October is football. Football is October. If you don’t agree, I question whether you actually watch football. But please, continue reading.
• A scheduling quirk allowed me to play couch potato on a fall Saturday afternoon last week and watch WABI’s broadcast of the fantastic Lawrence-Winslow game. Lawrence won 17-14 on a last-second field goal (where the clock, for some reason, continued to run well after the ball went through the uprights, just like Super Bowl XXVI). Lawrence desperately needed the Heal points, and vaulted ahead of Mt. Blue for the No. 4 spot in B South thanks to Winslow. Poulin Field was packed and I’m willing to bet the game rated higher than any other WABI has done this season.
Thornton Academy’s Hill Stadium will be packed for this Saturday’s battle of unbeatens between Scarborough and TA. A lot of fans statewide would love to see an over-the-air broadcast of the game, but Portland TV stations will be showing infomercials, Premier League soccer, college football (involving a program that should have already had the death penalty, Maryland) and boat races.
• I had several good Game of the Week candidates before ultimately settling on Win/Mon/HD at Lisbon. I had to make a difficult choice between two of them because they are both on Friday night.
Oxford Hills hosts Bonny Eagle in a Class A crossover. The Vikings have played well since losing to their last A South opponent, Sanford, so it will be interesting to see how much they’ve improved against the only team currently above Sanford in the A South Heals.
Fryeburg travels to Turner for a meeting of the top two teams in the C South Heals. It’s too bad Leavitt’s homecoming wasn’t this week because the carnival-like atmosphere would make the Raiders feel more at home. I suspect the Hornets will not make them feel very comfortable. And when it’s over we will still be left to wonder who, if anyone, will be Leavitt’s biggest obstacle in the region.
• When I dropped by Edward Little practice last week, the Red Eddies were in the middle of a weekly meditation exercise. It’s not unprecedented. I can remember teams working on their mental focus and clarity when I was in high school, but it’s rarely been a huge part of many programs’ or coaches’ philosophies.
Most of us would agree we don’t do enough to promote mental health in our society. With that in mind, I think I could get behind it being mandatory, or at least actively encouraged, in all high school sports. After all, if we’re all about teaching life lessons through sports, I can think of no better way to teach kids how to meditate than through sports.
• Sox in 5 but the real wager is the who, what, when and where the inevitable brawl breaks out. I’ve got Game 3 because the Bronx is long overdue as the setting, triggered by a dirty Gary Sanchez slide. Ian Kinsler becomes a true Red Sock with a quick right jab to Sanchez’s nose on his follow through on a 6-4-3 double play.
• All PA announcers must provide Yanks/Sox updates Friday night. It doesn’t matter that everyone can find out for themselves.
• Go ahead and try to project the regional finals, I dare you. I would describe myself as “comfortable” with only two of the eight — B South (Marshwood and Kennebunk) and D North (Foxcroft and Bucksport). Some of the matchups that seemed like the surest things last year never materialized. Four of the eight regions ended with the top two seeds in the final, and only two of those would have been consensus predictions (both Class D matchups).
In other words, no matter what I or any of the other “experts” say, none of us knows nothin’. And that’s what makes the next six weeks so much fun.
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