BOECK: A lot to be determined with two weeks left before the playoffs

Photo by Matthew Tyree

CLASS AA

(All seven teams in AA get into the Playoffs – No. 1 seed gets first-round bye)

Class AA is as competitive as it's ever been since I started following High School Football nearly a decade ago. No matter how the final seedings shake out, I would not count out the No. 4 or even No. 5 seed getting to the stadium. That means the playoff scenarios are not as straightforward as they normally would be this time of year.

Here’s what I can tell you:

Bennett, who failed to reach the Section VI Class AA final last season for the first time since 2020, controls its own destiny to get the top seed heading into the final two weeks. The Tigers are undefeated but still have to deal with top contenders, Lancaster and Orchard Park.

Lancaster also controls its own destiny. A win against Bennett this week means they wrap up league play with a Class AA-leading 5-1 record – their lone blemish coming against two-loss Jamestown.

Orchard Park can still get the No. 1 seed, but they will need some help. The Quakers not only need to win out, finishing up the year with Hutch-Tech and Bennett, they also need Bennett to beat Lancaster.

Jamestown travels to the Cataract City to take on surprise team, Niagara Falls on Saturday. That game could be a preview of the No. 4/No. 5 quarterfinal game, with the winner getting home-field advantage. However, the Red & Green still have a chance to jump into the second or third seed, depending if Lancaster slips up. Jamestown beat Lancaster 33-26 in Week 3, so they’ll take any chance to end up in a tiebreaker with the Legends.

Niagara Falls, while impressive this year, has losses to Bennett, Orchard Park and Lancaster. So they would lose any tiebreakers with those teams.

Class A

(Two Divisions, Top 4 from each division get into playoffs)

Class A1

Like many divisions this year, the No. 1 seed in Class A1 is likely going to be decided in Week 8.

Williamsville North controls its own destiny. They are undefeated in league play, despite losing both non-league games. The Spartans head to Sweet Home this week before taking on Clarence next week.

Clarence also controls its own destiny. They have only one loss, a 21-14 decision to West Seneca West. If the Red Devils (who play Frontier) and Williamsville North both win their games this week, the two teams will play for the No. 1 seed.

But the winner won’t necessarily get the top seed.

In this scenario, a win for the Red Devils means Clarence, Williamsville North and West Seneca West would end up with a 5-1 record - and no team beating all the others.

The tiebreaker in this scenario is Point differential in the games played amongst the three teams (not the overall or adjusted points differential on the standings page of sectionvifootball.com).

Here’s a breakdown:

Week 3 -- West Seneca West 21, Clarence 14

Week 5 -- Williamsville North 30, West Seneca West 18

Point Differential:

WSW +7 + (-12) = -5

CLR -7*

WN +12*

*Incomplete because Clarence and Williamsville North haven’t played one another yet

The team with the highest point differential wins the three-way tiebreaker. Once the winner of the three-way tiebreaker has been determined, we revert to the head-to-head to decide between the final remaining teams.

According to my math, Clarence needs to win by at least 10 points against Williamsville North to get the No. 1 seed. Any smaller margin of victory - or a loss - they end up with the No. 3 seed. That’s because if Williamsville North loses by 9 points or less, they will still end up with the highest point differential of the three. Since West Seneca West beat Clarence head-to-head, the Warhawks get the No. 2 seed.

Again, both Clarence and Will North need to take care of business in Week 7 before we even get to this.

Kenmore West can clinch the No. 4 seed and final playoff spot with a win over Niagara-Wheatfield this week.

Sweet Home can still get the No. 4 seed. They need Niagara-Wheatfield to win and get a victory themselves over Williamsville North.

Niagara-Wheatfield can also get the No. 4 seed. The Falcons need to beat the Blue Devils by at least 12 points and have Sweet Home lose. This is because Sweet Home would lose a three-way tiebreaker with Kenmore West and Niagara-Wheatfield.

Class A2

Health Sciences, McKinley, Williamsville East and Grand Island have the best chance to make the playoffs out of Class A2 – with that in all likelihood being the order.

Health Sciences and Williamsville East both control their own destinies to the No. 1 seed. That’s in large part due to the fact that they play each other in Week 8. They also must take care of business in their respective games this week.

McKinley and Grand Island also square off in Week 8. 

North Tonawanda still has a shot of getting the No. 4 seed, but they need to beat Health Sciences and get a lot of help.

Class B

 (Two Divisions, Top 4 from each division get into playoffs)

Class B1

Things are simple in Class B1.

Unbeaten West Seneca East and Williamsville South square off Friday – with the winner earning the No. 1 seed and the loser taking the No. 2 seed.

South Park travels to Pioneer to decide who gets the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds. Both teams have wins over Starpoint and Cheektowaga, so the loser of South Park/Pioneer would win a tiebreaker over either team even if they lose in Week 8.

Class B2

In Class B2, we know the teams (Iroquois, Depew, Lackawanna and Olean) that will make the playoffs but the order is still TBD.

Iroquois can clinch the top seed this week with a win over Olean.

Depew travels to Sunny LA (Lackawanna) in a game that will go a long way in deciding the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds. The Wildcats can clinch at least the No. 2 seed with a win. A Lackawanna win puts the Steelers in the driver's seat for the No. 2 seed while also leaving the door open for Olean to sneak into the spot.

Class C

(Two Divisions, Top 4 from each division get into playoffs)

Class C North

Barker/Roy-Hart, another surprise team this year, remains the only unbeaten team in Class C North. They need to win one of their two remaining games to get the No. 1 seed.

Figuring out the rest of the seedings is tricky since the division has nine teams – with each team playing only seven divisional games.

In ties between teams that have not all played one another, it goes to win/loss versus common divisional opponents.

After Barker/Roy-Hart, there are a bunch of one- and two-loss teams in the mix for the No. 2-4 seeds.

Unfortunately, with two weeks left there are too many possible scenarios to list here.

Class C South

Heading into Week 5, three teams in Class C South were undefeated – we are down to one now.

Southwestern/Frewsburg has stood out as one of the best small schools in Western New York with a 6-0 (5-0) record this season. They will get the top seed if they win one of their two remaining games.

Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton controls its own destiny for the No. 2 seed. They need to beat Falconer and Salamanca in the next two weeks to do so.

Class D

(All eight teams in D get into the Playoffs)

One of Niagara County’s biggest rivalries will have some extra meaning this year.

Wilson and Newfane’s Week 8 matchup is shaping up as a game to decide who gets the top two seeds in Class D.

Both teams are undefeated and have been dominating opponents, with the smallest margin of victory for either team being 19 points.

However, Gowanda/Pine Valley still has a say in the matter. The Panthers, who’s lone loss is to Wilson, have a date with Newfane this week. They need to win out and get some help to get the top seed.

Gowanda/Pine Valley finishes the regular season with Randolph – a game likely to decide the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds.