New Hartford Post clinched first place in Oneida County's Gold Division today with a 9-8 win over Clonan Post coupled with a 7-6 Sherrill Post loss to Helmuth-Ingalls Post.
New Hartford (11-5) now owns the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Oneida County playoffs no matter what happens in tomorrow's resumed game against Sherrill (9-7).
However, tomorrow's game has seeding implications for Sherrill. With a win, it would earn the No. 6 seed (giving Roberts Post the seven seed) and would play Whitestown (13-5) in the first round of the playoffs on Monday. A loss would drop Sherrill back to the No. 7 spot (giving Roberts the sixth seed) and mean another match-up against New Hartford. Note that this would down to winning percentage as Sherrill will only have played 17 league games to Roberts 18 (that's because there is one less team in the Gold Division - remember Lee Post didn't field a team - than the Blue).
Having said that, all but the No. 6 and No. 7 playoff seeds are set in stone. Here is what they look like:
1) Smith (18-0)
2) New Hartford (11-5)
3) Whitestown (13-5)
4) Utica (11-6)
5) Adrean (11-7)
6) TBD - Roberts (10-8) or Sherrill (9-7)
7) TBD - Roberts (10-8) or Sherrill (9-7)
8) Love (9-8)
For those of you wondering how New Hartford has already clinched the Gold Division when a loss tomorrow could put it at 11-6 (the same record as Utica), and how Sherrill wouldn't risk falling to the eight spot with a loss (putting it at 9-8 like Love), I'll explain...
It comes down to the league's pre-determined tie-breakers. The first tie-breaker is the team's records head-to-head. If the teams have split games, then it goes to the second tie-breaker - record against playoff teams. And if there is still no discrepancy, then it is settled by each team's record against divisional opponents.
We'll start with Sherrill. Sherrill and Love split during the regular season, so we must go to the second tie-breaker. Love holds a 3-7 record against playoffs opponents. Sherrill is currently 4-5 against playoff teams with one game remaining against playoff-bound New Harford tomorrow. Even if it falters then, Sherrill's record against playoff teams would still be better than Love's, thus it cannot drop to No. 8.
As for New Hartford - if it were to lose tomorrow - another tie-breaker scenario would arise (this one with Utica). Head-to-head New Hartford and Utica split, so that wouldn't solve anything. Against playoff teams Utica has a record of 4-6 to New Hartford's 4-5 (a loss tomorrow would make it 4-6) - again, that gets us nowhere. So, we go to the third and final cirterion - each team's record against divisional opponents. Utica is 6-4 and New Hartford is 7-2. A loss tomorrow would drop that mark to 7-3 for New Hartford, which is still better than Utica's record against its fellow Gold Division teams, meaning New Hartford would take the top spot.
Got all that? Sorry if I've confused you.
Anyway, that's the story for now. Check back tomorrow to find out where Sherrill will end up traveling for its opening round game on Monday and to see if New Hartford can win to ride a seven-game league winning streak into the playoffs after dropping five straight earlier this season.
Enjoy your weekend legion fans...
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