MIAA Football Playoff Games

Last week, 20-11
Season, 213-107

The eastern finals are upon is. Whoever wins today goes to the State Championship games at Gillette after Thanksgiving.

Let's make some picks!

(N)Tewksbury
Gm 1: 11/17 1pm
at: Cawley Stadium , Lowell
(S)Duxbury

Tewksbury is named for a town in England, which in turn was named after a hermit, who in turn was named after the Greek word for Mary. It was a War Of The Roses battlefield.

Like Duxbury, her roots go back to 1637. Her population is about twice that of Duxbury. One former resident was Anne Sullivan, who was the tutor of Helen Keller.

They went 6-1 this year, crushed Billerica, Beverly and Danvers to get here, and stand between Duxbury and the state championship.

The winner of Duxbury/Tewksbury gets the winner of the Springfield Central/St. John's of Sudbury game.

Duxbury generally owns the North Shore, with Gloucester being a frequent foe.

I am a Duxbury kid and may be exhibiting bias, but I see Dragons ruling the day. I haven't bet against them yet this year, and I always end up smiling.

Duxbury, 20-19

(S)Dighton-Rehoboth
BYE

Due to some flaw in the schedule, Dee Ah gets into the state finals on a bye.

D/R went 5-2, but exploded in the playoffs, outscoring their foes 106-37 over 3 games. At no point were they seriously challenged.

They get the winner of Gloucester and Nashoba.

(N)Swampscott
Gm 1: 11/17 4pm
at: Hanover High School
(S)Scituate

Amazingly, Swampscott isn't named after a swamp. This is a shame, as I was hoping it would be like the Swamp Castle in the Month Python movie. "The first castle sank into the swamp, the second castle sank into the swamp, the third castle caught fire, fell over and sank into the swamp, but the fourth stayed up."

It is actually an Algonquin word for "red rock."

They beat Triton, Pentucket and Amesbury to get here, shutting out Pentucket. The combined record of their playoff opponents was 9-12, with Amesbury having 6 of those wins. They themselves are 6-1.

Scituate is also 6-1, entered the tournament as the 3 seed, and dropped 57 points on undefeated Holliston before shutting out Canton, who had beaten the top seed.

This could be a shootout, bet the Over.

Scituate, 37-35

(S)Old Rochester
BYE

Two teams from the South Coast skate into the Super Bowl on a bye.

Oh Ah is undefeated. They got by Bishop Stang, Dedham and Ashland to get to this point.

They get the winner of Stoneham vs Littleton in the state finals. Littleton, which you think would be small, is almost twice as populous as Rochester, but that's why God made Marion and Mattapoisett. Stoneham athletes are famous for knee injuries.

(N)St. Mary's
Gm 1: 11/17 1pm
at: Hormel Stadium, Medford
(S)Cohasset

Cohasset was the 5th seed in an 8 team field, but that only served to motivate them. They throttled Southeastern, ended top seed Mashpee's 2 year winning streak (there may be kids on Cohasset who were in elementary school when Mashpee last lost), and knocked off Abington to make the EMASS final.

St Mary's, a Lynn school named after the Blessed Virgin herself, is 854 for 854 on Hail Mary passes historically. "We'd throw a Hail Mary on every play, but some of the fine print in Leviticus leads me to believe that Our Lady prefers a West Coast offense," said SM coach Jesus Joseph.

Mary was 4-3 this year, before running Georgetown, Greater Lawerence and the fearsome Nashoba Tech to get to the Big Dance.

Cohasset seems to be on an almost supernatural run, and they will go out the way they went in against the high school from the City of Sin.

Cohasset, 36-21

(N)Pope John
Gm 1: 11/17 12pm
at: Holbrook High School
(S)West Bridgewater

Also attempting to thwart belief that God intervenes in high school football games is West Bridgewater. They went 6-1, were the #1 seed, and smoked Cape Cod Tech, Tri-County and the law firm of Coyle & Cassidy to make the East finals.

St. John's is in Shrewsbury. They are 10-0, beat Tech Boston, Lynn Vocational and Boston English to make this game, and the combined score in those 3 games was 115-16.

Westie is scoring 42 points a game or so, and will be my dark horse pick to knock off the Shrewsbury powerhouse.

The WB, 21-20