High schools: Weekend update

Friday the 13th might be considered unlucky for some, but a select few local high school teams are fortunate to still be playing. It should be noted that almost all Saturday matches have been postponed to Sunday due to the impending wet weather. Let's see how I fared in my predictions and thoughts earlier this week before the South Sectional soccer tournaments started.

In Division 1 boys soccer, Weymouth had the bad luck of being drawn with Catholic Memorial, out of the strong Catholic Conference. If the Wildcats were not edged by a goal by CM, it could have easily been Weymouth who advanced to the semifinals, as the weakest top-4 seed in the field (Greater New Bedford) lost by 3 goals to CM.

It should be said at this point that I think the seeding system in Eastern Massachusetts is deeply flawed. The Western Mass. tournament is much better organized, thanks to the thankless work by the late tournament director Tom Ford, who used the Walker method that took into account strength of schedule, instead of strictly using winning percentage.

Take a look, for example, at the Division 2 girls bracket. Only two of the top four seeds made it to the semis. Duxbury, a No. 7 seed and the defending state champion, should have been considered one of the favorites and should not have been a surprise to make it this far. The Dragons get No. 3 Canton, albeit on CHS's Memorial Field as part of a boys/girls doubleheader.

Back to the boys, but staying in D2: Canton and Duxbury are in opposite sides of the bracket as semifinalists, with my prediction of Hingham breaking through falling short. Canton's successful defense-first culture under coach Danny Erickson trumped the Harbormen's firepower.

It should be said that the sites for the semis and finals are mostly predetermined before the tournament starts after schools make their fields available to tournament directors. It may seem Canton has received an unfair advantage, as was said about Weymouth and Whitman-Hanson in recent years, but tournament directors don't have as many choices as people think. Schools don't receive any gate receipts and have to provide security and personnel; the tradeoff, of course, is that their teams might get to play on their home field.

Hanover, one of my stronger bets in the tournament as a semifinalist in D3 boys, has proven me right so far. Possibly awaiting them in the final is Archbishop Williams, which has surprised me and everybody else by making it to the final four. To be fair, Archies had to get past two schools with inferior schedules, but did edge past a South Shore League team (Mashpee) in penalties.

Similarly in D1 girls, Whitman-Hanson has made the semis as I thought. But my faith in the Norwell girls was shattered as the Clippers fell in D3 semis. I thought Norwell had the skill to overcome its traditionally average schedule, but Millis was toughened by playing bigger schools in the Tri-Valley League.

As for the other sports, good luck to the Quincy and Sacred Heart girls volleyball teams. I didn't blog about v-ball since those tournaments had already started. Nice to see the Presidents bounce back strong from a .500 season a year ago. Saints coach Rob Slavin is still one of the nicest guys in the business. Another old reliable, Canton field hockey, has made it into the D2 semis.

And most of all, good luck to the hundreds of cross country runners who will run at Franklin Park in Boston at the Eastern Mass. championships -- regardless of the weather on Saturday. They'll get a chance to prove they are some of the toughest athletes in high school athletics.