Friday, October 23, 2015
It was supposed to be a night in which the Mathews High seniors were recognized for their hard work while playing one last time on their home field.
Instead, the lights were off last Friday night in Vienna when the Mathews Mustangs were scheduled to host Newbury on Senior Night.
Just 48 hours prior to the scheduled kickoff, Newbury school officials informed Mathews coach Mike Palumbo that the Black Knights had suffered so many injuries over the course of the season that they didn’t have enough players to field a team.
As a result, the Mathews-Newbury game was canceled and went into the record books (and the computer ratings) as a no-contest.
“It was a tough blow to our kids, because they were looking forward to a special night,” Palumbo said. “Our last two games are on the road, so they never had the opportunity to go out and play one last time, knowing it was their last home game.
“It was a tough pill to swallow.”
While Senior Night festivities were erased, they won’t be totally forgotten. Palumbo said he expects the school to hold a rally next week prior to Mathews’ final regular season game at Windham. At that time, the seniors will be recognized.
The blow of having the game canceled was softened by the fact that Mathews actually benefited from a computer rankings standpoint.
Newbury is currently 0-7. A Mathews win over the Black Knights would have given the Mustangs very little computer points. With the game being canceled, Mathews’ divisor drops, and their overall points will be adjusted based on an eight-game schedule (Mathews earlier defeated a club team that isn’t recognized by the Ohio High School Athletic Association).
A similar scenario played out in 2006 when Walsh Jesuit was scheduled to play a game in Buffalo, N.Y. The game was canceled because of a late-October snowstorm. As a result, Wash Jesuit’s divisor dropped and it finished fourth in its region. WJ hosted Niles in a first-round game. Had WJ played and won its game, it would have finished fifth while Niles would have moved to the fourth spot.
“We’re actually going to get more points from an open date than if we would have played Newbury and won, which is kind of crazy,” Palumbo said. “But we obviously didn’t want our home schedule to end this way.”
There is also the hope that Mathews will in fact still get the opportunity to play in front of the home fans. The Mustangs are currently ranked sixth in Division VII, Region 23.
“We’ve crunched the numbers, and if we win our final two games, we’re pretty confident we can slide into the fourth spot and host a first-round game,” Palumbo said.
PLAYOFF PROJECTIONS
With just two weeks left in the regular season, Mathews is among 25 area teams which still have their eyes set on the post-season.
Three of those teams — Poland, Crestview and Warren John F. Kennedy — have already mathematically secured a playoff berth. Three others — Austintown Fitch, Salem and Columbiana — are a near lock to advance, regardless of how the rest of the season plays out.
For the others in contention, it’s a matter of winning the right game (or in some cases winning both games) and watching the out-of-town scoreboard.
The playoffs begin tonight for Boardman, Warren Harding, Howland, Canfield, West Branch, Hubbard, LaBrae, South Range and East Palestine. For those nine schools, a pair of wins to end the season means a near 100-percent chance of moving on. A loss in either of the final two weeks would most likely mean elimination.
In some cases, head-to-head games will narrow the field. The loser of tonight’s Howland-Canfield game will almost certainly be on the outside looking in. Next week,, East Palestine visits South Range, Harding travels to Howland and Lakeview hosts Struthers in a trio of games which might decide the playoff fate of all teams involved.
Lakeview has a better than 90-percent chance if it wins its final two games, while Struthers would need to win out and get a decent amount of outside help.
Ursuline and Mooney meet tonight at Stambaugh Stadium. The winner will earn a playoff spot. The loser will still advance with a win in Week 10. However, Ursuline closes at Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary (7-1) while Mooney hosts Fitch (6-2).
Despite starting out 7-0, Lisbon still needs to win tonight at Leetonia and a slight bit of outside help to assure itself a top-eight finish. A home win next week over Crestview would guarantee the Blue Devils a spot.
Brookfield, Western Reserve and Jaskson-Milton all need to win their final two games to solidify, but not guarantee, advancement.
McDonald currently owns the eighth spot in Division 6, Region 19. However, even should the Blue Devils win their final two games, they will more than likely drop in the rankings.
Write Vindicator correspondent Steve Ruman at sports@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @steveruman.