Somebody shook the hand of Lisbon High School football coach Dick Mynahan, congratulating him on a 32-0 victory over Old Orchard Beach that clinched home field advantage for the Greyhounds throughout the upcoming Western Class C playoffs.
With a week of games to be played and numbers to be crunched, Mynahan was accepting none of it.
“That’s true, if they figured it out the way they did in the past, it would seem to be ours based on head-to-head results and other things,” he said. “But it’s based on the Crabtree points, so we’re not really sure of anything.”
Well, after further review, the congratulatory sentiment stands. Lisbon concludes its regular season Friday night at Winthrop. Regardless of that outcome, the Greyhounds won’t load up the bus again this season unless they’re headed to the Class C championship game at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland on Nov. 19.
Thanks to a circumstance completely beyond its control, the strength of its crossover opponent, Lisbon has clinched the Campbell Conference regular-season title. Jay also has sewn up a playoff spot.
In Eastern Class A, Mt. Blue is entrenched as the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. Oxford Hills will play at least one game in November, too.
Then it gets dicey.
Two local teams, Lewiston and Livermore Falls, could clinch playoff spots by winning this weekend. Both need varying degrees of help from league rivals, however.
For another school, the post-season starts a week early. Beat Lisbon at home Friday night, and Winthrop is in the Western C playoffs. Lose, and the Ramblers will turn in their equipment as the odd team out in any tie-breaking scenario.
Here’s a closer look at the pigskin playoff prospects of local teams:
Devils rooting for Eagles, Cougars
Of the five teams fighting for the final two Pine Tree Conference spots, Lewiston is in the most bizarre boat of all.
The Blue Devils won’t make the playoffs if they don’t take care of business against rival Edward Little on Saturday. But Lewiston could be eliminated on Friday night, without even getting a chance to hold serve, if Lawrence beats Messalonskee and Skowhegan trips up Mt. Blue. That’s due to the Crabtree index, which adds a team’s winning percentage with the collective winning percentage of its opponents, multiplying the sum by 100 for the final tally.
Neither result is utterly unthinkable. Skowhegan has been a late-season nemesis of Mt. Blue in recent years, and with nothing to gain in the standings, the Cougars have the luxury of resting their regulars if they choose. And Lawrence needs a win in Oakland to wrap up its own playoff spot.
On the good side for Lewiston, an undefeated regular season is a status symbol that should motivate Mt. Blue, while Messalonskee is at home and still harbors faint playoff hopes.
Skowhegan also gets in with a win, and like Lawrence, the Indians would need a variety of upsets elsewhere to make the cut if they lose.
Bangor and Messalonskee are fringe contenders at best, needing upset victories and a four-team parlay, of sorts, in the other games to sneak into the fourth spot. There is also an extremely unlikely scenario in which Bangor could tie Skowhegan for the final position and require a coin flip to settle the issue.
The skinny: Mt. Blue handed Lewiston a heartbreaking 35-34 loss in September, but the Blue Devils will cheer loudly for the Cougars to win Friday.
Green thoughts
Winthrop started the Western Class C campaign with three wins. Livermore Falls stumbled out of the gate with three straight losses. Then the Andies routed the Ramblers in Week 4, charting a course that leaves both gangs of green-and-white fighting for their playoff lives Friday night.
Both require an upset, but only Winthrop controls its own destiny. The Ramblers must knock off the Greyhounds, who have the privilege of treating the game like a glorified scrimmage but probably won’t, given Mynahan’s status as one of the premier coaches in the state. The Andies, meanwhile, most win on the road at Jay and hope that Lisbon takes care of Winthrop.
The latter scenario would leave Winthrop, Livermore Falls and the loser of Friday’s Old Orchard Beach-Boothbay game tied for the fourth and final bid. With Western C teams playing the same round-robin conference schedule, the only difference in their Crabtree numbers is the strength of their Eastern C crossover opponent.
That would give Livermore Falls the nod, thanks to its pairing with Foxcroft (7-1). It’s also the reason Lisbon would hold on to the top spot even with a loss at Winthrop, because the Greyhounds played Mattanawcook (7-1).
The Old Orchard Beach-Boothbay victor gets in as no worse than a No. 3 seed and meets Jay next week. The loser would also nose out Winthrop for the fourth spot in a two-team lockup if Livermore Falls loses to Jay.
The skinny: Lisbon and Jay have too much pride to take it easy, so the other contenders don’t have to worry about getting a fair shake.
Falcons ready to defend
In Western Class B, where a round-robin schedule without crossover games makes the Crabtree numbers irrelevant, Mountain Valley (8-0) has clinched home field advantage throughout the playoffs and will open at home next week against Greely, York or Wells.
The Falcons will try to wrap up an undefeated regular season, something they didn’t even accomplish in last year’s first-ever state title run, with a victory at Cape Elizabeth on Saturday afternoon.
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