The final week of the North East Florida Athletic Conference is upon us and it’s come down to the last week of the season to decide the final playoff spot. Here’s what we know.
Oakleaf Junior High (3-0, 4-1) clinched the NEFAC North division title with a 34-12 win against Orange Park Junior High last week. The team now faces Lake Asbury Junior High (1-2, 3-2) for the the Clay County title. However, the game takes on more significance for other teams than just Lake Asbury, as Green Cove Junior High, Lake Asbury Junior High, and Wilkinson Junior High find themselves all tied at 1-2 in their division.
There’s only one playoff sport left in the conference as Bradford clinched their division title with a 38-12 victory over Green Cove last week. Bradford is on a roll after defeating Green Cove and Wilkinson 36-0 in consecutive weeks. The defending NEFAC champions will play Baker county next week for the playoff game.
Baker is in, and they want to keep momentum going into the playoffs. Standing in their way is a desperate Green Cove team that must win to get in. They also must root for Oakleaf against Lake Asbury because Lake Asbury owns the head to head tie breaker versus them. Lake Asbury defeated Green Cove on September 17th by a score of 24-16. The Tigers now get ready to have a rematch with Oakleaf for the Clay County title game.
Wilkinson may have the easiest road to the playoffs. After defeating Lake Asbury 8-6 last week, today they face an 0-6 Lakeside team. Even though the game features two teams from different divisions. The inter divisional contest will count as a tie breaker if they’re able to get the “W”. Of course, they must root for Oakleaf and Baker County as well.
It’s a hurricane of scenarios going into the final week of the NEFAC today. Ironically, it was hurricane Dorian that rescheduled this week from early September. We’ll see who gets the final playoff spot today, and who will face Oakleaf in the first round of the playoffs on 10/8/19.
