County Teams Head into Finales with Home Playoff Games in Sight
With one week left in the regular season for Massachusetts high school football, four Berkshire County teams are in line for home games in the first round of the state tournament, according to unofficial rankings released on Sunday morning by The Boston Globe.
Using the same criteria of margin of victory and strength of schedule used by the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association, the Globe ranked teams throughout the commonwealth in all eight divisions.
Last Sunday's rankings from the paper tracked well with the official MIAA in-season rankings released on Monday.
And once again, Wahconah in Division 7 and Hoosac Valley in Division 8 are the top seeds in their groups.
Lee, which lost to the Hurricanes on Saturday, moved up into the eighth slot in D8 and, if it holds that position, would get a home game in the first round of the 16-team tournament.
Taconic checks in at No. 16 in D8, and if nothing changes after this weekend's games, Taconic would make the short trip to face Hoosac Valley in the first round.
In Division 5, Pittsfield is currently the No. 7 team and also would host its tourney opener if it maintains or improves that position. The Generals have one game left, Friday at Ludlow.
The rest of the county's football teams currently are on the outside looking in at the tournament fields in their respective divisions.
In D6, Monument Mountain is currently No. 20 heading into Saturday's regular season finale at Drury, while the Blue Devils are 25th in Division 7.
McCann Tech, which finishes on Saturday against Smith Vocational, is ranked 39th in D8.
The MIAA high school football tournaments get underway Nov. 5 and 6. Teams seeded in the top four of their divisions get up to two home games (the first round and quarter-finals); the divisional semi-finals will be played at neutral sites, and the MIAA plans again to play state championship games at Gillette Stadium.