Race for final spots in District 3 Class 5A playoff field has tightened considerably
There’s a nine-car pileup near the bottom of the District 3 Class 5A power ratings, with three teams at 5-2 and six others at 4-3; they’re all within about 70 points of each other.
Most will squeeze into the 14-team field, but a couple won’t, and those could include a couple of Berks teams.
Exeter, at No. 11, Daniel Boone (12), Twin Valley (14) and Fleetwood (15) are slammed together in the bottom of that pileup; each has key games over the final three weeks of the regular season that will determine their playoff fate.
That’s not the case for Gov. Mifflin in 5A, Berks Catholic in 4A or Wyomissing in 3A. They’re each ranked No. 1 and pretty much assured of a place in the dance. What they’re playing for now is the chance to stay on top, ensuring home-field advantage throughout the tournament.
District 3 no longer uses Hersheypark Stadium for its championship games. The higher-seeded team hosts in each round, which makes earning a top seed valuable come November.
Seeing the Mustangs, Saints and Spartans at the top this late in the game is significant. Berks has never had three No. 1 seeds in the tournament’s 40-year history.
Can they all stay there?
It’ll be toughest for the Saints (5-1), who play Exeter (4-3) this week and Mifflin (5-0) in the regular season finale (records do not include games vs. non-PIAA opponents, which don’t count in the power ratings).
At this point, nine Berks teams are above the cut line: Mifflin, Exeter, Daniel Boone (4-3) and Twin Valley (4-3) in 5A; Berks Catholic and Conrad Weiser (5-2) in 4A; and Wyomissing (7-0), Hamburg (5-2) and Schuylkill Valley (2-5) in 3A.
Wilson (4-3) has climbed to No. 9 in 6A after two straight wins but still has work to do to make the eight-team field. Friday it plays at Cedar Crest, which knocked off Hempfield last week; it closes with games against Hempfield and Manheim Township, teams currently ranked No. 6 and 8, respectively.
At this point wins the next two weeks might be enough for the Bulldogs to get in; if they run the table they could finish as high as No. 5, maybe 4. The top four host first-round games.
Class 5A is where it gets interesting. No so much at the top, where Mifflin should see few challengers. But figuring out who fills out the bottom part of that bracket will be fascinating.
The Eagles are in the best position. They can breath easily if they beat Berks Catholic this week. They close with Reading High and Daniel Boone.
The Blazers are in the toughest spot; they have Gov. Mifflin in Week 9. They may need to knock off rival Exeter in Week 10 to make it.
The Blazers jumped three spots, to No. 12; the Tigers made a similar three-spot leap, to No. 15. They play at Hamburg Friday, then close with Upper Dauphin (5-1) and Kutztown (2-5). Fleetwood beat Upper Dauphin 43-42 last year. Another win over the Trojans could secure a playoff spot for the Tigers.
The biggest game left? Strangely enough, it could be the season finale between Twin Valley and Gettysburg. That could prove to be an elimination game for one of those teams.
Conrad Weiser moved up three spots in 4A, to No. 5. The top six teams receive first-round byes in the 10-team field. The Scouts host New Oxford (5-2) Friday in what looms as a critical game for both; they close against Kutztown and at Wyomissing.
The playoffs start in Week 11, or Nov. 5.
After a COVID-impacted season which saw District 3 slash its playoff fields by half or more, it will return to normal, in terms of playoff participants: Eight will qualify in Class 6A, 14 in 5A, 10 in 4A, eight in 3A, four in 2A and two in 1A. The Class 3A field has been bumped up from six to eight since 2019.