Week 3 – Mythical Match Up Challenge

Alright!

We had some changes, some defining moments, and some very good high school refs – who decided to stay down home and call the local football games. Friday night-lights brought me out to cover two games and one on Saturday – this past weekend. Well, there will be more on that later – lets now look at the results from both challenge leagues – MoCo and Metro.

MoCo League – The big news is the QO lost to Sherwood in the challenge. We all know that on actual field of play QO blanked Sherwood but in the challenge league QO offensive stats against a good NW team were lower in comparison to those that Sherwood put up against Blair – whom they blanked. A combination of points allowed and lower offensive production did in QO not only in the MoCo league but also in the Metro challenge as well. Bullis got on the challenge board with a win against NW who lost in actual play to QO, meanwhile Bullis tromped on Avalon. In a nice confirmation of the Mythical Match Up Challenge formula logic there was an actual Challenge Match Ups (MMU) that coincidently happened at the same time as actual play – Seneca Valley beat Churchill, as it should be. Lastly, Good Counsel had a BYE in the MoCo challenge.

Metro League – QO lost in a very good challenge match up against Stone Bridge. The match up point (MP) spread between both teams was just two overall points – where Stone Bridge had the slight advantage in offensive performance. Both teams faced a more accomplished opponent this week in actual play (Stone Bridge played Broad Run, QO played NW). The big winner this week was Old Mill who just outclassed Northeast in actual play while in the challenge they beat up on Westfield. Lastly, Good Counsel beat Wise, whose team continues to release minimal stats for public viewing. Friendship Collegiate had a BYE in the Metro challenge.

Analysis – After 3 weeks of the challenge a few things stick out. To win the challenge you need to play great defense. Actual scores (points) on the board in actual play that a challenge team allows is a key factor in determining a teams overall MMU points. For instance not allowing the opposing scheduled team in actual play to score any points – as did Old Mill and Sherwood in week 3 – sets that challenge team up for a great challenge week score against their MMU challenge opponent. So, allowing fewer points defensively equates to better mythical points (MP).

In the case of MMU Challenge team Westfield in Fairfax, VA – they can score – but they can’t defend. They allow opposing scheduled teams in their actual play – to score lots of points against them. That hurts a MMU challenge team – because Total Offensive Yards are divided by the Final Score (as in Defensive points allowed). So scoring big time with no defense makes for a bad combination in this match up challenge.

So with that in mind lets now look at the standings

MoCo League

Remember that each team has one BYE each during the MMU Challenge

Metro League

So there you have it – after 3 weeks its Quince Orchard with 1 lost still on top of the MoCo League Challenge while in the Metro League Challenge – Good Counsel leads the way with 2 wins and zip losses.

Week 4 of the MMU Challenge will have the following pairings.

MoCo – Mythical League

Winston Churchill versus Sherwood
Good Counsel versus Quince Orchard
Northwest versus Seneca Valley
Bullis has a BYE week

Metro – Mythical League

Westfield versus Good Counsel
Friendship versus Wise
Stone Bridge versus Old Mill
Quince Orchard has a BYE week

So this week I spent time at many of games. I covered the 1st quarter of the QO versus NW game; the second half of the Urbana versus Walkersville game; and the first half of the Good Counsel versus Gonzaga game.

Impressed as I was with Good Counsel and QO – it was the Walkersville team that might raise some eyebrows in the MD 4A state playoff format. This 4A West team from Frederick will match up against some MoCo 4A team in the playoffs – and they are big along both the offensive and defensive line. Walkersville has the team – they just need to offensive prowess to take advantage of their opponents mistakes. Side note: (Urbana turned over the ball 4 times in the 2nd half and Walkersville could only capitalize on one situation).

Here are a few photos from the above games.

Good Counsel highlights

Saturday, September 22

Quince Orchard highlights

Friday Night – September 21

Urbana/Walkersville highlights
For a look around the corner – on what to expect on the road ahead to the State 4A Championship

As always you can check the Mythical Match-Up Challenge schedule at www.PhotoLoaf.com

Stay tuned as homecoming game time of year start off this week.

September 26, 2012

About Phil Fabrizio

Phil Fabrizio is an event, news and sports photographer in the Washington D.C. Metro area. He lives in North Potomac and has operated Sugarloaf Photography since 1985. He is a member of the Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce and serves on the board of the Glen Echo Partnership for Arts and Culture, Inc in Glen Echo. Stop by Phil's PhotoLoaf site or follow him on Twitter @Photoloaf. Find Phil's blog on MyMCMedia here.

View all posts by Phil Fabrizio