This weekend's games went pretty much as I thought (aside from my lone upset pick). The Justin Siena-Novato score was indeed 30-0 in favor of Novato, not 13-0, which muddies their position a little. Justin Siena plays in a tough league where every other team is Division III or Division II and the seeding committee for the NCL playoffs always keeps that in mind. Justin Siena has been awarded a number two 0r three seed with three losses in the past.
Most of the teams in Division IV play non-league games against Division IV schools in other leagues or Division III, II, or I schools, and those games -- even if they lose -- carry weight with the seeding committee. The teams in the NCL North and South have a tougher time scheduling a variety of non-league games because in a ten game season, they only get one true non-league game. The NCL teams play the teams in their league (either the North or South), then they play all the teams in the other NCL I in what is called an "interlock" game.
Ferndale in the HDNL Little Five gets two non-league games, Bay Shore schools (St. Patrick-St. Vincent, St. Mary's, and John Swett) get three, Justin Siena gets three, and Bay Schools (Berean Christian, Salesian, and Harker) get five.
What does all this mean? I'm not sure. But I do think it's best if a team could play a minimum of two non-league games. Three would be perfect. Teams that have more non-league games challenge other Division IV schools and try to play up with Division III, II, or I schools. In a sense, most of us, including the seeding committee, gets a better idea where teams stand. Games between other Division IV schools can be great games. The St. Patrick-St. Vincent - Ferndale game (regular season) last year was one of the best high school football games I'd ever seen. St. Patrick-St. Vincent won that one 27-21, but Ferndale was in scoring position when the clock ran out. Ferndale finished their drive, in a sense, in the Class A title game against St. Patrick, winning 6-0.
On Tuesday, I'll post the rankings for this week and later in the week I'll post a preview of this week's games. It's appropriate that Friday night is Halloween because there are quite a few games that will make or break a season (and a couple of those on the following Saturday). I think this coming weekend is when we find out who the top six seeds are.
What do all of you think about the importance of non-league games? Let me know!
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