Your MIAA Football Playoffs Weekend Review: The Sectional Semifinals

Catholic Memorial and BC High played one of the most memorable playoff games in recent memory Friday night, with a controversial call and a Hail Mary lifting the Knights to victory.

By Matt Feld (@mattyfeld612)

There is no question that the MIAA playoff system has flaws. Most notable among them are too many teams, too many divisions, and for some, a lack of importance now placed on winning the league.

This past weekend, however, portrayed the system’s outstanding benefits.

Teams playing for a spot in the sectional finals battled it out, with some playing against conference foes, while others faced off against teams for the first time.

Memorable endings, top performances, controversy, and wild finishes engulfed the weekend.

Now it is on to the sectional finals, where some enticing matchups will be played.

We will preview some of those sectional finals later in the week, but before we do that let’s take a look back at what was a wild weekend of sectional semifinals.

MIAA Football Top 25: Week 4

Shane Frommer and his King Phillip teammates now hold the longest active MIAA winning streak. The defending Division 1A state champion Warriors have won 16 games in a row.

Our weekly rankings of the best high school football teams in Massachusetts, as selected by our panel of staff writers and correspondents. (Updated 9/25)

1. Everett (3-0; Last Week – 1 ) The defending champs started fast and held off a dangerous St. John’s Prep team to remain undefeated early in the season.

2. BC High (3-0; Last Week – 2 ) New quarterback Will Bowen had has best day as a passer during a 30-14 victory for the Eagles down in New Jersey against Hudson Catholic.

3. Central Catholic (3-0; Last Week – 3) Bret Edwards continued to pace an elite Raider offense with 238 combined rushing and passing yards, leading his squad to a 37-20 win over Methuen.

Tewksbury Tops Billerica for MVC Crown & Top Seed

By Nate Weitzer (@nweitzer7)

TEWKSBURY, Mass. – The Billerica Indians and Tewksbury Redmen came into Saturday’s winner-take-all battle for the Merrimack Valley Conference title with identical 6-0 records, but each program took a different route to get to that point.

Billerica came into the 2016 season with 17 returning seniors and lofty expectations that were inflated by wins over Division 1 powers Andover and Everett, while the Redmen were somewhat overlooked to begin the year because of all the important players they graduated.

However, on a rain-soaked field at Tewksbury’s John F. Daly Elementary School this Saturday, the less experienced and smaller Redmen made more big plays and dominated the second half, en route to a 20-7 victory and league title.

Massachusetts Super Bowl Previews: Divisions 1-3

Expect points galore when St. John's and QB Drew Smiley battle high-powered Mansfield.

By Joe Parello  @HerewegoJoe

A dozen high school teams from Eastern and Central Mass have finished their journeys down the #RoadToGillette, and are now preparing for the first state-wide football championships in Massachusetts history.

As you may or may not know, I've spent the majority of the year covering Central Mass. So, I will briefly touch on the exclusively Eastern Mass title games (Divisions 1 and 3), but give far more in-depth previews of the games that include teams from the heart of the Commonwealth.

So, here it is, Part I of everything you need to know about Super Bowl Saturday at Gillette Stadium this weekend.