FANOFFOOTBALL WEEK 8 PICKS
Rankings
DI
1. William Penn 7-0
2. Salesianum 6-1
3. Smyrna 6-1
4. Middletown 5-2
5. Sussex Tech 6-1
DII
1. St. Georges 6-1
2. Lake Forest 5-2
3. DMA 7-0
4. Friends 7-0
5. Howard 5-2
Howard 27 Glasgow 19……….A must win game for the Dragons with St. Georges still looming on the schedule but Howard seems to be a very solid team. Howard’s 2 losses are to St. Georges and Smyrna.
Buena Regional 28 Caravel 20……Buena only has 1 loss on the season and this isn’t the strongest of Caravel teams.
Christiana 14 Dickinson 6…….Christiana gets their 3rd win of the season against a struggling Dickinson team.
Newark 28 Delcastle 7………Newark should improve to 4-4 with 2 games remaining (Middletown and AI).
Lake Forest 41 Seaford 0……..Lake trailed Glasgow 19-0 last week and rallied for a 35-27 win. This week will be much easier against winless Seaford. Lake faces Indian River and Milford to end the season.
St. Elizabeth 35 Red Lion 7……..St. Elizabeth has scored 36 and 48 points in the last 2 weeks and shouldn’t have a problem getting that offense going against Red Lion.
St. Mark’s 24 Hodgson 20………Hard to pick either of these teams. Hodgson is 4-3 but only the opening night win at Lake is impressive. Their other wins are against Christiana, Dickinson and Mckean. St. Mark’s was 4 minutes away from upsetting top ranked St. Georges last week but the Hawks completed a 30 yard TD pass to thwart the upset. The Spartans are 3-4 in their 1st season in DII. They have wins against Brandywine, Archmere and Caravel. Slight nod to the Spartans in this one.
Smyrna 54 Caesar Rodney 7……..Smyrna is averaging 53 points per game and CR is struggling to score this year only averaging 13 points per game. You need to score points to beat Smyrna. Barring a miracle this game is another Smyrna blowout win.
Delmar 28 Indian River 22……….All signs would say to pick Indian River in this one. Indian River has a better record (3-4), has won 3 out of the last 4 against Delmar and is playing at home. Delmar finally got a win last week against Seaford and has 3 losses by 8 points or less. Delmar won 42-6 last year. Delmar is better than their 1-6 record.
DMA 35 Laurel 14…………DMA has cruised thru their last 2 games beating winless Polytech (45-14) and Red Lion (51-6) and they’re too good to lose to Laurel.
Middletown 30 Appo 12………One of these years Appo will beat Middletown, but not this year. The Middletown defense is too strong to lose this one. No team has scored more than 20 points on Middletown and the Cavaliers held high scoring Mount Pleasant to 0 offensive points last week. Mount scored on a kickoff return to open the game.
Woodbridge 20 Milford 16……..Woodbridge is 4-3 and all 4 wins are shutout victories. Woodbridge is coming off a 34-0 win over Indian River and they stand at 2-1 in the Henlopen South conference. The only conference loss was a 9-7 loss to Lake Forest. Milford is also 2-1 in the conference with their only conference loss being to Indian River 22-18. Woodbridge has kind of flown under the radar all season with most talk being about other Henlopen South teams. After this week that talk might change.
Sussex Central 36 Polytech 6……..Sussex Central rebounds this week after their loss at Smyrna.
Sussex Tech 31 Dover 19…….For 1 half last week the Dover Senators looked like they were going to pull a huge upset when they led Salesianum 7-0 at the half. Sallies outscored Dover 21-0 in the 2nd half ending Dover’s upset bid. Sussex Tech has run the ball on everyone except for Smyrna and they should find enough running room in this one to handle Dover. Sussex Tech won last year 35-28.
Concord 35 Charter 6……..Concord is way too physical for Charter and should be able to run the ball all day long. Charter has been shut out 3 times this season.
Mount Pleasant 35 A.I. DuPont 20……..Mount needs to get their offense back on track after last week’s loss at Middletown 36-7 and the AI defense is allowing 29 points per game. Advantage to Mount.
St. Georges 44 Brandywine 6……..Brandywine got their 1st victory last week against Dickinson. This week is much different. Hawks win easy.
Tower Hill 28 Conrad 20……….Conrad had a chance to take a big step towards a DII playoff spot last week but fell flat against Archmere losing 42-14. This week they face another team they have never beaten. Tower Hill is 5-0 against Conrad. This game is a must win for Tower Hill who only has 1 game left after this week when they face rival Friends on November 13th.
Archmere 19 Academy of New Church 16………….Archmere squeaks by Academy of New Church who played Friends tough losing 13-0.
Tatnall 26 Mckean 15……….The Tatnall offense is averaging 35 points per game but their defense must play better than last week. Friends scored 47 points in the 1st half last week against Tatnall and finished with 61 for the game. Mckean has lost back to back games by 1 point. They lost to Hodgson last week 23-22 and Conrad the previous week 13-12.
William Penn 20 Salesianum 14……..Salesianum is one of the few teams that legitimately has a chance to beat William Penn. Sallies wins this game if they play great on defense and they get someone else on offense involved besides RB Colby Reeder. The passing game led by QB Garrett Cannon could be a key to victory. Besides the Smyrna game the Salesianum defense has been very strong this season. They have limited their last 3 opponents (Middletown, Concord and Dover) to single digit points. William Penn wins this game if they just keep on doing what they’ve been doing. The Colonials have spread the ball around on offense getting multiple players involved offensively. Their defense has been strong as well allowing only 12 points per game. William Penn won 16-10 last year but is just 2-10 against Sallies since 2004. A win in this game would virtually assure William Penn of a 2nd straight 10-0 season with only Charter and Delcastle remaining on the schedule. As of right now the Colonials look to be the healthier team and more well-rounded team. The Colonials have won 19 straight games and should get to 20 after this week.
Friends 49 St. Andrews 6………Friends will cruise past winless St. Andrews
Last week 20-2
Season 111-32
