Football playoffs getting close

   We're just over a week away from the postseason beginning in many of the fall sports, and many local teams are going to be playoff-bound. Let's take a look at where things stand currently in football, and where things may go with two weeks of regular season action remaining:

Football: District 5-A
   Currently at the top of the standings are unbeaten Shade and one-loss Tussey Mountain. It appears that those two will be the hosts for semifinal games, though Shade (8-0) will face a very good Ligonier Valley squad next week, while Tussey Mountain (7-1) is at Bellwood-Antis this Friday. Conemaugh Township (6-2) could make a play for the second seed and a home game, and Windber (5-3) will likely be the fourth seed. Northern Bedford (2-6) has played better than its record but has been eliminated from contention.

Football: District 5-AA
   Chestnut Ridge (8-0) keeps rolling along and has locked up the top seed for the playoffs here. Everett (5-3) and Meyersdale (4-4) are next in line, with Berlin (3-5) in fourth place. Everett will be heavily favored this week against Williamsburg and a win on Friday will go a long way toward the Warriors being the second seed.

Football: District 5-8-9 AAA Subregional
   Bedford (4-4) is heading up this group right now, and could end up 6-4 with wins over Cambria Heights and Greater Johnstown. District 8 teams Westinghouse and Perry are both 3-5, with Somerset (D5) and Punxsutawney (D9) both at 2-6. St. Mary's (D9) is 0-8. The top four teams after next week will qualify for the playoffs, but there is also a stipulation that each district is guaranteed at least one representative. For example, if the D9 teams end up fifth and sixth in the standings, as they very well could, the fifth-place team would jump over whoever is fourth and into the bracket.

Football: District 6-A
   Claysburg-Kimmel sits at 6-2 and is fourth in the D6-A standings with two weeks left. The Bulldogs have two tough matchups with Southern Huntingdon and Everett left on the schedule. There will be as many as 12 squads in the playoffs here, so if CK can stay in the top four, it would likely get a bye week.