Friday Night Finish with Big Games coming up next week:Who’s gonna win and who is going to get in the Playoffs???

*****There is a lot to look into, when you look into the last two weeks of the Regular Season that are coming up and just look at what all was happening tonight and who is gonna win and who will get in the playoffs???*****

With Glenn over Northwest Guilford 47-45 and Ragsdale stopping High Point Central 28-21 and you had Northern Guilford topping Northeast Guilford 35-27 and Eastern Guilford withstood Western Alamance 31-26 and this is just part of what is making the finish to this 2016 regular season become very interesting…

You have Northwest Guilford next week and SWG still does not have a conference win this season….For this one and many of our other games coming up next week, like Dudley(9-0) at Page(8-1) and Eastern Alamance(8-1) at Eastern Guilford(9-0), we have some real Big Games coming up and who is gonna win and “Who is Going to get in the Playoffs?”…..

Just look at these standings with the Piedmont Triad 4-A Conference which features Northwest Guilford, Southwest Guilford, Ragsdale and other like East Forsyth and Glenn, who are threatening to take over the Conference’s top spots…Just look at these standings….

School Name	        *W-L	*Pct.	*PF	*PA	W-L	Pct.	PF	PA	Strk
East Forsyth	        3-0	1.000	155	38	8-1	0.889	346	105	3 W
Northwest Guilford	2-1	1.000	65	41	6-3	0.750	279	139	1 L
Ragsdale	        2-1	0.667	66	74	4-5	0.444	193	255	2 W
Glenn	                2-1	0.500	74	104	6-3	0.625	279	267	1 W
High Point Central	0-3	0.000	44	110	3-6	0.333	174	322	3 L
Southwest Guilford	0-3	0.000	75	112	6-3	0.667	297	163	3 L

East Forsyth at (3-0) and NWG, Ragsdale and Glenn, all at 2-1 and the word going into the playoffs is usually three teams for the PTA 4-A on to the post season for the football playoffs….With two games to go, it is looking very bleak for SWG to get into the playoffs and they Cowboys began the year at (6-0)….NWG has SWG and East Forsyth remaining and that road will not be easy….Ragsdale might be a sleeper and dive right into the post season pool…

It is going to be a tough sled ride to see if Southeast Guilford or Grimsley gets to the playoffs this year….Page will host Dudley next Friday night for the right to the #1 team coming out of the Metro 4-A Conference this year and with three teams due to hit the playoffs, you know Dudley and Page are in, but will it be Grimsley or Southeast Guilford that joins and will Smith play a spoiler’s role when it comes time for Grimsley to face the Golden Eagles in the last game of the regular season??? Big question looms with Dudley and Page in battle at Marion Kirby Stadium next Friday night and who claim that coveted top spot in the Metro 4-A Conference….Dudley at Page next week and Grimmsley at SEG also next Friday, and then Grimsley will host Smith on the last Friday night of the regular season and SEG will go to Dudley….

Metro 4-A Standings and this is how the teams stack up….Conference Record in the first column….

School Name	       *W-L	*Pct.	*PF	*PA	W-L	Pct.	PF	PA	Strk
Dudley	                3-0	1.000	145	0	9-0	1.000	384	60	9 W
Page	                3-0	1.000	128	32	8-1	0.889	408	146	8 W
Southeast Guilford	2-1	0.500	41	60	4-4	0.500	157	173	2 W
Grimsley	        1-2	0.333	40	106	3-6	0.333	148	253	2 L
Southern Alamance	0-3	0.000	3	68	2-6	0.250	133	229	3 L
Ben L. Smith	        0-3	0.000	30	121	2-7	0.222	181	266	4 L

Who is gonna got that Top Spot, Dudley or Page and who will get that 3rd playoff spot, SEG or Grimsley???

+++++How about those matchups for Playoff Spots down there in the Mid-State 3-A Conference???+++++
You have Eastern Guilford at (9-0/6-0) with Eastern Alamance(8-1/5-1) coming to Eastern Guilford next Friday night….Can EG wrap up the Mid-State 3-A and claim the conference title outright and rule the Mid-State 3-A with sole possession of first place at the end of the regular season…Do the Wildcats do the “Wild Thing” and take the conference title?????

