It's the calm before the storm, so to speak.
The local sports season is currently a bit quiet, with the state tourney losses by the Manchester Essex field hockey and Rockport boys soccer teams last weekend, and no high school football scheduled for this weekend. Things will get loud soon, however, with next week's traditional Thanksgiving Day football games followed by the start of the MIAA high school football playoffs.
With that said, now is a good time to discuss exactly how the football playoffs are playing out and how it pertains to the Fishermen.
Gloucester High, which is unbeaten at 10-0 going into its Turkey Day clash with rival Danvers, has already clinched a Division 1A playoff spot. The rest of the Division 1A bracket is also beginning to take form.
Other than the Northeastern Conference Large champ, the rest of the four-team bracket will be made up of the Bay State Carey champ, the Dual County Large champ and the Old Colony champ. So far, Gloucester and Old Colony champ Bridgewater-Raynham (8-2) are the only teams to have clinched. Bridgewater-Raynham, Barnstable and Taunton each have a 3-1 record in league play. However, a coin flip left Barnstable as the odd team out and B-R owned the head-to-head matchup with Taunton.
The Bay State Carey champ is still very much up in the air. Needham (7-3) gets in if it defeats Wellesley on Thanksgiving. If Needham loses, it will need Weymouth to lose to Walpole and Framingham to also lose to Natick. Weymouth gets in if it wins and Needham loses. Framingham gets in if it wins, plus Needham and Weymouth lose.
Confused yet? Well, the Dual County Large is much simpler. The winner of Westford (7-3, 4-0) against Acton-Boxboro (6-4, 3-1) on Thanksgiving wins the conference.
The Eastern Mass. semifinals will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 1. As of now, the locations are not yet known. However, it would seem likely that Gloucester would play at either Manning Field in Lynn (like last year) or Cawley Stadium in Lowell (like two years ago). The Fishermen's opponent will be the Dual County Large champ, so you could make an argument for either venue based on the geographical location of the schools.
The Division 1A Super Bowl will take place at Gillette Stadium on Saturday, Dec. 5, with the winner of the Gloucester game meeting the winner of Bridgewater-Raynham/Bay State Carey champ.
