Haverford Trust - Week#14, Playoff Preview

by Paul Pearson

Six Teams Remain in Contention

For half of the squads in the Haverford Trust league, the dream ended on Monday night, if not sooner. For the other six, the second season is just getting started.

First, here are the teams that can turn their attention to presents, parties or the 2011 draft. D-Money and the Boyertown Crackers finished with 7-6 records but came up just short in the points tiebreaker and ended their season in seventh and eighth place. Shake 'n Bake won their season finale, but a 5-8 record doomed them to ninth place. 3 & Out and Iced wound up with 4-9 records; point totals awarded 10th place to 3 & Out and 11th place to Iced. And then there are the conVICKs, who lost three straight games to wind up in the league cellar with a 2-11 record. Don't worry; Andrew Luck should be available in August.

QUARTERFINALS

Then there are the folks in the penthouse, the folks who got their bye weeks the old-fashioned way--they EARRRRRNNNED it.

(Oh, that? That's from an old Smith Barney commercial about...who's Smith Barney? They were an investment firm who hired John Houseman to...who's that? Oh, never mind. Let's move on.)

The Dancing Bears won six in a row and finished the regular season with a Bulls division championship and the league's best record, 10-3. Their reward is to go directly to next week's semifinals. Same goes for the 8-5 Client 9, who won the Bears division title and the second seed that goes with it.

Lethal Weapons vs. King Cobra

The 9-4 Weapons had the second-best record in the regular season but had the misfortune of sharing a division with the Bears and wound up with the third seed. They face the sixth-seeded Cobras, who won their last two matches to wind up with a 7-6 record. Jon Kitna has been a fine pickup for the Weapons, but the real studs in this lineup can be found at running back, where Peyton Hillis and Maurice Jones-Drew should be primed for big numbers this week. The Cobras counter with Tom Brady, who had an epic Monday night against the New York Jets and is hoping for more against the Chicago Bears. Unfortunately, it's easier to carry an NFL team than it is to carry a fantasy football team. Brady will put up points, but he won't put up enough to stop the Weapons from advancing to the semifinals.

Mutley vs. Executioners

The Mutleys stumbled down the stretch, losing their last two games of the regular season to finish with an 8-5 record and the fourth seed. The Executioners needed a week 13 victory to finish 7-6 and nabbed the fifth seed. This game will definitely will be decided on Monday night. Joe Flacco should find the pickings easy against the Houston Texans, but Arian Foster may have a tough time findings holes against a ticked-off Baltimore Ravens defense. Both Aaron Rodgers and Darren McFadden had big games last week, and they're both looking to stay on a roll this week. It's quite possible Andre Johnson, who aggravated an ankle injury in week 13, will get shut out in week 14, but it won't matter. The Executioners should have a big enough lead by then to survive any Flacco bombs and beat the Mutleys.