The football playoffs continue across Massachusetts, so there haven’t been many changes the last week or so to our Football Ratings spreadsheet.
We say “many” instead of “any”. You may have previously noticed one tab buried at the end of the menu for much of the season, but moved to the beginning for this week. Whether they are competing in MIAA sectional finals or in non-playoff matchups, vocational teams across the state continue to jockey for position for the State Vocational Playoffs, which begin next week.
Taking a look at the “VOKE” tab, the vocational teams are divided into “Large” and “Small” divisions, and compile points in a system very similar to the regular playoff ratings. Each team was tasked before the season with declaring which games on the schedule would count toward qualification (non-vocational opponents could count), plus all games in a team’s respective playoff season (Weeks 8-10 for Eastern Mass, Weeks 9-10 for Central and West) — a total of anywhere from 7-10 games for each team. All games that affect the ratings are listed on the left side of the VOKE tab.
After this weekend’s games are complete, in theory the top four rated teams in each division would advance to semifinals next weekend, with those winners playing in the State Vocational Bowls on Thursday, Dec. 5.
The potential wrench in that is there are four teams — Blackstone Valley, Greater Lawrence and Monty Tech in the Large, South Shore in the Small — that still are competing in the MIAA playoffs this weekend. So what happens if any of those teams win and move on to the MIAA state semifinals?
It would get a bit tricky, based on how those teams fall in the ratings. According to Southeastern athletic director Dan Tripp, if a top four team advances in the MIAA playoffs, they would eliminate the No. 4 seed and then have No. 2 face No. 3 next weekend. If that MIAA playoff team loses, it would play the winner of next week’s 2-vs.-3 game in the Vocational Bowl. If that MIAA playoff team wins next week, the 2-vs.-3 winner is declared the Vocational champ. (This happened in 2018, when Blackstone Valley reached and won the Division 7 Super Bowl — Nashoba Tech was declared the Small Schools champion after beating Upper Cape in the semifinal.)
As it stands entering this weekend (Southeastern and Lynn Tech already played Thursday night), it will be a fascinating race to the finish. There are six teams within range of the top four spots in the Large Schools, and another seven within range in the Small Schools. As with the regular playoff ratings, all games involving vocational teams as well as the opponents they have played (in declared games) throughout the season will have an impact.
Follow along with the results on the VOKE tab on the FOOTBALL RATINGS page.
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