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Week 3 – Mythical Match Up Challenge

Alright!

We had some changes, some defining moments, and some very good high school refs – who decided to stay down home and call the local football games. Friday night-lights brought me out to cover two games and one on Saturday – this past weekend. Well, there will be more on that later – lets now look at the results from both challenge leagues – MoCo and Metro.

MoCo league – The big news is the QO lost to Sherwood in the challenge. We all know that on actual field of play QO blanked NW but in the challenge league QO offensive stats against a good NW team were lower in comparison to those that Sherwood put up against Blair – whom they blanked. A combination of points allowed and lower offensive production did in QO not only in the MoCo league but also in the Metro challenge as well. Bullis got on the challenge board with a win against NW who lost in actual play to QO, meanwhile Bullis tromped on Avalon. In a nice confirmation of the Mythical Match Up Challenge formula logic there was an actual Challenge Match Up (MMU) that coincidently happened at the same time as actual play – Seneca Valley beat Churchill, as it should be. Lastly, Good Counsel had a BYE in the MoCo challenge.

Metro League – QO lost in a very good challenge match up against Stone Bridge. The match up point (MP) spread between both teams was just two overall points – where Stone Bridge had the slight advantage in offensive performance. Both teams faced a more accomplished opponent this week in actual play (Stone Bridge played Broad Run, QO played NW). The big winner this week was Old Mill who just outclassed Northeast in actual play while in the challenge they beat up on Westfield. Lastly, Good Counsel beat Wise, whose team continues to release minimal stats for public viewing. Friendship Collegiate had a BYE in the Metro challenge.

Analysis – After 3 weeks of the challenge a few things stick out. To win the challenge you need to play great defense. Actual scores (points) on the board in actual play that a challenge team allows is a key factor in determining a teams overall MMU points. For instance not allowing the opposing scheduled team in actual play to score any points – as did Old Mill and Sherwood in week 3 – sets that challenge team up for a great challenge week score against their MMU challenge opponent. So, allowing fewer points defensively equates to better mythical points (MP).

In the case of MMU Challenge team Westfield in Fairfax, VA – they can score – but they can’t defend. They allow opposing scheduled teams in their actual play – to score lots of points against them. That hurts a MMU challenge team – because Total Offensive Yards are divided by the Final Score (as in Defensive points allowed). So scoring big time with no defense makes for a bad combination in this match up challenge.

So with that in mind lets now look at the standings

MoCo League

Team Win Loss Total MP
Quince Orchard 2 1 720
Winston Churchill 2 1 205
Seneca Valley 2 1 57
Good Counsel 1 1 363
Northwest 1 1 218
Sherwood 1 1 26
Bullis Prep 1 2 264

Remember that each team has one BYE each during the MMU Challenge

Metro League

Team Win Loss Total MP
Good Counsel 2 0 344
Stone Bridge 2 0 145
Old Mill 2 1 776
Quince Orchard 2 1 720
Friendship 1 1 44
Wise 0 3 346
Westfield 0 3 52

So there you have it – after 3 weeks its Quince Orchard with 1 lost still on top of the MoCo League Challenge while in the Metro League Challenge – Good Counsel leads the way with 2 wins and zip losses.

Week 4 of the MMU Challenge will have the following pairings.

MoCo – Mythical League

Winston Churchill versus Sherwood
Good Counsel versus Quince Orchard
Northwest versus Seneca Valley
Bullis has a BYE week


Metro – Mythical League

Westfield versus Good Counsel
Friendship versus Wise
Stone Bridge versus Old Mill
Quince Orchard has a BYE week

So this week I spent time at many of games. I covered the 1st quarter of the QO versus NW game; the second half of the Urbana versus Walkersville game; and the first half of the Good Counsel versus Gonzaga game.

Impressed as I was with Good Counsel and QO – it was the Walkersville team that might raise some eyebrows in the MD 4A state playoff format. This 4A West team from Frederick will match up against some MoCo 4A team in the playoffs – and they are big along both the offensive and defensive line. Walkersville has the team – they just need to offensive prowess to take advantage of their opponents mistakes. Side note: (Urbana turned over the ball 4 times in the 2nd half and Walkersville could only capitalize on one situation).

Here are a few photos from the above games.

Good Counsel highlights
Saturday, September 22

Good Counsel kick-offs on Buchanan Field – Gonzaga College HS in Washington DC. It was a very common formation for GC on this day.

Good Counsel’s offensive line opened up holes for Dorian O’Daniel to rush against Gonzaga for 336 yards on 24 carriers.

GC’s Dorian O’Daniel outpaces Gonzaga/s defense on an 11 yard TD run at Buchanan Field


Quince Orchard highlights

Friday, September 21

QO Team prepares to enter the Cougar Dome in Gaithersburg

#5 Matt Choi for QO runs back a NW Kick-off in the 1st Quarter

Nebraska commit – #3 Marcus Newby stops a NW receiver

Urbana/Walkersville highlights
A look forward to a possible MD 4A West match up from Frederick can be seen in Walkersville

Walkersville celebrate the go ahead TD catch that made the score 17 to 7 against Urbana

As always you can check the Mythical Match-Up Challenge schedule and rules here.

Stay tuned as homecoming game time of year start off this week.

September 26, 2012