Week 8 8-Man League Breakdown
Ark Valley
The Ark Valley league is not close to having a league champion decided. We probably won’t have that decided till the last week of the season. Granada and Holly both won their games easily and stayed in first and second. The big match from last week was Springfield vs Wiley. Springfield was able to squeeze past Wiley 16 to 8. With Springfield winning forces a three way tie for second place. Wiley will now have to bounce back quickly as their schedule does not get any easier. Wiley faces Granada this week and Holly to close out the season. Granada can get one step closer to clinching a league title by winning this weekend and setting up a game against Springfield to close the season. Granada should win this game but better not overlook Wiley. If Wiley loses both of these games they will probably not make the playoffs. Holly faces Las Animas this weekend and should win easily and stay one game back of Granada. Springfield hosts McClave and should also be able to stay one game back of Granada. The only way that we can have are league champion decided this week is if Springfield losses to McClave and Granada wins this week. The Ark Valley should get three teams into the playoffs.
Granada at Wiley Holly at Las Animas
McClave at Springfield
Central
The Central is a two team race and has been most of the season. Vail Christian had a forfeit against Justice last week so they moved to 6-0 overall and 5-0 in league. West Grand moved past Pikes Peak Christian 40 to 0 and kept pace with Vail Christian they are 6-1 overall and 5-0 in league. The one game West Grand loss was to Plateau Valley and was Not a league game. This week Vail Christian travels to Pikes Peak Christian and I believe Vail should move past them and go to 6-0 in league and set up the league championship match with West Grand next week. West Grand faces Rock Mountain Lutheran this week and should move by them. The Central league is now looking like it could get two teams into the playoffs. If West Grand and Vail Christian win this week they should both get into the playoffs. The only thing that will hurt West Grand if they don’t get the automatic berth is they lost to Plateau Valley as they are also looking for a wild card berth.
West Grand at Rocky Mountain Lutheran Gilpin County at Justice
Vail Christian at Pikes Peak Christian Nederland at Cripple Creek (non-league)
Mountain
Sargent and Dove Creek continued their league dominance this past weekend. Sargent blew past Del Norte 60 to 6 and Dove Creek handled Sanford 48 to 6. Mancos stayed one game back by beating Sierra Grande 60 to 14. This week has two very important games that could decide the league title and possibly playoff berths. One of the games is Mancos traveling to Sangre De Cristo. Mancos is sitting at 5-2 and 3-1 in league they do not have a quality win and cannot afford to loss to Sangre De Cristo if they want any chance at making the playoffs. Sangre De Cristo has not had a good year they are 3-4 overall and 2-2 in league. They are playing the spoiler roll in this game and if they win would eliminate Mancos chances of making the playoffs. The big game of the week is Dove Creek hosting Sargent. These two teams have been on fire as of late both are sitting at 6-1 and each have at least one impressive win. Both teams lost to Norwood but Sargent lost by less. Sargent has relied heavily on their rushing attack and it has been good they have rushed for 2270 yards this year and have only ran for under 280 yards once and that was against Sanford. Dove Creek has also been impressive on the ground rushing for 1641 yards but have two games where they ran for under 150 yards one was to Norwood and the other was to Sierra Grande. This game should be good I expect each team to score over 20 points. If Sargent wins they win the league title but if Dove Creek wins they would still need to beat Mancos next week or if Mancos losses this week then this game is a league title match. I see the Mountain league only getting 2 teams in and maybe a third but would need some help.
