The Sideline Whisperer

Playoffs!

By The Sideline Whisperer

All the hard work has led to this: The Playoffs. An old, successful regular season ends, and a new knockout season ends. Well, sort of. Those who win this week in the men's D2 and D3 playoffs will move on, and will actually be guaranteed two more games, regardless if they lose on April 16 on Championship Saturday in Wellington. Of course, everyone wants to be state champions and host a first-round playoff game, so losing is not on anyone's mind at the moment. Win, or go home this weekend, simple as that. Posted on 4/1/2016 8:44:16 PM		All the hard work has led to this: The Playoffs. An old, successful regular season ends, and a new knockout season ends. Well, sort of. Those who win this week in the men's D2 and D3 playoffs will move on, and will actually be guaranteed two more games, regardless if they lose on April 16 on Championship Saturday in Wellington. Of course, everyone wants to be state champions and host a first-round playoff game, so losing is not on anyone's mind at the moment. Win, or go home this weekend, simple as that. D2 Tridents (9-0-1, #1 seed) vs. Jacksonville (5-5, #4 seed) - The Tridents breezed through the regular season without a loss. The only blemish on their record was a tie against Naples in March, and they won their nine matches by an average margin of 28.1 points. Jacksonville got off to a good start this season, winning five of their first six matches. However, things went downhill VERY quickly starting in February with a 93-10 loss at Boca. That was the first of three straight losses by an average of 63.3 points. Only a final-week one-point defeat by visiting Fort Lauderdale saved some face for Jax. The fact Orlando and Boca, semifinalists last year, just didn't live up to expectations, also allowed them to sneak into the fourth spot for a second straight year. In the semis last season, Jacksonville fell 46-22 at Fort Lauderdale. Who knows what Jax team will show up on Sat, but I don't think it will matter much. The Tridents are on a mission and won't be stopped at this stage of the competition. Tridents 48, Jacksonville 17 Naples (7-2-1, #2 seed) vs. Fort Lauderdale (8-2, #3 seed) - The Hammerheads won one game last season, but came out of the gate this year with a surprise win over Boca and a close loss to these very Knights to show they were vastly improved. Even the Tridents had trouble with the men in green, winning the first game by only 15 and then seeing the two sides end in a 22-22 tie last month. Fort Lauderdale, meanwhile, were fully expected to be a contender this season, but they haven't made it easy. Five of their eight wins have come by less than 10 points, and they haven't scored more than 26 points in a game since January. They looked en route to a home semi before losing two of their final three games. They also failed to pick up a single winning bonus point in their final five contests. Naples comes in the with the momentum after winning this exact fixture on the last day of the regular season, and I like them again here in the knockout stages. Naples 32, Fort Lauderdale 20 D3 Gainesville (7-0, #1 seed) vs. Brevard (4-3, #4 seed) - The Hogs rolled to another home semifinal this year without taking a single loss. However, they didn't annihilate anyone except Indian River, and only squeaked by the Red Eye 13-8 back in January. Brevard started their season 0-2 and then barely beat Indian River by a couple of points before knocking off Tallahassee by a single point to clinch the fourth seed. I think the visitors give Gainesville a test here, but the Hogs pull it out. Gainesville 25, Brevard 19 Palm Beach (6-1, #2 seed) vs. Sarasota (5-2, #3 seed) - This could be the best match of the weekend. The two teams met three weeks ago, with Palm Beach coming out on top 13-10, despite being down a man early due to a red card. Last year, their match finished with Sarasota winning 9-8 at home. Think this one might be close, too? I'm going to go with the Surge in this one, just have a hunch. Sarasota 16, Palm Beach 15 Last Time: 5-1 This Season: 46-12 (79.3%) All Time: 198-63-1 (75.6%)

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