Will either Northeast Guilford of Northern Guilford make the playoffs from the Mid-State 3-A? With the conference getting at least four playoff spots, you know that EG, Western Alamance and Eastern Alamance are going to be locks and if somehow Eastern Alamance were to top EG and the then EG, EA and WA all won out to close out the season on Friday November 4, you would have a three-way tie for first place in the Mid-State 3-A with EG, EA and WA all going
(7-1) in conference play….That would be a real Crazy Finish right there, but let’s hope Eastern Guilford runs the table and then the Wildcats would be run away winners of the Mid-State 3-A Conference…

But what if the Conference gets Five bids to the NCHSAA 3-A Playoffs, do NEG and Northern get in??? Burlington Williams beat Northern, but NEG beat Williams and Williams just lost to McMichael, 10-7 tonight/Friday October 21….Like we said, EG, EA and WA in, but then who gets in and who will win their games the last two weeks of the regular season….There are no clear-cut favorites for those 4th and 5th spots right now….

School Name	       *W-L	*Pct.	*PF	*PA	W-L	Pct.	PF	PA	Strk
Eastern Guilford	6-0	1.000	199	47	9-0	1.000	280	87	9 W
Western Alamance	5-1	0.833	242	71	7-2	0.778	364	119	1 L
Eastern Alamance	5-1	0.833	215	105	8-1	0.889	333	119	1 W
Northeast Guilford	4-2	0.667	188	137	4-5	0.444	224	253	1 L
McMichael	        3-3	0.400	116	154	3-6	0.250	146	255	1 W
Walter M. Williams	2-5	0.333	108	138	5-5	0.556	204	151	2 L
Northern Guilford	2-4	0.333	113	145	2-7	0.222	161	285	1 W
Rockingham County	1-6	0.143	70	226	1-9	0.100	103	324	4 L
Morehead	        0-6	0.000	42	270	0-9	0.000	66	389	9 L

You could see both NEG and Northern finish at (4-4) in the conference and is there a chance that both might get in the playoffs???? Didn’t the NCHSAA lay down a rule a few years back that you have to have 5 overall wins to get in the playoffs and if that is the case, then neither NEG nor Northern would get in, but then you never know, you can drop that one non-conference loss from your record….
Gonna be tight and gonna be interesting, right here in the Mid-State 3-A Conference…..
+++++NEG has Western Alamance and Eastern Alamance left to play in the last two weeks of the season and Northern ends with McMichael and Morehead….Both NEG and Northern could end up right at 4-4 in the conference and NG would have the first tie-breaker, with the Nighthawks victory over NEG tonight/Friday October 21 at NG….
Eastern Guilford could still run the table and finish the 2016 Regular Season in the Mid-State 3-A, at (11-0/8-0)…..+++++

One of the better battles around is brewing over in the Mid=Piedmont 3-A with Southern Guilford sitting real nice right now at (8-2/5-0) and SG could close at (6-0) in the conference with a win over Ledford(7-2/4-0) and the game is at Southern Guilford next Friday night…Solid run this season for SG under first-year head coach Earl Bates, the former Eastern Guilford Wildcat….

School Name	       *W-L	*Pct.	*PF	*PA	W-L	Pct.	PF	PA	Strk
Southern Guilford	5-0	1.000	154	26	8-2	0.800	235	109	7 W
Ledford Senior	        4-0	1.000	208	44	7-2	0.778	324	118	6 W
North Forsyth	        2-1	0.667	80	35	4-4	0.500	214	183	2 W
Asheboro	        1-2	0.333	80	43	5-3	0.625	244	132	2 L
Southwestern Randolph	1-3	0.250	40	162	1-8	0.111	100	355	3 L
Western Guilford	1-3	0.000	32	103	1-7	0.125	106	296	7 L
Central Davidson	0-5	0.000	7	188	0-10	0.000	59	376	9 L

Southern Guilford is going to get in and it remains to be seen if they will go in as a #1 and you have to think SG will be the favorite at home next Friday night vs. Ledford…..If four teams from the MPC are to get in the playoffs, it looks like an easy pull for SG, Ledford, Asheboro and North Forsyth….

*****In the PAC 6 2-A, High Point Andrews is in great shape after defeating Randleman 27-20 in 2OT last Friday and then walloping Eastern Randolph tonight….HP Andrews has Wheatmore and Trinity left on the schedule and those two teams have combined conference record of (1-6)….Andrews is ready to win this thing again…..*****

School Name	       *W-L	*Pct.	*PF	*PA	W-3L	Pct.	PF	PA	Strk
T. Wingate Andrews	3-0	1.000	74	40	5-4	0.500	195	154	4 W
Eastern Randolph	2-1	1.000	74	45	6-3	0.750	218	148	4 W
Randleman	        2-1	0.667	98	58	7-2	0.778	287	169	1 W
Providence Grove	1-2	0.333	98	103	4-5	0.444	213	259	1 W
Wheatmore	        1-2	0.333	74	122	3-6	0.333	203	300	1 L
Trinity   	        0-3	0.000	61	111	4-6	0.400	300	311	4 L

