Football: Blurry NEC South picture hopes to clear up Friday

With Gloucester having wrapped up the Northeastern Conference’s North Division crown last week and the playoff spot that goes with it, the only thing left to decide is who will represent the NEC South on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.Getting to that point, though, will be easier said than done.Three teams come into the next-to-last weekend of the regular season with a chance to win that title. Two of them – Beverly and Swampscott – will be in action Friday night and the third, Marblehead, will play Saturday.To understand the importance of the Panthers’ date at Miller Field in Winthrop and the Big Blue’s matchup against Danvers, you have to look at the South standings.Marblehead is the lone remaining unbeaten team at 3-0 in league play. The Magicians have a game at Saugus on Saturday and could possibly wrap up the program’s first playoff berth with a victory. For that to happen, though, the Panthers must lose on Friday.A Beverly (6-2, 3-1 NEC South) win on Friday keeps the Panthers’ hopes alive. The Panthers then need Marblehead to lose both Saturday and on Thanksgiving to clinch a playoff spot because of the Magicians’ 33-30 win over them two weeks ago.”Marblehead definitely has the upper hand,” Beverly coach Dan Bauer said. “But it’s going to be a lot of fun. It makes it exciting and it’s nice to have the season’s end be meaningful for three teams.”The Panthers jumped back in the title race last week thanks to a 20-16 win over Swampscott that saw Beverly force five turnovers and score the game-winning touchdown with 18 seconds left.”Our offense didn’t play well but the defense did a great job,” Bauer said. “The kids played hard and didn’t lose confidence.”That loss took control of the South out of the hands of the defending Division 3 Super Bowl champion Big Blue. Swampscott now needs to beat Danvers on Friday, have the Panthers lose and then beat Marblehead on Thanksgiving to have a chance to defend its crown.The Big Blue (7-2, 2-1 NEC South) will face a Falcon team that fell to 1-8 on the year with a 16-0 loss to Saugus last Saturday.”Certainly we need some help,” Swampscott coach Steve Dembowski said. “But the most important thing is to take care of business on Friday. And if we get some help from the Vikings, that’s great.”Swampscott will be without Kyle Shonio, who was taken off the field on a stretcher late in last Saturday’s game following a head-to-head collision on a tackle of Curtis Manuel.”Kyle feels good,” Dembowski said. “He’s out this week. But he should be ready for Thanksgiving.”Beverly’s task also won’t be easy on Friday as it faces a Viking team that would like to play the role of spoiler. Winthrop (4-5, 2-2) had a chance to throw its hat back in the ring last week, but a muffed punt late in the fourth quarter against Marblehead ruined those chances.”We’re still trying to regroup,” Winthrop coach Sean Driscoll said. “But the kids are excited about the game and to have a chance at a winning season, we have to have this game.”The Vikings also will have a less than 100 percent Chris Beranger, as he will play on a twisted ankle suffered in the loss.”He’s back and practicing. But it was scary when you saw it on video,” Driscoll said.Bauer, however, is well aware that the Vikings are still a dangerous team.”They are tough, physical and well coached,” Bauer said. “And we’ve never really been lucky over there. And I know that Beranger will be pretty good and ready, that’s my prediction.”Peabody at EnglishAt Manning Field (7), the Bulldogs (5-3, 2-1 NEC North) will try to bounce back from a loss to Gloucester while the Tanners (4-5, 1-2) look to rebound from a loss to Revere.English ran into a Fisherman defense that held it to just 153 yards, much of it coming when the game was well in hand. The Tanners, meanwhile, were surprised by a 3-5 Revere squad. Mark D’Addario rushed for 184 yards and two touchdowns as Peabody gained 351 yards on the ground.Classical at RevereAt Della Russo Stadium (7), the Rams (4-4, 1-2) re