Second Season Implications.
by MoCoFootball Staff on 10/29/10Mike Cornejo for MoCoFootball
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Let's state the obvious; the region shared with Frederick County teams, is the doggone heavyweight division of Maryland (we're talking about the heavyweight of the Muhammad Ali era; the boxing heavyweight division now sucks!). Clinching a playoff berth last week is #2 Quince Orchard (7-1). The Cougars joined #1 Damascus (8-0) and Fred Co's Linganore (7-0), this leaves us with ONE spot left. #6 Seneca Valley (6-2) is looking to be the team that take that spot. It won't be easy with Whitman in their way. Clarksburg (4-4) is still alive. They plays rival Damascus tonight and a Coyotes win means Seneca Valley cannot relax. Oh, and the Watkins Mill Wolverines (4-4) are all but dead. Look for them to bring it to Einstein (or maybe not, WM is unpredictable right now).
We inch a day closer to the second season. Deciding what the Games of The Week was trouble in itself because of the importance of virtually every game this week.
4A WEST
No team has clinched a playoff berth. None. #4 Gaithersburg (7-1) and #3 Sherwood (7-1) could do so with wins tonight. Gaithersburg has winless Northwest for Homecoming and The Warriors have #8 Springbrook (6-2).
#5 Whitman (vs Seneca Valley tonight) and #7 B-CC (6-2) taking care of business tonight and next week would then make them MoCo's representatives for the 4A West Region.
Still alive for the hunt- if things go well for them- are Churchill (4-4), Walter Johnson (4-4), Paint Branch (5-3), and #8 Springbrook (6-2).
3A WEST
Let's state the obvious; the region shared with Frederick County teams, is the doggone heavyweight division of Maryland (we're talking about the heavyweight of the Muhammad Ali era; the boxing heavyweight division now sucks!). Clinching a playoff berth last week is #2 Quince Orchard (7-1). The Cougars joined #1 Damascus (8-0) and Fred Co's Linganore (7-0), this leaves us with ONE spot left. #6 Seneca Valley (6-2) is looking to be the team that take that spot. It won't be easy with Whitman in their way. Clarksburg (4-4) is still alive. They plays rival Damascus tonight and a Coyotes win means Seneca Valley cannot relax. Oh, and the Watkins Mill Wolverines (4-4) are all but dead. Look for them to bring it to Einstein (or maybe not, WM is unpredictable right now).2A WEST
MoCo 2A Division Champs Rockville will need to win their next two games to secure a second season appearance. Middletown (7-1) and South Carroll (8-0) are in. Walkersville can secure the 3rd spot with a win tonight. Joining the Rams in the fight for the 4th spot are Century, Liberty, North Hagerstown, and Winters Mill.
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Mike Cornejo's ELITE 8
1 - Damascus (8-0). undefeated. untouched. A win over Clarksburg tonight and you can consider week 10 (vs Kennedy) a bye for the Swarmin' Hornets to prepare for the playoffs.
2 - Quince Orchard (7-1). i feel the bitterness that overwhelms Coach Mac when he sees that '1' on the loss column. If there's a team that can take Damascus down, it's the Cougars. Week 12 for the 3A West regional crown, (if theyget passed Linganore) is going to be epic.
3 - Sherwood (7-1). Churchill who? Sherwood cruised against what was suppose to be a climbing-to-respectability Bulldogs team. Maybe not.
4 - Gaithersburg (7-1). I really think Gaithersburg is better than Sherwood, but their doo-doo performance against Magruder made the Trojans look like their head got a lil too big. I got a gut feeling they're going to smack the hell out of Northwest tonight. And I got a gut feeling I'll have them at #3 next week. Unless Sherwood wins by 50 tonight. The 'wood got the 'brook. Pestano and the Blue Devils will not make it easy.
5 - Seneca Valley (6-2). Why did the ranking team rank Whitman over Seneca Valley? because Whitman beat Springbrook and Seneca Valley lost to Quince Orchard. That's not THAT legitimate of a reason to rank SV lower. It's QO! QO can beat Springbrook by 30. I see Seneca Valley-Whitman as the most evenly matched game. I can see this going into overtime. The winner will take the higher ranking and make it easier on us ranking 'em.
6 - Whitman (6-2). Wasn't surprised whatsoever about the Vikes beating down Springbrook. I saw that coming from a mile away. They're going to have to play near-mistake-free football to get passed SV tonight and inch closer to clinching a playoff berth.
7 - Paint Branch (5-3). 5-3 Paint Branch 7th best team in MoCo? no way!! yes way, fool. Despite graduating some big guns and never playing a real home game, these guys are strong. If B-CC play Paint Branch 4 more times this year, Paint Branch will be 4-1 against B-CC. Panthers has done what they have to do playing tough and playing strong. They're better than B-CC, Rockville, Springbrook.
8 - Rockville (6-2). I'm giving the 8th spot to Rockville in that they are doing the job that is laid upon them. They've won the Big East of MoCo division easily. And they will emerge as one of a handful of MoCo teams to the playoffs. Other than that, I think B-CC, Springbrook, and Clarksburg are capable of beating Rockville by huge numbers. Watkins Mill can take em to overtime.
photo by Anthony Castellano, The Gazette
