By Sonny Jones
The N.C. High School Athletic Association fall playoffs are drawing near. Volleyball playoffs begin Oct. 22, boys’ soccer on Oct. 31 and football on Nov. 4.
How are Bladen County teams set for postseason? The East Bladen volleyball team will make it. Some of the other teams could, but it will be determined over the next couple of weeks.
There will be 32 teams from the East and 32 teams from the West to qualify for the football, volleyball and boys’ soccer playoffs. Conference champions are seeded 1 through 11 for the 2-A playoffs in each sport. The rest of the spots are determined by the Rating Percentage Index (RPI), which takes into account a teams’ win percentage, a teams’ opponents win percentage and a teams’ opponents opponents win percentage. Note that it’s win percentage and not record.
The Southeastern Athletic Conference, which includes East Bladen and West Bladen, ia assured two playoff berths. The league can have more than two teams based on RPI.
FOOTBALL
EAST BLADEN
Ranking: 31; RPI: 0.43621
Record: 2-5 overall, 1-2 conference (4th place)
Remaining schedule: Friday, Fairmont; Oct. 21, at Red Springs; Oct. 28, St. Pauls
Outlook: The Eagles should be able to win two of their final three games, finish 4-6 and possibly move into the mid- to upper-20s in RPI. Fairmont and Red Springs are a combined 3-12. St. Pauls plays Clinton on Friday for the Southeastern championship. Although East Bladen has lost to Wallace-Rose Hill (RPI 7), Whiteville (RPI 8) and Clinton (RPI 15) and still must play St. Pauls (RPI 13), those games against strong competition help RPI.
WEST BLADEN
Ranking: 46; RPI: 0.33028
Record: 1-6 overall, 0-3 conference (tied 6th place)
Remaining schedule: Friday, Red Springs; Oct. 21, at St. Pauls, Oct. 28, Midway
Outlook: The Knights are a long shot to make the playoffs. While a home game against Red Springs (RPI 45) is possible, the final two games are against two solid playoff squads. A win against Red Springs combined with games against quality teams will help RPI, but without an upset of St. Pauls or Midway, it’s hard to see the Knights ranked high enough to play in November.
VOLLEYBALL
EAST BLADEN
Ranking: 9; RPI: 0.57199
Record: 9-6 overall, 6-3 conference (3rd place)
Remaining schedule: Tuesday, at Fairmont; Thursday, Red Springs, Oct. 18, at St. Pauls.
Outlook: The Eagles will be in the playoffs and likely will host a first-round game, but because conference champions are seeded based on RPI before the rest of the field, the best East Bladen can do is No. 12. As of Monday morning, East Bladen would be No. 14 because two other teams that are not leading their conferences have a better RPI than the Eagles. East Bladen will be favored to win its final three.
WEST BLADEN
Ranking: 39; RPI: 0.39927
Record: 4-12 overall, 2-7 conference (6th place)
Remaining schedule: Tuesday, at Red Springs; Thursday, St. Pauls; Oct. 18, at Midway
Outlook: There’s a chance, albeit slim, for the Knights to move up enough to qualify for postseason play. They’ll need wins against Red Springs and St. Pauls along with quite a bit of help from teams in other conferences to make it. A loss against either Red Springs or St. Pauls should end any postseason hopes for West Bladen. The Knights end the season against unbeaten Midway (RPI 2).
BOYS’ SOCCER
EAST BLADEN
Ranking: 26; RPI: 0.47910
Record: 6-7 overall, 2-4 conference (tied 4th place)
Remaining schedule: Monday, at Clinton; Wednesday, West Bladen; Oct. 24, Red Springs; 26, at St. Pauls
Outlook: The Eagles would be in the playoffs if the playoffs started today. However, the playoffs don’t start until Oct. 31 and East Bladen still has work to do to keep its postseason berth. Three of its final four games are against teams with higher RPIs — teams that already have defeated East Bladen this season — and the other opponent is its in-county rival West Bladen. The win against Midway last week was important.
WEST BLADEN
Ranking: 37; RPI: 0.42261
Record: 5-6-1 overall, 0-4 conference (6th place)
Remaining schedule: Tuesday, Clinton; Wednesday, at East Bladen; Oct. 19, at Red Springs; 20, Red Springs; Oct. 24, at St. Pauls; 26, at Midway
Outlook: The Knights need to get back their level of play from the first of the season in order to make a playoff push. West Bladen began 3-0, but have lost three straight heading into the final three weeks of the regular season. The Knights have six more games remaining so the opportunity will be there to move into the top 32, but it won’t be easy.
MONDAY’S PICK TO CLICK
Kansas City running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire will score atouchdown, rush for 80 yards and catch 3 passes against Las Vegas. He’s on my Nerd Buckets fantasy team, so I have some skin in the game.
SUNDAY’S PICK: The easy pick to win on the ROVAL at Charlotte Motor Speedway would be Chase Elliott, but what fun is that. Let’s go with Tyler Reddick at 6-to-1 odds and see what happens. RESULTS: Reddick was in contention most of the race and finished eighth. Christopher Bell won to automatically advance in the Cup playoffs.
TODAY IN SPORTS HISTORY
• 1920 — Cleveland Indians Bill Wambsganns completes an unassisted World Series triple play.
WHAT TO WATCH TODAY
• CFL: Ottawa at Montreal, 1 p.m., ESPN2
• NBA PRESEASON: Philadelphia at Cleveland, 7 p.m., NBATV
• NFL: Las Vegas at Kansas City, 8:15 p.m., ESPN
Sonny Jones can be reached at wibbyj@gmail.com and follow on Twitter @FOSonnyJones.
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