It’s that time of the year again. That’s right, it’s state playoffs time for football! For this playoff preview I will go in depth by each district. Keep in mind, these are my personal predictions. The first district I am going to start with is District 3.
District 3
In District 3 there are many teams that stand a chance of playing for the state championship. The first team I think that has the best chance is Bishop McDevitt. For Bishop McDevitt’s first game they played New Oxford and won 63-14. This week they are playing Muhlenberg. In my eyes this won’t even be a game. I am going to take McDevitt. Other match ups in this bracket consist of Dover vs. Conrad Weiser, Cocalico vs. Lancaster Catholic, and Susquehana Twp vs. Manheim Central. For the winners of those three match ups I am going to take Dover, Cocalico, and Manheim Central. This means that next week Dover will be playing Bishop McDevitt and Cocalico will be facing up against Manheim Central. My guess for the District 3 Championship game is Bishop McDevitt vs Manheim Central.
WPIAL District 7
This is the toughest division in the whole playoff bracket. They have powerhouses such as Thomas Jefferson and West Allegheny. With two weeks of playoffs already behind them, the WPIAL has four teams remaining. This week the match ups are West Allegheny vs. Franklin Regional and Thomas Jefferson vs. Central Valley. All four of these teams are tough. My upset pick in this bracket will be Franklin Regional over West Allegheny. Although this may be a controversial pick, if you take a look at Franklin Regional’s schedule, they have some big wins. My other pick is Thomas Jefferson over Central Valley. This brings us to the District 7 WPIAL Championship game. I think this match up will be Thomas Jefferson vs. Franklin Regional. The District 7 champion will be Thomas Jefferson.
District 10
District 10 is the smallest district on the left side of the bracket, but District 10 is where the Cathedral Prep Ramblers play. In my eyes the Ramblers will steamroll through Oil City and Slippery Rock, making Cathedral Prep the District 10 champions.
Left Side of the Bracket
With all the District Champions named this leaves four teams on the left side of the bracket. Cathedral Prep vs. Thomas Jefferson and Bishop McDevitt vs. Manheim Central. I am going to take Cathedral Prep because I think we have the talent and strength to win it all again. I’m also going to take Bishop McDevitt over Manheim Central, which means the semifinal match up would be Prep vs McDevitt just like last year. I think if we play all four quarters like we know how to play we’ll take down McDevitt for the second year in a row, putting us back in the state championship game again.
Now I am going to show you my predictions for the right side of the bracket.
District 12
My District 12 playoff predictions are as follows. With two weeks of playoffs behind them, this week they will be playing the District 12 championship. This matchup will include Archbishop Wood vs. Martin Luther King. This I believe is a no brainer. Although Wood has two losses, they came against big name teams. One loss is to the number one team in Pa., St. Joe’s Prep, and the other was versus Archbishop Ryan, which is another strong team from Philadelphia that beat St. Joe’s Prep. So in this case I am going to take Wood over Martin Luther King.
District 1
There’s not much I know about District 1. The two games in District 1 are Pottsgrove vs. Academy Park and WC Henderson vs. Glen Mills. From doing research on Maxpreps.com I am going to put Pottsville vs. WC Henderson with Pottsgrove winning the District 1 championship.
Districts 5/6/8/9
There is only one game for this district, and it’s the championship this week. The game is Clearfield vs. Somerset. In this matchup I am going to take Clearfield.
District 4
This is another district where they play the championship this week, and this week’s game is Jersey Shore vs. Selinsgrove. I believe Selinsgrove is going to take this win because I believe they are the stronger team. This would move them on to play Clearfield, and in that game I am taking Clearfield.
District 11/12
District 11/12 games are as follows: Southern Lehigh vs. Bethlehem Catholic and Abington Heights vs Berwick. I take Bethlehem Catholic and Abington Heights which means they would play each other, and in that matchup I take Abington Heights.
Right Side of the Bracket
With all the district champions named on this side of the bracket, that leaves us with for teams. Archbishop Wood vs. Pottsgrove, and Clearfield vs Abington Heights. For these two matchups I am going to take Archbishop Wood and Abington Heights, which moves us to the semifinals. Archbishop Wood vs. Abington Heights will be a fairly good matchup, but Wood will come out victorious.
State Championship
In this game I have the same matchup as last year: Cathedral Prep vs. Archbishop Wood. The reason I put these two teams in the championship is because I believe these two teams are the strongest teams. Although some may think this is a biased prediction, just wait. You heard it here first. Anyway, although this would again be a tough game for CP to come out victorious I believe we’ll have more heart and motivation to get ring number two. I take Cathedral Prep as the 2013 Pennsylvania AAA State Champions.