As I am sure all of you know, each year sixteen (16) high school teams in each classification make the high school football playoff field. That selection process is, in my opinion, the fairest and absolutely best way to determine those playoffs teams. You actually earn your way into the playoff field in high school football. However, with that said, time is running out on several teams in the state.
As we enter week number seven of play, there are a lot of familiar names in the state that have a lot of work to do if they plan on playing after the regular season ends. In Class AAA, of the 38 teams that compete, we still have 2 undefeated teams and 20 teams with either 1, 2 or just 3 losses. That adds up to 22 teams vying for just 16 playoff spots. And, remembering last year when we had two teams with 4 losses make the playoffs you currently have to add 11 teams this year that only have four losses and if they win out they just might make the field.
In Class AA, it’s even more crowded at the top. Of the 40 teams that compete in the middle class of competition, we still have 5 undefeated teams and 8 more with just 1 loss. Add to those numbers 7 teams with two losses and 3 teams with three losses! That adds up to 23 teams with three losses or less chasing those 16 playoff spots. Plus, if you add the 8 teams in Class AA with just four losses , you can see why winning now is so very important. By the way, last year in the Class AA field, there were no four loss teams.
In Class A, the same trend can be found. There are 38 teams in the small schools classification and heading into week number seven of play, there are 7 undefeated teams! We still have 4 teams with just one loss, 8 teams with two losses and 7 teams with just three defeats. That’s 26 teams with 3 losses or less and there is another 7 teams in Class A that have only 4 losses. Last season, we had 3 four loss teams in the playoffs, however this year the numbers don’t add up.
Coming up this weekend, once again we have some great games scheduled. In Class AAA, #1 Cabell Midland will be at #5 Huntington in a game scheduled to kick off at 1:30 Saturday afternoon. Also in AAA, #9 Wheeling Park is at #4 Morgantown, #14 Hurricane travels to #7 George Washington and in the eastern panhandle we have a battle of ranked teams as #16 Spring Mills will be at #6 Jefferson. In Class AA, there is a battle near the top as #7 Keyser visits #2 Bridgeport, #3 James Monroe travels to Wyoming County to take on #15 Westside and #13 Independence will travel to Hinton to meet up with #12 Summers County. Both teams are 5-1. In Class A, two undefeated teams will clash as #4 out of Class AA, Chapmanville will travel to Logan County to battle #1 in Class A, the Man Hillbillies. Chapmanville is 6-0, while Man is 5-0. Also in Class A, #10 Weir from Class AA will take on #4 Magnolia! All of the above games are scheduled for Friday night, under the lights!
Don’t forget to check in with GAMENIGHT this Friday night after your local high school game is finished and remember you can always find the show at wvmetronews.com!