Gridbits: High school state football playoffs have followed seeds, math
The debate about the right rating system to determine what teams qualify for playoff action has been ongoing since the Super Bowls were inaugurated in 1972. The current MIAA method seems to be working well in terms of calculating teams’ relative strengths.
In games involving Central Mass. schools this season, the higher seeds have won all but two, so the math has been good. Sixteen teams per division are probably too many. The Central Mass. teams seeded below 12th — Millbury, Oxford, Leominster, St. John’s, Sutton and Bay Path — were 0-6 and lost by a combined 254-74.
The magic number might be 12. Blackstone Valley Tech was a No. 12 seed and lost to Danvers, 20-19. Westborough was a No. 12 and lost to Mansfield, 27-7. With a 12-team tournament, though, there are byes involved, and that’s not good, either. The suggestion here would be to start with an Elite Eight, not a 16-team field.
∎ Two of the region’s four Final Four schools will be playing opponents they have never met before. Hudson has never opposed Fairhaven. West Boylston has never encountered Cathedral. Grafton lost to Scituate in the 2021 playoffs, 21-14. Uxbridge and Clinton, both of which have been playing in Central Mass. since the 1890s, have met just once before. The Spartans won that game, 27-6, in 2018.
∎ Bay Path’s 53-8 triumph over Essex Tech in the State Vocational Tournaments gave the Minutemen 388 points for the season, a school record. Their semifinal opponent is Greater New Bedford, which they beat in the playoffs last year.
∎ Monty Tech heads into its Thanksgiving game versus Nashoba Tech at 5-5. The Bulldogs were 9-4 last season and have not had back-to-back winning seasons since they were 6-5 in both 2003 and 2004 in Gary Carroll’s third go-round as coach.
∎ North Middlesex is preparing to play Manchester-Essex on Thanksgiving. That school will be the Patriots’ fifth holiday opponent since 2015. Actually, given the official name of one of those Cape Ann towns, the game should be North Middlesex versus Manchester-by-the-Sea-Essex. That would be a record for most hyphens.
If the Patriots win they will finish 8-3, their best record since having the same line in 2006.
∎ Clinton has at least two games left in which to reach seven victories. The last time the Gaels had that many in a season was 2010. … Gardner could have tied the school record for most points in a season with a pair of safeties versus Oakmont last week but went two points better in its 13-6 loss to Oakmont. The Wildcats have 390 points. The 1999 team had 388. … Still hard to believe that St. Bernard’s is 3-7 considering that it has outscored the opposition by 220-175.
∎ Maynard beat West Boylston last Thanksgiving with the Lions on the way to a Super Bowl. The Tigers head into this matchup with at least 499 all-time losses dating back to 1896. Maynard has many victories, too, in those years — 485. … This will be the ninth Thanksgiving game between Sutton and Blackstone-Millville, and the first time both teams go into it with winning records. … Uxbridge is another team to set a seasonal points record. The Spartans have 427. They scored 398 last year. …Valley Tech plays Whittier Tech of Haverhill this weekend in the Vocational playoffs. The teams have met once before, with Whittier winning, 44-8, in a Vocational Super Bowl in 2014.
—Contact Bill Ballou at sports@telegram.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @BillBallouTG.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Gridbits: High school state football playoffs have followed seeds, math
