Tuesday Morning Quarterbacking: Just three weeks left in regular season

Don?t look now, but there are only three weeks left in the regular season … and for some, that?s not even three league games (for example, Swampscott is off this week, Marblehead next and Danvers? last game, on Oct. 26, is against Westwood).We say regular season because due to the new post-season setup, Thanksgiving is almost an afterthought. The games will be against traditional rivals, but if any of those teams have made the Super Bowl, it would be a little too much to ask for teams to sacrifice their best players in a situation that?s essentially meaningless.Of course, that?s not true across the board. St. John?s Prep opted not to play Xaverian during the regular portion of the season because it wanted to keep Thanksgiving meaningful in the case of a Catholic Conference champion. But because, geographically, they?re not in the same division for the post-season it is possible that the two teams could play again … 10 days later.It?s never too early to go over what?s coming up.In the short run, perhaps the two biggest games in the area this week are both Friday night. Austin Prep visits Bishop Fenwick; and Danvers visits Classical.We think (though we?re not positive) that the last time Classical and Danvers played in a game that was anywhere near meaningful was in 1979, when Mark Bavaro toiled for the Falcons and Tony Thurman for the Rams. Classical won that one en route to a Division 2 Super Bowl championship (and then lost to Saugus and Steve Peach on Veterans Day at Manning Bowl).It?ll be meaningful Friday. Classical and Danvers are two of the three unbeatens in the Northeastern Conference/Small (Winthrop is the other). Danvers and Winthrop are 3-1 while Classical is 2-2.So while Winthrop is busy at Peabody (and that?s not necessarily an easy game despite Peabody?s 1-3 record), the Falcons and Rams will be slugging it out at Manning. As a result, the landscape could change significantly by this time next week.One way or the other, there will be but one undefeated team in the Catholic Central/Large come this time next week. Austin Prep visits Bishop Fenwick, and both teams are 2-0 in league play, with St. Mary?s and Spellman at 1-1 (and those teams play each other Friday as well).For the past several years, Austin Prep and Fenwick have played on Thanksgiving, but with the new system opted to play during the season instead (because of this, and the shutting down — for this year, at least — of Pope John?s football team, Fenwick will not play on Thanksgiving).Bear in mind that the top two teams from each league make the tournament (which is how it is in all sports), with wild card teams selected, based on several factors, to fill the bill.It?s also important to note that while Classical, Danvers and Winthrop are in the same league, they are not in the same divisions. In fact, they represent three divisions (Classical is in 2, Danvers 3 and Winthrop 4).With this many teams bunched up, and so few games to sort them out, every game is important. English is up at Gloucester Friday and the result could go a long way toward determining the post-season fate in both cases. Marblehead is at Beverly Saturday and while the Panthers have only won once, they?re still talented and still dangerous. And when you couple that with the fact Marblehead coach Jim Rudloff was less than thrilled about how his team almost let last Friday?s win over Gloucester slip away, sparks could be flying at Hurd Stadium too.In two divisions (1 and 3) there are no Central or Western Mass teams. In Division 1, there is simply a North and a South. In D3, it?s split four ways: Northeast, Northwest, Southeast and Southwest. It would almost seem, with eight teams in every bracket, that it might be harder not to make the playoffs in D3.What happens after the weekend of Oct. 25-26 is as follows: Eastern Mass. teams will be seeded Oct. 27, with sectional quarterfinals beginning Nov. 1-2. The site is the higher seeded team?s field.Sectional semis are the following we