Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Mass Division 2 playoff 2015


 

 

 

                Division 2 Playoff are down to the quarterfinals.  There are 2 teams from each area (North, South, Central and the West).

The North area has Billerica Memorial (#10) will take on #11 ranked Reading Memorial in Billerica. Undefeated Billerica 9-0 has benefited from dropping from division 1 to division 2 in the Merrimack Valley Conference and has great confidence this year. Reading only has one loss and is looking for the upset here. Billerica should advance.

                Quadrant 2 is the South area of the state. The south will pit #4 ranked Marshfield against Needham. Marshfield has occupied the #1 ranking most of the year and are currently 9-0 and sit in the #4  spot. Needham is not ranked in the top 25 however they have a 7-2 overall record. They won the Bay State Carey League with a 5-1 record and only lost to 9-0 Milton and Walpole. I see Marshfield advancing here.

                Quadrant 3 has the Central Massachusetts teams. Central Mass does not have a division 1 so there are some big teams from the Central Area. St John’s (S) will be playing Nashoba Valley. St Johns seems to always go deep in every playoff.  This year Nashoba Regional is 9-0 and looking to represent the region this year.

                The western part of the state has Longmeadow against Central (Springfield). Central is 8-1 and is the highest ranked team from the Western part of Massachusetts. Longmeadow will try to stop them

                It is my analysis that the stronger teams are from the South this year, then the North, Central and then the west. Marshfield I believe is the best team, but they will have to get through

 

Mass Division 1 South playoffs 2015

           

          The Division 1 South is highlighted by the defending Super bowl Champions Xaverian Brothers (Hawks). They are undefeated and the #1 ranked team in the state. Xaverian has reached the State Super bowl both times since realignment in 2013 for 1 Division 1 State Championship. Xaverian beat Attleboro and shutout Catholic Conference foe CM 28-0 to advance to the Finals of the South.                                                          




#4 ranked BC High was paired up against #5 ranked Catholic Memorial. This was not only a Catholic Conference rivalry but these 2 schools are arch-rivals. BC High must have overlooked their rival because they lost badly at home 34-12. Catholic Memorial is the smallest football school in Division 1 (567-boys) and continues to play post season in this Division. This was a huge win from the Catholic Memorial Knights and probably the highlight of their year. CM had the unenviable task of playing Xaverian for the second time and lost 28-0. CM and BC High will again face each other as Thanksgiving rivals, but this year the game will be played in the historic Fenway park November 25, 2015. Both CM and BC High alumni will have something to look forward to.

 Bridgewater-Raynham leapfrogged Brockton to get the desirable # 2 seed with a 4-3 record. B-R pounded Weymouth in the opening round and then lost to their Rivals Brockton in a dog fight losing 10-6 at home. Brockton will now face the mighty Xaverian Hawks at the hawk Bowl in Westwood 11/14/15.

Brockton (7-2) is like a Catholic Conference team. They played CM, BC High and Xaverian during the year. This is where they have their 2 loses (BC and Xav). Brockton was pulverized by Xaverian 10/10 by a score of 33-0.  Since then Brockton beat Durfee, New Bedford, Newton North and Bridgewater-Raynham with a stout defense. I can see many fans rooting for Brockton just so we see a different team in the Superbowl.

Brockton vs Xaverian preview. Xaverian has won 8 of the last 9 games in this series and with the # 1 ranking are poised to win again.

Buckle your chin strap