DII-A week of Oct. 9th

[Trojan Fan]

Matchups in the West:

ECS steps back up to the DII-AA table to face a Christian Brothers squad having an excellent season. At this point they look like the 2nd best DII team in the West behind might MUS. This should be a good non-division test for ECS and yet another barometer game for how much better they are than the rest of the West and perhaps the rest of the state in DII-A.

 

SBEC steps out of TN altogether tonight to face Pillow Academy from Greenwood, MS. An old MPSA foe that plays a tough brand of football and is right there in the running for the Academy AAA title in MS this year gives the Trojans a good tough non-district test heading into their last 2 games of the year.

 

Fayette Academy DII-A West 2 visits DII-A West 1 undefeated FACS in what could be a competitive non-district tilt.

 

First Assembly is undefeated so far but faces a murderer's row of ECS, St. George's, and SBEC to finish the season after this week. Both the ECS and SBEC games are district games for FACS that will decide the seeding from the West 1 district.

That's pretty much it for interesting games in the West this week. West 1 and West 2 have become pretty clear at this point. ECS is the class of West 1 and the West in general after their victory over University School of Jackson from West 2. ECS rolled SBEC earlier in the season and it would be a shocker if they don't beat FACS and claim the division title. The last game of the regular season when SBEC visits FACS will determine the 2nd and 3rd place finishers from West 1 and who gets to host and who has to travel in the 1st round of the playoffs. Harding and Bishop Byrne are effectively done when it comes to postseason.

 

West 2 has a clear leader in USJ and they'll win that district having already defeated the teams that have any hopes of catching them. St. George's and Jackson Christian face off next week in a game that could give St. George's the nod for 2nd place in West 2. The Gryphons have already taken out Fayette Academy. A JCS loss to SGIS would leave the Fayette/JCS game the last week of the season as the decider of who claims 3rd place in the district and gets the last West 2 playoff bid and a trip East for the 1st round of the playoffs. Tipton Rosemark and Rossville Christian are effectively done.

 

East/Middle clearly has a leader in Knoxville Webb. Donelson Christian faces off against Ezell-Harding in a region matchup that would seem to favor DCA pretty heavily. Davidson Academy steps out of DII to matchup up with Lancaster Christian in a favorable matchup that should allow them to figure out what to do with their offense the rest of the way. Webb hosts Mt. Juliet Christian likely hoping to just keep everybody healthy and get some PT for the young guys. An intriguing matchup has Zion Christian visiting St. Andrews-Sewanee. Zion took their first region loss of the year vs. Franklin Road last week giving FRA a good leg up on a playoff spot. SAS is struggling but a win vs. Zion would go a long way towards slipping into the final 6 for a playoff spot. You have to figure Zion takes this one.

 

If I had to choose the playoff lineup from East/Middle now, I'd probably go:

1. Knoxville Webb

2. Donelson Christian

3. Davidson Academy

4. Franklin Road Academy

5. Zion Christian

6. not a clue

 

Really, you can take 2 through 5 and throw them in a hat at this point. They don't all play each other and I don't know how you figure out tiebreakers because it will probably come to that. Somebody who knows this group well, please take a stab at how it plays out and how the tiebreakers work b/w teams who don't all play each other.

[movinonup]

Thanks Trojan - good post and being new to Div II, this helps understand what is going on with other teams.

[ExSpartan]

Nice recap. I enjoy readin ur posts. I agree that webb is prolly the best in the east right now. 2 weeks ago they beat #3 5a knox catholic 21-10. They also beat 2 other 5a schools this year. Last week lancaster was not very good and i don't know much about mt. juliet except they haven't won a game.

[Gatlin]

Well done, Trojan Fan.