Four Brooklyn teams on the playoff bubble headed to the final week

November 6, 2014 By Rob Abruzzese Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Brooklyn Tech's quarterback Elijah Rueda has had a great season, but he's going to need to play his best game of the year if he's going to make the playoffs. Brooklyn Tech is one of four Brooklyn schools on the playoff bubble in the PSAL City Conference. Eagle photo by Rob Abruzzese

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It’s the final week of the season for high school football, and there are 12 spots up for grabs in the Public School Athletic League’s (PSAL) City Conference. Brooklyn has four of those spots locked up already and could grab four more if everything goes right this weekend.

Erasmus Hall (9-0), Lincoln (8-1), Grand Street Campus (8-1) and South Shore (7-3) are currently the top four teams in the standings. They will play this weekend for a chance to clinch a top four spot and a first-round bye. (South Shore’s regular season is over, and they cannot get a bye after Sheepshead Bay forfeited the final game.)

New Utrecht (5-4), Fort Hamilton (5-4), Canarsie (5-4) and Brooklyn Tech (5-4) are on the bubble and can clinch a playoff berth with a win. All four teams could potentially lose, and at least three of them will make the playoffs depending on how Campus Magnet (4-5), New Dorp (4-5) and JFK (4-5) do in Week 10.

Out of the schools that are on the bubble, Fort Hamilton has the toughest opponent to face this weekend as it will face Lincoln. Canarsie will have a tough game, too, against Grand Street Campus. With both Fort Hamilton and Canarsie likely facing losses in the final week, those two schools will need some help to reach the playoffs.

New Utrecht is one team that can help as it will head to Staten Island to face New Dorp this weekend. A Utes win would help to keep Fort Hamilton and Canarsie alive. Clinton (8-1) and Flushing (6-3) are two other teams that could help out as those schools are tough and will host JFK and Campus Magnet respectively.

Finally there is Brooklyn Tech. Tech needs a win and should get it against Midwood (3-6). It could be in trouble without it, though, as it is currently trailing Fort Hamilton, New Utrecht and Canarsie in power points (rankings given to teams based on the difficulty of their wins).

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Brooklyn is sending three schools to the Bowl Conference playoffs — Lafayette (7-2), Madison (6-3) and Grady (6-3). All three teams are already guaranteed spots and will play for seeding this weekend.

Out of those three teams, Lafayette has a chance to grab the top spot if it can win against Petrides (6-3) this weekend, but it will also need loses from MSIT (8-1) and Bayside (8-1).

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The Catholic High School Football League’s (CHSFL) playoffs start this weekend and both Brooklyn teams, Xaverian (4-3) and Nazareth (2-6), will be in the A playoffs.

No. 4 Nazareth has the toughest matchup of the two as it will face No. 1 Fordham Prep (6-2) in the first round. No. 2 Xaverian will host No. 3 Cardinal Spellman (2-6), a team that it just beat 43-14 during the final week of the regular season.