Sargent at Dove Creek Del Norte at Sierra Grande
Mancos at Sangre De Cristo
Plains
Well if last week taught us anything there are really only three teams that have a chance to win the league. Those teams are Sedgwick County, Akron, and Dayspring Christian. Two of those teams have yet to loss a league game and Akron has already beat Dayspring Christian so has a head to head over them. Akron blew past Haxtun 43 to 14, Sedgwick County blasted Caliche 52 to 0 and Dayspring Christian got past Merino 58 to 14. Of course once again the plains league has three good games and one of those games is a top ten matchup. Well start with Merino at Haxtun this game is important for league standing and who can finish in fourth place and honestly for sure get into the playoffs. The plains league will get four teams into the playoffs I am almost certain the question will be if they can get a fifth team in. Three teams are fighting for 2 spots. Haxtun faces Dayspring Christian next week so this is a monster game for them. Losing to Merino would put them at 1-3 in league and probably in fifth place. Merino sits at 0-3 and has two important games this week and next week. Merino needs to at least win one of these next two games to at least finish in fifth place. Merino is searching for their offense only scoring 22 points in three games and their defense has disappeared. Merino does have a nice quality win over Granada. Haxtun in league play has only averaged 14.5 points per game as well. Before league they were averaging at least 48 points per game. This game will be decided by which team’s offense comes to play. Akron at Caliche is another important game. Akron has been on fire since their opening season loss to 11 man Holyoke. Their defense has been impressive giving up 34 points in 6 games and through the entire season giving up 9 point per game. They honestly have one of the best defenses in 8 Man their offense has also been impressive scoring over 30 points in every game except their loss. A win against Caliche clinches at least second place and probably a home game regardless of the outcome next week against Sedgwick County. Caliche is really behind the 8 ball. They have lost 3 straight games they do not have a quality win and unless they win out might not make the playoffs. They need to at least win one of these last two games but if they loss both they will be out of the playoffs. The big game in the Plains league this week is between undefeated Sedgwick County and Dayspring Christian. This pits the #1 team in the state vs the #6 team in the state. Sedgwick County has the best offense in 8 man easily. They have yet to score under 50 points. Their defense is equally as good only giving up 5.3 points per game but their non-league schedule was much weaker than Akron’s. Dayspring Christian is looking to spoil Sedgwick County undefeated season by upsetting them at home. Before league play started Dayspring Christian was destroying every team they scoring over 50 points in every game once league started it has been a different story. They only scored 26 on Caliche then Akron beat Dayspring they did bounce back nicely against Merino though winning 58 to 14. The only way Dayspring Christian can upset Sedgwick County is to go score for score with them. I am not sure if they can do this. I see next week’s game between Sedgwick County and Akron as a league title match up and probably will affect seeding’s. The plains league will get 4 teams for sure and possibly 5 teams.
Merino at Haxtun Akron at Caliche
Dayspring Christian at Sedgwick County
Southern
There was a huge game last week in the Southern League. Kiowa was facing off against Hoehne. Hoehne came to play and beat Kiowa 60 to 34. That win for Hoehne set up a league title match this week against Simla. If Hoehne wins they are your league champions and also give Kiowa second place. Simla will have a tough time against Hoehne in the past two games they have scored over 60 points and have been on fire. Simla on the other hand bounced back last week beating Custer County 42 to 8. Simla is still searching for a key win and that could be it this weekend. Simla is fighting for a playoff spot but if they end the season with a 4-5 record it could be tough. Kiowa faces Custer County and should win easily staying one game back of Hoehne or tied depend on the game. The Southern league will for sure get two teams but the third team is up in the air really just depends on the Western Slope league.
Simla at Hoehne Swink at Fowler
Kiowa at Custer County
Western Slope
The Western Slope league title was decided two week ago when Norwood beat Plateau Valley. Last week just confirmed it when they slammed Rangely 58 to 0. This week Norwood faces Hayden and I am looking for a similar result as last week. Norwood is battling for a top 3 seed and should get it. The game to watch out for is Plateau Valley traveling to Soroco. Plateau Valley is looking to grab a playoff berth but the only way they are going to do that is to win out. They have three good losses to Vail Christian, Akron, and Norwood and have one key victory over West Grand which is very important if they do a head to head for a final playoff spot. Soroco is playing the spoiler this week they sit at 2-4 and no chance at the playoffs they can really spoil Plateau Valley playoff chance by upsetting them this week. I think the Western Slope will get two team into the playoffs but ONLY if Plateau Valley wins out.
Plateau Valley at Soroco Hayden at Norwood
Playoff Predictions Week 8
The way they select the 8 man playoffs is by giving the winners of league title automatic berths. Then they select 3 teams from the pool of second place teams then replace them with the third place teams then select 3 more teams and continue the process until they select all 16 teams.
Automatic Berth: Granada, Vail Christian, Sargent, Sedgwick County, Hoehne, Norwood
Next 3: Akron, Dove Creek, Holly
Next 3: Dayspring Christian, Kiowa, Springfield
Next 3: Haxtun, West Grand, Plateau Valley
Final Spot: Merino
First Four out: Mancos, Simla, Caliche, Gilpin County
Playoff Seeds:
- Sedgwick County, 2. Norwood, 3. Akron, 4. Granada, 5. Sargent, 6. Hoehne, 7. Dayspring Christian, 8. Vail Christian, 9. Dove Creek, 10. Holly, 11. Springfield, 12. Haxtun, 13. Merino, 14. Kiowa, 15. West Grand, 16. Plateau Valley
MileHigh Prep Report 