11-1-23 Boys Postseason Blog #3
by Admin on 11/01/23
November 1, Boys Postseason #3
Another night, another defending champ goes home early.
This time it was reigning C2 winner and D6 #2 seed Marshall losing to St. Paul Lutheran 3-2 in OT. St. Paul advances to face #4 seed Sacred Heart, a 3-2 winner over top-seed Oak Grove. Sacred Heart isn’t your typical #4 seed after a 20-win regular season. The Gremlins have made things interesting in the postseason after two one-goal wins (4-3 over Odessa in the first round) push them to the finals.
C1 D6 top seed Crocker also saw its season end with a 4-2 loss to #5 seed Dixon. Dixon will try to do Friday what no other 5 seed has done since the latest playoff system of 8 districts in a class was put in place (2021) - win a district title. More on that later.
C4 D7 #1 Rock Bridge needed a goal with 37 seconds left to slip past #4 seed Blue Springs 2-1 and C4 D8 #1 Park Hill South escaped #4 Liberty 1-0 in OT, setting up an all Park Hill final as #2 Park Hill advanced over #3 Liberty North 6-1. Park Hill came in as an MPR underdog to Liberty North (but seeded higher) after having to forfeit five games at the end of the season, thus affecting its MPR score. Rock Bridge will take on Blue Springs South in the C4 D7 finals after BSS eliminated Smith-Cotton 3-0.
C3 D1 #1 Farmington needed a dazzling free kick goal with under five minutes left to get past a resurgent Poplar Bluff squad, while Cape Notre Dame won the battle of Cape Girardeau, eliminating Cape HS 2-0. Farmington and Cape ND meet up in Hillsboro Thursday to settle that competitive district.
No real surprises in C3 D2 where overall #1 Rockwood Summit took out Mehlville 3-0 and #2 Borgia routed Pacific 8-0, setting up a final between last year’s C1 champ (Borgia) and the C3 favorite (Summit).
C3 D6 action got underway in Branson with all four top seeds winning. C2 D7 also kicked off, with only #5 St. Pius (KC)’s 3-1 win over #4 Center shaking things up a bit. #1 Harrisonville advanced with a bye and will see Pius next.
Our first finals come tonight in five districts. (Teams with an MPR advantage have the + number next to them. Seed numbers are before the team’s name.)
C1 D8 - (1) Maryville (+1.58) vs. (2) Cristo Rey
C2 D8 - (1) Excelsior Springs (+.48) vs. (3) Bishop LeBlond
C3 D5 - (2) Springfield Catholic (+.62) vs. (4) Cap City
C3 D8 - (1) East (KC) vs. (2) Platte Co. (+.01) (About as close as you can get!)
C4 D6 - (1) Rockhurst (+1.10) vs. (3) Ray-Pec
There is certainly a precedent set once MSHSAA moved to the 8-team districts for all four classes in 2021. The top two seeds in the district have won nearly 88% (56/64) of the district titles. Three seeds have won six titles in the past two years, while only two #4 seeds have advanced. Only one 4 seed won in 2022 (Helias in C2), while Guadalupe pulled it off in 2021 C3 play.
2022 District Titles By Seed:
1 - 20
2 - 9
3 - 3
4 - 1
2021 District Titles By Seed:
1 - 17
2 - 10
3 - 4
4 - 1
Tomorrow…a BIG day with 31 games, including 13 finals.
