West Metro playoff possibilities
My apologies to the followers of the West Metro teams. A death in the family drew my attention away from the sports world for a few days. But I’m back for the week of football that many teams hope is a jumpstart to a deep playoff run, while the rest will use it as a jumpstart to basketball season.
Through nine weeks, four of the five West Metro schools are still alive in the playoff hunt, so let’s take a look at what has to happen for those teams to be playing Week 11.
Mustang
The Broncos are already in. The only question is the seeding, which will significantly impact their playoff fate. If Mustang wins, it is the 6A-1 champ and would play the 6A-2 fourth-place team. But any other result will knock the Broncos to either second or third and put them against Edmond Memorial or Edmond North.
Memorial is hot right now and just moved into the top 10. North already beat the Broncos once this season, so either game would be a challenge, and a much tougher test than the fourth-place team would present.
Yukon
Where were you in November 1998? Well, the Millers were in the playoffs, and they haven’t been back since. But with Friday night’s trip to Choctaw, they’ll be playing for a chance to end that string of 10 straight seasons without a playoff appearance.
It’s the best scenario you can hope for in Week 10 if you’re not already in the playoffs: Win and you’re in. The reward isn’t much — a game against the state’s top team, Jenks. But getting to the playoffs would be a huge monkey off the Millers’ back, and with so much young talent, it would be stepping stone to next year.
Putnam City North
With a couple losses in a row, the Panthers find themselves as potentially the odd man out in what has been an amazing 6A-1 race. It’s down to five teams now, and the Panthers need some help to get in. It’s a little ironic, but the Panthers actually need help from the team immediately ahead of them in the standings — Lawton. First and most importantly, the Panthers have to win. But if they beat Del City on Thursday night, then they can worry about everyone else.
The following is only relevant if PC North wins: If Lawton wins, the Panthers are in. But if Lawton loses, PC North needs it to be a Norman North blowout. And they’ll need their victory to be a blowout, too, because they’ll need to overcome the district points gap of 25 points to earn their way in from a three-way tiebreaker.
Putnam City
You can file this one away under “longshot,” because it will essentially involve two upsets, but the Pirates still have some playoff hope left. Like PC North, Putnam City will also need some help from a Lawton squad, this one being Lawton Ike against Norman. But the bigger issue for PC will be their need for a win at home against Edmond Memorial. It’s an unfavorable matchup against a team that seems to be playing its best lately.
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The PC North team won’t have to wait long as Lawton plays Thursday night also.