+++++Now with four straight overall wins and with victories over the conference’s two toughest teams in Randleman and Eastern Randolph and the teams two weakest teams, Wheatmore and Trinity left to play, T. Wingate Andrews looks to be a cinch to win the PAC 6 2-A Conference again in 2016…..++++++

6 thoughts on “Friday Night Finish with Big Games coming up next week:Who’s gonna win and who is going to get in the Playoffs???

  1. I have heard or read somewhere that there is a new playoff format for North Carolina High school football. It states that only guaranteed birth is that of the conference champ and then the rest of the field is selected according to a power ranking so no longer does a conference have a certain amount of representatives. Is this true and does this go in effect this season?

  2. Had not heard that one, but that is a good question….

    Seems like we are all products of change these days…

  3. @Steve Williams you are correct effective this season. Just read it on the athletic association website. Conference champions are a lock then everything else goes to win percentage. I think its better instead of seeing teams with 2 and 3 wins making the playoffs. Those teams normally get crushed. For example who wants to see Dudley play a 2 or 3 win team in the first round of the playoffs. Will help good teams too because you will learn more about your team in the early rounds.

  4. This doesn’t look to be a pure science but here it how the process for the playoffs works this year from the NCHSAA:

    From 2016-17 NCHSAA Handbook

    4.1.17 Playoff Berths/Qualification:

    (a) All teams that finish first (1st) in the conference regular season or are the conference tournament champions, automatically qualify. In a split conference a team must finish 1st in their part of the split or be the conference tournament champion to automatically qualify.

    (1) Split conferences cannot have separate tournaments, and the regular season conference champion must participate in the conference tournament.

    (b) All other teams qualify based upon the best 22-game record (10-game, Football; All games, Tennis, Wrestling and Lacrosse) from the non-automatic qualifiers in a classification.

    (c) All classifications will field a full complement of 64 teams with the exception of Tennis, Wrestling and Lacrosse.

    (d) If ties exist for the final at-large berth(s) qualifiers, they will be broken by:

    (1) All Head-to-Head Competition:
    (i) The non-conference game(s) that are dropped for seeding purposes may still be used in breaking a tie

    (2) Conference Winning Percentage

    (3) Draw

    4.1.18 Seeding:

    (a) Once the qualifying teams are determined, they will be divided into four (4) groups, (i.e. East, Mideast, Midwest, West) based upon the longitude of each school.

    (b) Seed all first place, regular season conference champions by 22-game winning percentage (10-game, football; All games, Tennis, Wrestling & Lacrosse) followed by;

    (c) Conference tournament champions by 22-game winning percentage (10-game, football; All games, Tennis, Wrestling & Lacrosse), followed by;

    (d) All other qualifying teams by 22-game winning percentage (10-game, football; All games, Tennis, Wrestling & Lacrosse)

    (1) All ties for seeding in (a), (b) or (c) will be broken by:

    (i) All Head-to-Head Competition Note: The non-conference game(s) that are dropped for seeding purposes may still be used in breaking a tie. Note: All teams involved in the tie must have played each other.

    (ii) 24-game record (11-game, Football; All games, Tennis, Wrestling and Lacrosse)

    (iii) MaxPreps Ranking (last available ranking at the time of the seeding) (iv) Draw

    4.1.19 Bracketing:

    (a) Once the seeding process is complete, the pairings will be made with teams from the East paired with teams from the Mideast and teams from the Midwest paired with teams from the West.

    (b) A bracketing template for each sport will be posted on the NCHSAA website.

    4.1.20 Reporting Playoff Advancement:

    (a) After schools have qualified for the playoffs, it is their responsibility to report advancement by the appropriate method and deadline as designated by the NCHSAA.

    (b) Failure to report a playoff advancement will result in a $400 fine to the school. Teams must report advancement no later than 6 a.m. the day following each win.

    (c) Postponements should also be reported.

  5. It all depends on what happens these last two weeks..

    If Central wins its last two games, vs. Glenn and Southwest Guilford, then Central becomes 5-5 when you drop that one non-conference game and you have a decent Strength of Schedule when you consider you played Page, West Forsyth and North Davidson in out-of-conference games/non-conference games…

    You have to win the last two games to get in, or at least that is how it looks from here right now….

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