The scoreboard read 25-24 after an intense rivalry game had finished on a cold October Friday night. After an outstanding, comeback win against the cross-town rivals, the Wayne Valley Indians, the Wayne Hills Patriots have their sights set on the playoffs. At the high school level, teams aren’t necessarily ranked by their record, but by something called power points. Power points are points that are assigned to each team by a group of people based on the talent level of each team’s opponents they have played over the course of the season. Just a week ago, the Indians were ahead of the Patriots in power points, even though they held an identical record of 6-1. This would have meant that the Indians would be a higher seed than the Patriots. Because the Patriots won this matchup, they will go into the playoffs ranked as the top seed in their division. It was an immense win in terms of both bragging rights and also in terms of playoff rankings.

Regardless of how the game against Irvington ends, as they are right behind Wayne Hills in both power points and wins, the Patriots will most likely be playing the eighth seed Morris Knolls in the first round as the top seed in their division. Assuming the Patriots can get a win, they can potentially be facing Randolph, the sixth seed or Roxbury, the fifth seed in the second round, a team they have beaten earlier in the year. The rest of the way, the two toughest teams they could face are teams they will have played before this season, Irvington and Wayne Valley. The Patriots have a great path towards where they left off last year, in the State Final Game under the brightest of lights in Metlife Stadium.

Antonio Cofrancesco, a junior football player, commented, “We have really high expectations this postseason to win. We put in the work for the entire summer for a championship. We practice hard every day, all for the ring.”

The days until the official start of the playoffs are becoming numbered. The Patriots are anticipating the playoffs as each day goes by, and the holdovers of last year’s team are hungry for some retribution in one of the biggest games of their young football careers.