Friday, November 12, 2010

2010 Playoffs Round 1

An apology...Gridiron ran low on gas and had to take care of his program first and foremost this past week.  Ought to have some time for a better posting this coming weekend.

Gridiron's AA Top Five

1. Windsor
2. Mission
3. John Barsby
4. Handsworth
5. South Delta

Gridiron's Tier 2 Top Five

1. Belmont
2. Frank Hurt
3. Timberline
4. Howe Sound
5. Nanaimo District

Week Nine in Review

Double A saw Ballenas and Rick Hansen go down fighting to end their respective seasons while Windsor rallied to top Mission in a thriller.  John Barsby surged versus a now healthy Sands squad while up North, Fulton and Prince George secured number 1 status in the Interior and North divisions respectively.  The table is now set for the playoffs and the most exciting part of the 2010 season now begins.

Tier 2 finalized its standings on the last week which is a solid testament to the league parity.  Tough finish for a good Moscrop squad!  Bateman will be back stronger next year as should be the Panthers.

GI's Picks

AA Playoffs

Pitt Meadows at Okanagen Mission:  Gotta give the edge in this one to Pitt Meadows.  More bodies and more speed combined with a far tougher regular season schedule gives the Marauders the edge in this game.  OKM can throw well but so can Pitt and defensively, Pitt has matched-up very well with divisional powerhouses Handsworth, Windsor and Mission keeping the score close in all three contests.  Look for this game to get out of hand by the second quarter.

GI's Pick: Pitt Meadows by 28

Prince George at Seaquam: Great season up North for the Polars.  Now you guys have to play a battle tested crew in Seaquam that will dominate up-front on both sides of the ball.  The SeaHawks played a solid Ballenas crew on Saturday minus their starting RB for three quarters and did not miss a beat.  Seaquam will get it done on the ground and snuff the PG offense start to finish with AA's stingiest scoring defense.

GI's Pick: Seaquam by 36

Nechako Valley at Handsworth:  Handsworth will toss and counter its way to scores on almost every possession in this game.  The thing about the Royals however, is defense.  Handsworth always plays outstanding defense come playoff time and this will likely be a shutout.

GI's Pick: Handsworth by 38

Sands at Clarence Fulton: OK, this is the one game where an Interior/Northern team has a shot.  IF, and a big IF, the Maroons can stop serious power football and the Fade, they will be in this game.  Sands is pretty tough physically but has not proven that they can close big games in terms of endurance.  Interesting contest here.

GI's Pick: Sands by 8

Tier 2 Playoffs

Nanaimo District at Timberline:  Timberline has won most of its games this year where the athletic match-ups are similar.  I think that they have Nanaimo's number in 2010 and the Islanders are in tough as they travel up to Campbell River.  If Nanaimo can throw the ball well enough to keep the Wolves from crowding the box we may have a game on our hands.  A tall order thus far.

GI's Pick: Timberline by 12

G.P. Vanier at Belmont:  I have to admit I do not know the score (game already played)at this late posting.  However, my pick is below.

GI's Pick: Belmont by 23

Howe Sound at Westsyde: Howe Sound has been winning games in what has turned out to be Tier 2's pressure cooker of a division.  Westsyde is a bit of an unknown to them but the Sounders have had a full season with lots of travel experience.  If the Whundas cannot stop Howe Sound's big back it will be a long day for them.

GI's Pick: Howe Sound by 18

Vernon at Frank Hurt:  Vernon has been playing good ball of late.  So has Frank Hurt.  I think the Hornets may be the most  competitive team in Tier 2 the last couple weeks. Bye, Bye Vernon.

GI's Pick: Frank Hurt by 16

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

ya Sands won 34-16, it looked like they got a little gased in the second half, but they stepped up

Anonymous said...

What a disgrace last night in kamloops in both the westyde/howe sound and princegeorge/seaquam games. Totally overmatched teams getting spanked and NO RUN TIME after up by 30!!!! Rumor has it the interior AA teams are all going Tier II next year. Judging by the size of their schools compared to coastal AA schools it seems logical, to say the least. Rumor has it as well that the braintrust at BCHSFA doesn't agree. Not sure how they can allow all the island teams in and keep the interior out. Somebody has an agenda that is not in the best interest of everyone involved. BCHSFA listen up: make a A/AA/AAA league and realign schools according to numbers. The current format does not work for all members involved. Should be an interesting meeting in January. Who can blame these programs? They want a shot at something just like everyone else does. Good luck to Sands- a class act. Seaquam/Howe Sound could have lessened the damage earlier. Felt bad for the graduating players on both Westsyde and P.G. Don't care what the arguments/comebacks are, I have coached High School/Junior and University in this province and played in all three as well. I have been on both ends of those kind of games as player and coach and there is nothing positive that comes out of it for anyone involved. You slow the bleeding by running dives every play with a plug once the game is in hand. Keep your starters in on defense. If you score on dives then shame on the opponents at that point.

Anonymous said...

Sands didn't get gassed they simmply didn't see the need to have a commplete blow out like the seaquam/pg game.its called respecting the game. 62-0 scores? Come on seaquam try being a classy team bring your juniors and put them in as subs.as for realigning teams, it would mean a team like sands would drop down to A due to the size of the school.I honestly have no idea what could solve this problem, this problem has been going on for years, and it need some fixing

Anonymous said...

School size aside, what is needed is a willingness by teams in the lower mainland to play exhibition against the teams from the interior and north. Interior and north teams need to get on the fundraising hard to be able to afford travel opportunities when they arise.

For PGSS and NVSS, this weekend was the first time that they had played a team outside of their own division so it is not surprising they were in for a rude awakening when they faced some stiff competition. The non-playoff north teams were are on the right track as they took young squads on the road and saw the level that they need to get to.

I don't think going tier 2 is a good way to go, especially for north teams. Fill me in if I am missing some details but if most tier 2 teams are on the island, travel would become even more expensive and north and interior teams will continue to struggle.

Neither one of these conferences should be seen as any kind of writeoff either. Both produce good players, in a way, they are simply a victim of geography. Some sort of re-alignment is necessary but BCHSF needs to get creative in order to get teams outside of the lower mainland better. If not, these teams are providing not much more that registration fees while the "real" teams compete for the big prize.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Can someone honestly say it's in a school like Sands best interests to be playing AA football against much larger schools? If there was "A" football we would have an end to all this controversy. Maybe playing AA coast ex games would be good for a team like P.G. but what about the fact that many AA schools have 2x the amount of students as that of many other "AA" schools? It seems a little out of whack. This forum has posted previous gr 11/12 male enrollment numbers for programs- take a look readers on past topics and you will come across the numbers.

Anonymous said...

Barsby is smaller than Sands. That said, I agree that there should be numbers based tiers period with no Tier 2 at all.

Anonymous said...

barsby is a french immersion school... those students are not restricted to catchment areas...in otherwords, if a player wants to play at barsby (or if barsby wants a player!!!!) the player can transfer in easily enough with no questions asked...those are artificial numbers at barsby...

Anonymous said...

Barsby isnt a french immersion school ndss is. get your facts right about a school before you start bashing them. Barsby's numbers are legit its just most of them have been playing since they were 10.

Anonymous said...

Barsby gets transfers every year from a neighboring high school. I am sure those players are pretty good, too, for the most part.