District 12 Championships
This week, the final three of the 23 game District 12 playoff circus ends. I call it a circus because 24 of 43 teams (56% of all teams) compete in 23 games to determine three district champions. Compare this to District 1, where 26 teams (35% of all teams) play only 19 games to crown three district champions. By the way, District 1 has nearly 70% more teams (73) than District 12 (43). The question that has to be asked here is….Are the two best teams in each classification really playing in the district final? As long as the Pub and PCL continue to guarantee a spot in the final to a team in each league, we may never know the answer to that question. So, let’s put that aside for now and focus on the games this week.AAAA
La Salle (10-1) vs Northeast (8-2) – Northeast won it’s first Pub championship in 27 years, and they did so with a mostly defensive effort. This was a huge win for the Vikings, but the celebration may not last long, as they will need to stop one of the most high-powered offensive teams in the state, when they meet La Salle in the AAAA District 12 championship game. Northeast has beaten all of their Public League opponents this year, but in their two excursions outside of the Philly Pub, the Vikings suffered losses. The first was in week one, when they fell to Norristown 21-7. In week 2, Northeast lost a close one to the PCL fourth place team, Father Judge, by a score of 7-0. But, to date, they have not faced a team with an offense that can score a boatload of points, nor have they faced a team that can just stifle your offense. They will face a team, the likes that they have yet to see. Northeast has a lot of very good players in skill positions, but they are nowhere near the size and strength of the Explorers. Expect to see a lot of La Salle JV players get into this game in the second half.
Pick: La Salle 35 – Northeast 7
AAA
Archbishop Wood (11-0) v Dobbins (10-1) – This may be the biggest mis-match of the three district 12 championship games this week. Even if Wood Desmon Peoples’ ankle keeps him out of this game, it’ll still be a blowout. The Vikings should be able to move the ball at will, and will, most likely, shut down the Mustangs. Other than the entire Wood varsity team getting suspended, and the JV team replacing them, I don’t see Dobbins winning this one. Then again, the Wood JV team may be good enough to win this game. Don’t be surprised if there’s a running clock for much of the second half of this one.
Pick: Wood 42 – Dobbins 0
AA
West Catholic (9-2) v Bok (8-2) – Bok has been playing well the past few weeks. As a matter of fact, since they suffered their second loss of the season at the hands of Comm Tech, Bok has gone 4-0 and have outscored their opponents by a total score of 167 – 21. That’s an average score of 42 – 5. Three of these four games were against the three teams who finished above them in the AA division. But, as well as Bok has played this year, they have not ventured out of the Philly Pub AA division. This could be a problem, as West Catholic is nothing like the opponents they have seen this year. But, Bok should be familiar with the Burrs, as they have faced them each of the past two seasons in the district final, and lost both times. Since Bok seems to have re-grouped over the past few weeks, so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. What I mean by that is that I doubt the mercy rule will go into effect for this one. But, you never know.
Pick: West Catholic 40 – Bok 13
