The Section VI postseason begins Tuesday night with 9 First Round matchups. The winners move on to participate in the Second Round on Wednesday night at 7 pm. Between Friday & Saturday, 28 Quarterfinal games will decide which teams move on to Buffalo State and JCC for the semifinals. See all the postseason matchups with dates, times, & locations, along with updated results at Brackets Central.
Below I take a look at some of the best matchups we could potentially see in the Second Round, Quarterfinals, and Semifinals, and project the classifications with the best championship game, along with sleepers, some winning streaks, and predtictions.
** Please note that many of the games below are based on my predictions of who will win in prior rounds.
Most exciting brackets, top to bottom:
7. Class C
6. Class A2
5. Class B2
4. Class D
3. Class B1
2. Class AA
1. Class A1
- How exciting is the Class A1 bracket this postseason? Well for starters, the defending champions (Hamburg) who brought back four starters, enter the tournament as the #7 seed after taking some lumps during the regular season due to injuries and a bump to ECIC I where the AA's roam. They've been a bit Jekyll & Hyde this season, but if it's Jekyll who shows up over the next two weeks, they're going to be a problem. The #1 seed is Niagara Wheatfield, 18-2 on the year and the first non-Falls team to go unblemished in the NFL. The #2 seeded Flames from Williamsville East own wins over Amherst & St. Joe's this season. McKinley is the #3 seed after winning the Yale Cup, again, and might be arriving with its best team in several years that offers just the right blend of talent at each position. Toss in the likes of a Yale Cup trio in South Park, Hutch-Tech, & I-Prep, along with North Tonawanda, Sweet Home, Ken West, & former Class AA Lockport, and we've got ourselves a tournament that is sure to offer great matchups in every single round. With the price of steak where it is these days, it only makes sense that everyone would want a little taste of the A1...it's the bracket with the headliner title game of Championship Saturday at Buff State, following the Thursday night semifinals on March 3rd.
Sleepers from each bracket
AA - Clarence: The Red Devils head into the postseason with an 11-9 record and were never a ranked large school this season. They draw Lancaster in the quarterfinals, a team that swept Clarence in the regular season. Their best win all season might have been at Sweet Home back in early December. That is until very recently. After going to Orchard Park and pushing the #3 ranked large school in WNY to overtime two weeks ago, they earned a signature win at the home of #1 AA seed Jamestown a week later. For good measure, they tuned up for the a postseason run on the final day of the regular season with a 32-point walloping of Olean. It's raining, it's pouring, and Clarence is snooring...zzzzzz.
A1 - Hamburg: First off, the Bulldogs are loaded with centercourt karma after playing host to the 4th Annual Centercourt Classic two weeks ago. As outlined above, they are the defending champs and brought back four starters from that group (it would have been five if not for an injury to Brady Kustra prior to the season). Head coach John Reinholz is the reining Centercourt Coach of the Year and his assistant, Pat Cauley, is the Section VI AD of the Year. In the last month, they have a pair of wins over Clarence (who just won at Jamestown) and one over Cardinal O'Hara (who has won 5 straight since, including Timon, St. Mary's, & Nichols). Benjamin Bill, a major problem inside for any team, is back after missing the month of January with an injury. Sophomore Adam Chiacchia stepped up big time in his absence and scored in double figures in 19 of 20 games this year. The combination of Bill & Chiacchia in the paint makes Hamburg the sleeping giants.
A2 - Iroquois: In a classification with both Amherst & Health Sciences, the sleeper in A2 may need a quiet room with the shades drawn at Buff State to pull it off, but if there's a team capable, it's the Chiefs. They own a late-season win over Sweet Home and could benefit by having already faced Amherst twice. There's three Kleitz's in head coach Todd, the school's all-time scoring leader Trey, and 8th grade starter Justus, who is averaging over 9 points per game in his last seven outings. That trio will be strategizing after practice on the ride home, at the dinner table, and into the late evening hours. They also boast a lethal shooter in Nick Mogavero (17 ppg & 71 treys) who is a tough senior that battles at both ends.
