9 Lancaster-Lebanon League teams have already wrapped up berths.
By Keith Schweigert
Published Oct 31, 2006 13:48
And there’s a chance it could be an even dozen by the end of the week.
That’s the situation as we enter Friday night’s regular-season finale.
A .500 record and a little bit of luck are all it takes to get in the playoffs these days, now that District 3 has expanded the format to include almost half of the teams in each class.
There will still be a lot of fans watching scoreboards across the district Friday night. Even teams already in the playoffs need to worry about where they’ll be seeded.
With that in mind, here’s a look at how each field breaks down:
QUAD-A
L-L Leaguers Wilson (8-1), Manheim Township (7-2), Conestoga Valley (7-2), Warwick (6-3) and McCaskey (5-4) are already in the postseason.
They join Harrisburg (8-1), Governor Mifflin (8-1), State College (8-1), Central Dauphin (7-2), Muhlenberg (7-2), Bishop McDevitt (6-3) and Altoona (6-3), who have also clinched berths.
That leaves four spots open in the 16-team field, and Penn Manor (5-4) is one of six teams vying for the final berths.
The Comets can clinch a spot with a victory over Township Friday night.
A loss would not be fatal to Penn Manor, as long as one of the three teams trailing it in the power points standings — Central Mountain (5-4), Cumberland Valley (5-4) or Red Lion (4-5) — lose on Friday.
Central Mountain faces Huntington (8-1), a Triple-A team. Cumberland Valley takes on Mid-Penn rival Cedar Cliff (3-6), while Red Lion faces Dallastown (1-8).
TRIPLE-A
Manheim Central (9-0) jumped to its customary spot atop the District 3 standings with last week’s victory over E-town. The Barons can lock up the top seed in the playoffs with a win over arch-rival Conestoga Valley Friday night.
Joining Central in the field is Lampeter-Strasburg (7-2), which has clinched a spot no matter what the outcome of Friday’s Section 3 clash with Donegal turns out to be.
Northern York (9-0), South Western (8-1), Daniel Boone (8-1), Susquehanna Township (8-1), New Oxford (8-1), Susquehannock (8-1), Red Land (8-1), West Perry (8-1) Greencastle-Antrim (7-2) and West York (6-3) have also clinched spots.
That leaves Garden Spot (5-4) and Donegal (6-3) still in the hunt for the final four spots, along with Gettysburg (6-3), Hamburg (7-2), York Suburban (5-4), Kennard-Dale (5-4) and Exeter Township (5-4).
Donegal takes on L-S, while Garden Spot faces Ephrata (1-8). Both can clinch berths with victories.
Both teams can also afford a loss, as long as York Suburban falls to Susquehannock, Kennard-Dale falls to Susquenita (2-7) and Exeter falls to Daniel Boone on Friday.
DOUBLE-A
Lancaster Catholic (9-0) can wrap up the top seed with a victory over Northern Lebanon (5-4) on Friday. Columbia (6-3) is also in no matter what happens against Annville-Cleona (2-7).
Wyomissing (9-0), Trinity (7-2), Boiling Springs (7-2) and Bermudian Springs (7-2) are also already in, which leaves two spots open.
Milton Hershey (5-4), Littlestown (5-4) or Delone Catholic (5-4) are battling for those spots.
All of them need to win Friday and hope enough of their vanquished opponents win to give them enough bonus points to clinch the two remaining berths.
One of the three will be lucky enough to run into Catholic in the first round. The other will have to play Wyomissing. It’s likely neither of them will be in the postseason for long.
SINGLE-A
There are no Single-A teams in the L-L League, which means we can avoid saying much about this so-called race.
Millersburg (9-0), Reading Central Catholic (8-1), Steelton-Highspire (7-2), Halifax (7-2), Camp Hill (5-4) and Reading Holy Name (5-4) have wrapped up six of the eight berths.
Hanover (2-7) and Scotland (1-8) are the likliest candidates to emerge with the final two berths.
Too bad Lebanon Catholic, which dropped its football program a few years ago, can’t cobble together a team in time for Friday night.
Even without a team, zero power points are almost enough to earn the Beavers a berth.
Memo to District 3: in the case of the Single-A playoffs, sometimes less is more.
——— Keith Schweigert is the New Era Sports Editor. He can be reached by email at kschweigert@lnpnews.com.
Talkback on LancasterOnline
Welcome to the new TalkBack on LancasterOnline. Please use the comment box below to share your opinion on this
article. If you would prefer to use the previous TalkBack forums instead, please use this link.
