Private schools starting playoffs
Staff writer Jaclyn Shambaugh FAYETTEVILLE OBSERVER
For most of the public high schools in Cumberland County, the postseason is still a few weeks away.
But all three of Fayetteville’s private schools football teams will be in action Friday for the first round of the NCISAA playoffs.
This is the second consecutive year that Trinity Christian, Village Christian and Fayetteville Christian have all earned playoff berths.
It’s true that the teams’ classification, 11-man football Division III, is a relatively small section of the NCISAA, so making the playoffs isn’t as tough as it was when DIII schools were limited to a fourteam bracket.
The last time that format was used was in 2013, and none of Fayetteville’s schools made the cut. In 2014, the first year for the eight-team bracket, three-win Fayetteville Christian missed the playoffs.
The bracket is particularly strong this year, despite the limited pool of teams eligible.
Fayetteville Christian is the lowest seed at No. 8, and the Warriors and Village Christian, the fifth seed, each have four wins.
The top four teams in the bracket have a combined three losses among them.
Trinity is the only Fayetteville school with a home game. The secondseeded Crusaders (8-1) will
host No. 7 Asheville School (5-3) on Friday at 6 p.m.
Fayetteville Christian is at top seed Wake Christian (9-0), the 2015 state runnerup that notched wins over Trinity, Village and Fayetteville Christian during the regular season.
For the most part, across all sports, the NCISAA does an excellent job of seeding, weighing records and strength of schedule.
Trinity will be a heavy favorite, while Fayetteville Christian will be a huge underdog. But it might be Village that’s caught the toughest seeding break.
Despite being just a spot lower in the seeding, Village (4-5) is on the road at No. 4 Concord First Assembly (8-2), a state semifinalist last season.
The Knights suffered a 51-21 loss at Concord First Assembly on Sept. 30, a defeat that kicked off the four-game losing streak with which Village ended the regular season.
The Knights, in their first season under coach Russell Stone, look much improved over last year’s team, though they’ve ended up with the same regularseason record.
Village suffered a firstround shutout loss in the 2015 playoffs and bettering that finish would go a long way to showing how much the team has developed since then.
Staff writer Jaclyn Shambaugh FAYETTEVILLE OBSERVER
For most of the public high schools in Cumberland County, the postseason is still a few weeks away.
But all three of Fayetteville’s private schools football teams will be in action Friday for the first round of the NCISAA playoffs.
This is the second consecutive year that Trinity Christian, Village Christian and Fayetteville Christian have all earned playoff berths.
It’s true that the teams’ classification, 11-man football Division III, is a relatively small section of the NCISAA, so making the playoffs isn’t as tough as it was when DIII schools were limited to a fourteam bracket.
The last time that format was used was in 2013, and none of Fayetteville’s schools made the cut. In 2014, the first year for the eight-team bracket, three-win Fayetteville Christian missed the playoffs.
The bracket is particularly strong this year, despite the limited pool of teams eligible.
Fayetteville Christian is the lowest seed at No. 8, and the Warriors and Village Christian, the fifth seed, each have four wins.
The top four teams in the bracket have a combined three losses among them.
Trinity is the only Fayetteville school with a home game. The secondseeded Crusaders (8-1) will
host No. 7 Asheville School (5-3) on Friday at 6 p.m.
Fayetteville Christian is at top seed Wake Christian (9-0), the 2015 state runnerup that notched wins over Trinity, Village and Fayetteville Christian during the regular season.
For the most part, across all sports, the NCISAA does an excellent job of seeding, weighing records and strength of schedule.
Trinity will be a heavy favorite, while Fayetteville Christian will be a huge underdog. But it might be Village that’s caught the toughest seeding break.
Despite being just a spot lower in the seeding, Village (4-5) is on the road at No. 4 Concord First Assembly (8-2), a state semifinalist last season.
The Knights suffered a 51-21 loss at Concord First Assembly on Sept. 30, a defeat that kicked off the four-game losing streak with which Village ended the regular season.
The Knights, in their first season under coach Russell Stone, look much improved over last year’s team, though they’ve ended up with the same regularseason record.
Village suffered a firstround shutout loss in the 2015 playoffs and bettering that finish would go a long way to showing how much the team has developed since then.
