By Chris Piscioneri
iBerkshires Sports - Print

05:30PM / Friday, November 08, 2013

It's playoff time for high school football in Berkshire County and this year's new playoff system brings a whole new type of buzz to this time of the year as each team has a chance to be crowned the best team in the state for their respective division.

In past years, the Western, Central, and Eastern sections of Massachusetts held their own playoff tournament to decide the best team of that area but that was as far as a team could go. This year, the winner of the Western Mass. Super Bowl will take on the winner of the Central Mass. championship. Then the victor of that game will move on to Gillette Stadium to face the champion of the North and South divisions of Eastern Mass. for the ultimate title of Massachusett high school football state champion.

Four teams from Berkshire County made the final four for their respected division with the Wahconah Warriors (8-0) taking the top seed for Division IV and the McCann Tech Hornets (7-1) earning the number one seed for Division VI.

Hoosac Valley (7-1) and Mount Greylock (6-2) earned playoff spots in Division V, taking the number two and three seeds, respectively. The Hurricanes were in place to earn the number one spot but Easthampton (7-1) jumped them in the power rankings when the won their final game of the season.

The top four teams for each division earned a playoff berth based off a new power ranking system that was implemented by the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association also known as the MIAA. Check the bottom of this link for information on the Power Rating System.

Friday night will kickoff this year's playoffs when No. 4 South Hadley (3-4) travels to Dalton to face No. 1 Wahconah at 6 p.m. The Warriors and Tigers faced off last year at Gillette Stadium for the Division 2 Western Mass championship with Wahconah coming out on top 24-21. This should be an absolute battle as the Tigers are sure to be out for revenge from last year's loss in Foxborough and with another trip to the New England Patriot's home stadium on the line. South Hadley senior running back T.J. Fitzell enters the game with 935 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns, he will surely be a force that the Warriors will need to slow down if they want to advance to the next round.

Playoff action will continue on Saturday afternoon when No. 1 McCann Tech hosts the No. 4 Turners Falls Indians (6-2) at 1 p.m. The Hornets and Indians last match up was in the 2011 Division IV WMass semifinals with McCann earning the victory 33-14.

Also at 1 p.m. on Saturday is what I believe to be the biggest first-round matchup of the playoffs when Berkshire County rivals No. 2 Hoosac Valley and No. 3 Mount Greylock face off.

Anytime these two programs take the gridiron against each other you know it is going to be a dog fight. This game is even more intriguing as they will square off for the second time this season after the Hurricanes went on the road and beat Greylock 20-12 in Week 3 of regular season. Hoosac took advantage of four Mountie turnovers to defeat the home team for the first time in four years.

That game doesn't mean a thing now. It all comes down to Saturday afternoon in Cheshire. It looks like it could be the game of the year in my opinion.

Earlier Thursday, ESPN Boston posted a blog entry called "Roundtable: Projecting WMass football playoffs." Follow the link to check out their picks for this weekends' first-round matchups and for their prediction on the state champion for each division.

Scott Barboza, ESPN Boston high schools editor, says, "Hate to rain on the Brownies' parade - truly one of the better stories in MIAA football this year - but I see the Warriors coming away with a win in a projected battle of undefeated squads. Coming off a Super Bowl victory last year, a strong junior class has Wahconah primed for some deep postseason runs to come."

Barboza also selected Mount Greylock as his pick for the Division V state champion saying, "Hoosac Valley's seniors notched their first win over Greylock in September, winning the turnover battle. I see the tables turning in the teams' semi-final matchup as the Mounties exact revenge en route to the district title."

Ben Larsen, ESPN Boston correspondent, also selected a Berkshire County team as his choice for Division VI champion stating "The Hornets have built a heck of a program and this year's team can withstand even the impressive depth the Division IV field has to offer."

All in all it should be a tremendous weekend of Berkshire County high school football. Good luck to all of our student-athletes and to the fans make sure to get to the games early!