Let the football playoffs begin

Thirteen of the 17 high school football teams in the Item area – including two from Lynn – will vie beginning Friday for state championships.The teams who made the MIAA’s North Sectional football players are: Division 1: St. John’s Prep and Peabody; Division 2: Classical; Division 3 Northeast: Marblehead, Beverly, Danvers and Revere (which won a coin toss with Gloucester for the final spot); Division 4: Winthrop, Lynnfield, Saugus and Swampscott; Division 5: St. Bishop Fenwick and St. Mary’s.Lynn Tech, the only team Division 6, missed the playoffs after falling Saturday night to Chelsea, 14-7.Peabody makes its return to prominence after almost a decade of difficulty caused by coaching instability. However, Mark Bettencourt, who was on the Tanner team when it won the Super Bowl in 1990, has turned the Tanners around in his second year as head coach thanks to senior quarterback Michael Raymond and junior running back Doug Santos. They are seeded fourth (all the divisions consist of eight teams), good enough for a home game Friday (7) against Lexington.Brian St. Pierre coached St. John’s Prep to a 6-1 record in his first season, thanks to transfer quarterback Oliver Eberth and BC commit Jake Burt, who is a tight end. The Prep is seeded second, and will play at home Saturday (1) against No. 7 Chelmsford.Classical is the only team in Division 2, seeded sixth with a 3-4 record. The Rams got solid contributions this season from Micah Dublin at running back, but when they needed the win over Revere Friday to guarantee themselves a spot, they put Devin Crayton into action and he ran for more than 100 yards. The Rams will travel to No. 3 Lincoln-Sudbury Friday (7).Division 3, like Division 1, has no central and western Massachusetts levels to match it, so it is divided up into four quadrants within the North and South area. In the Northeast division, Marblehead, led by quarterback Spencer Craig and running back Brooks Tyrrell, is the top seed and will face No. 7 Somerville Friday (7) at Piper Field. Revere finished tied for the eighth spot with Gloucester, and survived a coin flip to get in. The Patriots travel to No. 1 Masconomet Friday (7).Also in 3 Northeast, No. 4 Beverly gets a home game Saturday (1) against Wilmington, and No. 6 Danvers travels to Tewksbury, also on Saturday (1).Division four has 7-0 Winthrop as the No. 1 seed while Lynnfield, also 7-0, is third. Joining them are No. 6 Saugus and No. 7 Swampscott.Saturday was a dramatic day for the Big Blue and the Sachems. After Swampscott came back to beat Beverly at Blocksidge Field to grab an automatic bid, it appeared that Saugus, despite a 5-2 record, would be the odd team out. But St. Mary’s defeated Arlington Catholic later in the day, pushing the Cougars out and saving the spot for Saugus, which, because it played an independent schedule this season, did not have the benefit of getting an automatic spot.The Big Blue travel to Watertown Friday night (7) while Saugus will be at Lynnfield, also Friday at 7, in the only game where two area teams compete against each other.Bishop Fenwick (7-0) is the top seed in Division 5. Led by Lynn’s Rufus Rushins, the Crusaders come into the playoffs on a 22-game winning streak. They will play at home Friday (7) against Madison Park.St. Mary’s is the sixth seed and will travel Saturday morning to Whittier (10:30). The Spartans broke a three-game losing street by throttling Arlington Catholic Saturday and finished the season at 4-3.The non-playoff games will involve Cambridge at English in Division 2, Salem at Gloucester in 3 Northeast; and Chelsea at Tech in Division 6. The dates and times are to be announced.