in the district. Then last Spring (LB) Kris Jones announced he was transferring to Fairfax and that opinion only grew stronger. In response to that loss of talent the Wildcats found a way to complete their first ever undefeated season in school history. Back in August they began their season by taking it to this same Forest Park team beating them 38-0. A lot has changed since that point in the season. Forest Park finished the season with a respectable 6-4 with 2 of those losses being to Mountain View and Freedom. The Bruins keep things pretty simple offensively, FP likely has one of the biggest Offensive lines in the region with (OL) Nathaniel Wright (6'5 275) and (OL) Brandon Edozie (6'6 260) leading the way up front for the Bruins. (RB) Landon Hunt has ran for over 1300 yards this season behind that huge Oline. The Bruins won't make any secrets about what they want to do they want to run the ball and control the clock. As for the Wildcats their entire defense led by Eric Mensah and Jackson Hamil has been the MVP for the Wildcats this season forcing multiple turnovers in every game but 1 this season. (QB) Aaron Barber has done a great job this year getting multiple weapons involved in the passing game and the Wildcats have taken advantage of a 2 RB system to keep opponents off balanced.
#5 Gainesville (8-2) at #4 Colonial Forge (9-1)
You simply aren't going to find that many 4 seeds in the state that are as dangerous as Colonial Forge. The Eagles come into this one at 9-1 with their only loss this season coming to undefeated #2 seed Mountain View. The Eagles have gotten where they are at this point by running the football behind an Oline that may not be the biggest but is certainly one of the physical in the area. (OL) Jake Mangano leads that group and they should be recognized for the success Forge has had on the ground. Their opponents are entering uncharted territory. Gainesville is entering it's first ever playoff game in only it's second season having a varsity program. The visiting Cardinals have had great success in the air this season (QB) Colton Kilmer has passed for well over 2k yards and his main target (WR) Aiden McClafferty leads all PWC Receivers with nearly 1500 yards receiving. The Cardinals only losses have come to the 2 established Western Prince William County powers Paatriot and Battlefield losing those games 56-26 and 42-0 respectively. They'll need to improve their physicality if they hope to compete with such a tough Forge team tonight.
Region 5D
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#6 Independence (4-6) at #3 Riverbend (6-4)
Not many teams had things work out as well for them last Friday night as much as Riverbend. Going into their match-up with Ponax the Bears sat at the 4 seed. After they left the field Riverbend was the 3 seed and to make matters even better for the Bears Briar Woods got upset and fell to the 2 seed, therefore if Riverbend wins tonight they won't have to face Stone Bridge in the second round a 3rd year in a row. On Friday night Triplett showed up big for the Bears tossing 3 TDs to secure the 3 spot. With the injury to (RB) JoJo Thomas affecting the running game the past few weeks Triplett has done a great job distributing to his weapons of course including (WR) Amir Mateo who has burst on the scene this season as a legitimate WR1. As for Independence one has to feel their confidence will be at an all time high after upsetting rival Briar Woods who came into their game last week as the one seed. This will not be Independence's first encounter with a 540 team this season. Independence took on Massaponax week 1 and fell 35-14 then Brooke Point a few weeks later and fell 36-13 they then faced Stafford the next week and pulled out a 19-7 victory. The Tigers shouldn't be taken lightly because of their record as they demonstrated a week ago upsetting Briar Woods 9-7
#5 Massaponax (5-5) at #4 Lightridge (6-4)
Massaponax returns to the playoffs after a brief hiatus a year ago. With this appearance they'll have a chance to knock off a relatively knew program in Loudoun County trying to gain momentum. The winner of tonights match-up will take the trip to Ashburn to take on the one seeded Stone Bridge Bulldogs. For Massaponax they'll need to continue to improve their ball control and avoid turnovers as the Panthers put the ball on the ground 5 times last week losing the football once and threw an interception. Massaponax has used several different athletes in their scheme this season but (RB) William Wiggins has been hard to bring down all season. Lightridge comes into this one making their first ever appearance as a football program having fielded their first varsity team in the Spring of 2021. The Lightning come into this one off 2 straight win to end their season over Riverside and Potomac Falls. Lightridge also had impressive performances in losses to (9-1) John Champe and (10-0) Tuscarora. It's very possible that this game is a sleeper to come down to the wire when it's all said and done. Where Massaponax will of course look to grind clock and run the football. Lightridge will be doing quite the opposite, (QB) Carter Working passed for over 2,000 yards this season and his main target (WR) Al Honesty stands at 6'2 and had nearly one thousand yards this season. This clash of contrasting styles should be very interesting when it's all said and done, a big factor in this one will be how well Lightridge's Oline handles Ponax's constant blitzing.
REMAINING PLAYOFF TEAMS
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Already Final (Thursday)
#8 Hanover (6-5) (28) at #1 King George (11-0) (40)
(Foxes survive a well coached Hawks team and will get another shot at Dinwiddie)
#5 Eastern View (9-2) (25) at #4 Dinwiddie (8-3) (42)
(Cyclones put up an honorable fight against the defending champions, plenty to be proud of)
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TONIGHT
REGION 5C
#7 Mills Goodwin (6-4) at #2 Louisa (9-1)
(Lions look to use home crowd and ground game to lift them this round)
REGION 4B
#7 Courtland (6-4) at #2 Varina (8-2)
(Cougars with an extremely difficult draw in round 1 against a Varina team who's only losses are to Freedom and Highland Springs)
REGION 4D
#8 Liberty (5-5) at #1 Salem (9-1)
(Liberty makes it back to the playoffs for the first time since 2019 but will have to travel to Salem and take on Chris Cole and the highly favored Spartans)
REGION 3B
#6 Skyline (4-6) at #3 Kettle Run (9-1)
(The Cougars will look to bounce back and hope for a rematch against Brentsville next week)
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