B1 - Lew-Port: The Lancers had been a large school competing in Class A2 for years, but slipped down into Class B this year. They spent the season battling as the only small school in the NFL and still posted wins over Niagara Falls, North Tonawanda, CSAT, & Lockport, along with a nonleague win against Williamsville South. They were missing leading scorer Bobby Beilein (19.3 ppg) in a two-point loss to #4 seed Riverside back in December, the only game Lew-Port even played this season against another small school. This team shares the ball and has shooters, including Logan Eoute, who turned in 10 double-doubles on the season and missed six more by one rebound.
B2 - Fredonia: The Hillbillies are winners in 8 of their last 10 games and won the last two over East Aurora & Dunkirk by a combined 60 points. They come in as the #10 seed because there has to be a good low seed coming out of the meatgrinder CCAA I West. This team is well coached, battle-tested, and plays as scrappy as a metal junk yard. They also have a one-two punch in future D1 QB Nick Whitfield & Ethan Fry. Whitfield has scored over 30 points in three of his last four games and had a career-high 48-point outing on January 27th, while the 6-2 Fry adds 17.8 points per game to the offense.
C - Silver Creek: The Black Knights are 13-7 and scoring 66 points per game. They only lost by 14 points to Randolph, who has won its eight games since by an average margin of 40 points and they lost to #3 seed Frewsburg twice in league play by a combined 11 points. If they can get over the Frewsburg hump in a third meeting during the quarterfinals, Silver Creek finds themselves at JCC on the opposite side of Randolph/Salamanca in the Class C Bracket.
D - Ellicottville: The Eagles enter the postseason with an 8-12 record and are coming off an 81-19 loss to Salamanca. Sounds like a double dose of NyQuil to the casual fan. I'm a little more formal in my fandom. First off, if the head coach's name was Dave McCann't, hell even I'd take a nap. But the man's name is McCann and that's with two N's - one for Not and the other for Nighttime! Ellicottville competed in Class C2 the past few seasons and just happen to be the defending Section VI champs. Also, they played state ranked Pine Valley twice this season, winning the rematch on February 16th by 11 points.
Top 7 Second Round Games
7. Middle College @ Lew-Port (B1)
6. Burgard @ East Aurora (B1)
5. Ken West @ Lockport (A1)
4. Medina @ Southwestern (B2)
3. North Tonawanda @ Hamburg (A1)
2. I-Prep @ Sweet Home (A1)
1. East @ Maryvale (B1)
Top 12 Quarterfinal Games
12. Cheektowaga @ Pioneer (A2)
11. Frontier @ Niagara Falls (AA)
10. South Park @ Hutch-Tech (A1)
9. Southwestern @ Roy-Hart (B2)
8. Allegany-Limestone @ Olmsted (B2)
7. Fredonia @ Newfane (B2)
6. Sweet Home @ McKinley (A1)
5. Silver Creek @ Frewsburg (C)
4. Iroquois @ CSAT (A2)
3. Depew @ Riverside (B1)
2. Lancaster @ Clarence (AA)
1. Hamburg @ Williamsville East (A1)
Most Exciting Potential Semifinals
8. Lackawanna vs. Depew (B1)
7. Allegany-Limestone vs. Fredonia (B2)
6. Frewsburg vs. Holland (C)
5. Jamestown vs. Clarence (AA)
4. Orchard Park vs. Niagara Falls (AA)
3. Olean vs. Lew-Port (B1)
2. Williamsville East vs. McKinley (A1)
1. Randolph vs. Salamanca (C)
Most Exciting Championship Games
5. Class B2
4. Class D
3. Class AA
2. Class B1
1. Class A1
Winning streaks heading into sectionals
Westfield: 18
Randolph: 15
Lackawanna: 14
Amherst: 11
McKinley: 11
Niagara Wheatfield: 7
Orchard Park: 6
Hutch-Tech: 6
Newfane: 6
Predictions
AA - Jamestown
A1 - Williamsville East
A2 - Amherst
B1 - Olean
B2 - Tapestry
C - Randolph
D - Westfield
-centercourt
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