This is the week where some situations need to line up for some area football teams in order to make the playoffs, while Norwich just needs to win its remaining two league games to return to the Class B playoffs. Here are a look at the playoff possibilities for the six local grid outfits:
Bainbridge-Guilford: The Bobcats beat Oxford in the regular season meeting two weeks ago, but are rooting hard for the Blackhawks to win tonight against Walton. If B-G and Oxford win out in division play, it could create a three-way tie for second place along with Walton. At that point, it comes down to tiebreaker scenarios, and that may favor B-G.
≠Greene: With one division loss to UV-Edmestonalready in the books, the Trojans need to win out in division play for any chance to reach the postseason. That would include victories over state-ranked Chenango Forks this week, and state-ranked Sidney over back-to-back weeks. No easy task indeed. The Trojans also need UV-Edmeston to lose its final division game to Chenango Forks next week.
Norwich: Outside of Chenango Valley, every team in Norwich’s division has one loss – including the Purple Tornado. As stated above, if Norwich beats Windsor this week and Oneonta next week – each road games – the Tornado advance to the Class B playoffs for a second straight season.
Oxford: Best-case scenario for Oxford is that it beats Walton, then tops Harpursville next week to finish in a tie for second-place in Class D’s Division VII. If Delhi tops B-G this week and Oxford wins out, there is a good chance the Blackhawks may make the playoffs.
Sherburne-Earlville: With S-E trailing Section III, Class C South division leaders Canastota and Westmoreland by two games with one division game left, the Marauders are out of the playoff race.
UV-Edmeston: UV-Edmeston has the difficult task of needing to beat Chenango Forks next week to increase its chances of making the playoffs. It’s a huge turnaround for the Storm, though, who have never talked Class C playoffs this late in the season, and are one win away from picking up the school’s first winning season since 2004.
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This weekend’s matchups:
Mount Markham (1-4, 1-5) at Sherburne-Earlville (2-2, 3-3), Friday, 7 p.m.
Sherburne-Earlville is coming off its best offensive performance since the 2005 season when it topped 400 yards of offense twice, and scored 44 points in a win over Clinton. That season, not coincidentally, was the last winning one for the Marauders, who can take another step toward that goal tonight. “Mount Markham has been struggling a little this year with a new coach and a new offense,” said S-E coach Mike Jasper. “They’ve shown they can be dangerous, and played state-ranked Westmoreland tough in the first half.
“For us, it’s a league game, and they beat us last year. We’ve played two solid games in a row and want to continue the momentum.”
Norwich (1-1, 2-4) at Windsor (0-2, 1-5), Friday, 7 p.m.
Norwich pulled out a dramatic one-point win over Windsor last year to start its division title run, and will move one win from clinching another postseason appearance with the victory over the Black Knights tonight.
“What we do will determine our outcome,” said Norwich coach John Martinson. “It’s late in the season, and I’m expecting our kids to show up.”
Martinson hopes his team carries over the momentum of the second half last week when it scored 21 points against Johnson City, and nearly pulled off a three-touchdown comeback.
