The football playoff scenario in the Northern Region features added intrigue this season.
The move to an eight-team format in both Group AAA Division 5 and Division 6 means more spots and more competition. With just two games left, the chase is heating up. Even if some teams can’t believe they’re still in it.
Speculation before the season was a .500 record would be enough for a Division 5 team to qualify. South Lakes is taking that to another level. With a 2-6 record — 1-4 in the Liberty District — the Seahawks sit in eighth place in the latest power points standings updated Monday by the Virginia High School League.
“Maybe if I was [Stone Bridge] or [Madison] I don’t know how excited I’d be to play a team in the playoffs with a losing record that I already beat,” said South Lakes coach John Ellenberger, whose team lost to Langley on Friday, 32-6. “They do it in every other sport so I’d take it. But we better win our last two [vs. Marshall and Jefferson] or it won’t matter anyway.”
Stone Bridge (7-1, 5-0 Liberty District), Madison (7-1, 4-1 Liberty District) and Edison (7-1, 5-0 National District) are all comfortably atop the power points standings with 30, 28.9 and 27.3 points respectively.
In Division 6, Westfield (8-0, 4-0 Concorde District) has the most power points (30.5). Chantilly (7-1, 4-1 Concorde), the defending region champion, and Lake Braddock (7-1, 5-0 Patriot District) are right behind with 29.8 and 28.8 power points.
At the bottom of the Division 6 rankings, sixth-place Robinson (4-4, 1-3), seventh-place Oakton (5-3, 3-1) and eighth-place W.T. Woodson (5-3, 4-1) all have teams breathing down their necks. Even one loss in the final two weeks will be costly.
“We had to scrap and claw our way back into this thing,” said Oakton coach Joe Thompson, whose team earned a huge win over Robinson on Saturday, 40-14. “After the 0-2 start it didn’t look good. Butthe new system helped us not to panic.”
