Smyrna’s Will Knight looks for running room against Sussex Central. The Eagles will host Mount Pleasant in the Division I playoffs Friday night.
Some old foes and some fresh teams were matched up when the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association announced the pairings for its annual football tournaments on Sunday.
Two teams new to the Division I playoffs will square off at 7:30 p.m. Friday when sixth-seeded Mount Pleasant (7-3) travels to third-seeded Smyrna (9-1). The Green Knights just moved up to Division I this season. The Eagles continued their remarkable turnaround from 2-8 two years ago, to 5-5 last year, to Henlopen North champions this year.
Two familiar rivals will meet in the other Division I opener, as fifth-seeded Sussex Tech (8-2) plays at fourth-seeded Middletown (8-2) at 7:30 Friday. It will be a rematch of a Division I semifinal last year, when the Cavaliers thumped the Ravens 37-7 on the way to their fifth straight appearance in the D-I title game.
Salesianum (9-1) earned the No. 1 seed and will host the lowest remaining seed of the two first-round winners at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 27 at Baynard Stadium. William Penn (9-1) is the No. 2 seed and will host the highest remaining seed at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 28.
Salesianum and William Penn actually tied for the No. 1 seed under the DIAA points system, but the Sals were awarded the top seed based on their 30-13 victory over the Colonials on Oct. 31.
St. Georges (9-1) earned the top seed in the topsy-turvy Division II playoffs, and the Hawks’ first-round opponent will be very familiar. Hodgson (6-4) scraped into the playoffs as the No. 8 seed, earning the final berth over Milford on a tiebreaker as the Silver Eagles’ opponents combined for more victories (44-40).
St. Georges will host the first-round game at 11 a.m. Saturday, the third consecutive season the Blue Hen Flight B rivals have met in the playoffs. Hodgson has won the last two Division II state titles – defeating St. Georges 38-0 in the final two years ago and knocking off the Hawks 32-7 in the semifinals last season. But St. Georges thumped the Silver Eagles 47-0 in their regular-season meeting this year on Oct. 17.
Delaware Military Academy (9-1) enjoyed the best regular season in school history and earned the No. 2 seed in Division II. The Seahawks will host seventh-seeded Woodbridge (7-3) in the first round at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Baynard Stadium.
Wilmington Friends (8-1), which reached the D-II semifinals last season, earned the No. 3 seed and will take on sixth-seeded Lake Forest (8-2) – the Henlopen South champ. Friends’ home field does not meet DIAA requirements for visitor-side seating, so the game will be played at 1 p.m. Saturday at Tower Hill.
DeGroat Field will be a busy place next weekend, as Tower Hill (7-2) also has a home game as the No. 4 seed. The Hillers will play host to fifth-seeded Howard (7-3) at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
The Division II semifinals will be played Nov. 27 and/or 28, at sites and times to be determined. The highest remaining seed will host the lowest remaining seed, and the second-highest remaining seed will host the third-highest remaining seed.
The DIAA championship games will be played Saturday, Dec. 5 at Delaware Stadium, with the Division I game kicking off at 1 p.m. and the Division II game starting at 5:30. In between the two games, DIAA and Special Olympics Delaware will co-host two Unified flag football games.
DIAA has also announced starting times for the semifinal rounds in the field hockey and Division I and II boys soccer tournaments.
The field hockey semifinals will be played Wednesday at the University of Delaware’s Rullo Stadium, with Cape Henlopen meeting Tower Hill at 6 p.m., and Wilmington Christian taking on Delmar at 8. The winners will return to Rullo for the championship game at 2 p.m. Saturday.
The Division I boys soccer semifinals will be played Wednesday at Smyrna. Appoquinimink will face Charter of Wilmington at 6 p.m., followed by Salesianum against Cape Henlopen at 8. The winners will return to Smyrna for the championship game at 7 p.m. Saturday.
The Division II boys soccer semifinals will be played Wednesday at Appoquinimink. Indian River will meet Archmere at 6 p.m., followed by Caravel against Tower Hill. The winners will meet in the championship game at 5 p.m. Saturday at Smyrna.
The championship match of the DIAA Volleyball Tournament will be played Monday at the Bob Carpenter Center. Ursuline will meet Padua for third place at 5:30 p.m., with Delaware Military Academy taking on defending champion Archmere for the title at 6:30. Tickets ($8) will be available at the door, or online at www.diaa.ticketleap.com.
Contact Brad Myers at bmyers@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @BradMyersTNJ