Newsletter #59...Who has the best chance to win a championship?

We're now a week into the fall sports postseason.

There have already been upsets and fabulous finishes and the best is still to come.

As of Friday morning, the coverage area has three volleyball teams remaining, five field hockey squads still hopeful of going all the way and nine boys' and seven girls' soccer teams chasing glory.

The football playoffs are just beginning in some classes, while the regular season concludes later today in Class A and Class C.

Here's how I rank the championship likelihood of the remaining teams (all guesses likely to be wrong!):

Volleyball

1 Gorham
2 Greely
3 Scarborough

Field hockey

1 Cheverus
2 Yarmouth
3 Thornton Academy
4 Freeport
5 Greely

Boys' soccer

1 Yarmouth
2 Scarborough
3 Thornton Academy
4 South Portland
5 Freeport
6 Falmouth
7 Cape Elizabeth
8 North Yarmouth Academy
9 Waynflete

Girls' soccer

1 Scarborough
2 Yarmouth
3 Cape Elizabeth
4 South Portland
5 Windham
6 Greely
7 Freeport

Game stories

Links to game stories you might have missed since last week:

Windham handles Marshwood in field hockey prelim

Westbrook survives Gorham's rally in "River Bowl" to clinch playoff berth

TA sweeps Deering in volleyball quarterfinals

TA dominates Bonny Eagle in "Game of the Year."

Greely makes quick work of Hampden Academy in volleyball quarters

Cheverus field hockey has no trouble with Noble in first playoff test

Scarborough girls eliminate TA in quarterfinals

Scarborough boys edge Biddeford in quarters

Scarborough sweeps top-ranked Cheverus in volleyball semifinals

Gorham frustrates TA again in volleyball semis

Features

Every Monday, HHSS, in conjunction with partner cPort Credit Union, will name a "Player of the Week."

This week's selection is Thornton Academy junior football standout Logan LeBlanc, who scored four touchdowns in the Golden Trojans' evisceration of rival Bonny Eagle last weekend.

HHSS/cPort Athlete of the Week

Every Monday this season, Hoffer's High School Sports/cPort Credit Union will select an Athlete of the Week. The winner will receive a drawstring bag with the HHSS/cPort logo. This week's selection is…

Hoffer's High School SportsMichael Hoffer

Each Tuesday, HHSS releases Super-Six polls for football, field hockey, boys' soccer, girls' soccer and volleyball. Here's this week's rankings, the final regular season poll for football:

HHSS Super-Six Polls

Every Tuesday this fall, Hoffer's High School Sports will present Super-Six polls for football, field hockey, boys' and girls' soccer and volleyball. The polls only include teams from our coverage area, which is essentially Cumberland County, plus Thornton Academy. Here is this week's football poll, the final

Hoffer's High School SportsMichael Hoffer

Media

This Tuesday's WGAN spot:

https://wgan.com/morning-news/hoffers-high-school-sports-39/

Last Friday's Middays with Mannix and Mannix spot:

Middays with Mannix & Mannix: Michael Hoffer 10/23/26

Michael Hoffer of Hoffers High School Sports joined us to break down the beginning of the postseason in southern Maine.

The Big Jab↓

Predictions

This week's popular, prescient Patriots pick (6-1 to date):

Patriots 27 Dolphins 21

Good things rarely happen when the Pats travel to Miami and while they are favored and should win, I'm guessing it won't be as easy as expected.

Closer to home, here are my picks for this week's high school football games (9-2 last week, 70-21 to date):

Noble over Scarborough (played Thursday)
Spruce Mountain over Cape Elizabeth
Cheverus over Biddeford
Windham over Deering
Falmouth over Westbrook
Greely over Gardiner
South Portland over Portland
Thornton Academy over Massabesic
Yarmouth over Gray-NG

On a heater

The following teams have won at least five games in a row at press time:

Cheverus field hockey 15 (32 dating back to last year)
Freeport boys' soccer 5
Gorham volleyball 7
Greely football 6
Greely volleyball 14
North Yarmouth Academy boys' soccer 5
Scarborough boys' soccer 7
Scarborough girls' soccer 10
Scarborough volleyball 6
South Portland boys' soccer 5
Thornton Academy football 8 (17 dating back to last year)
Thornton Academy field hockey 8
Yarmouth football 8
Yarmouth boys' soccer 11

Upcoming

Looking ahead, the next week features tons of seismic contests.

Friday's gridiron action includes South Portland playing for its postseason life when it hosts Portland in the "Battle of the Bridge, Cheverus hoping to knock off Biddeford for a second week in a row, this time in the Class B South quarterfinals, and the past two state champions doing battle in another Class B South quarterfinal, as Westbrook visits Falmouth. Scarborough hosts a soccer semifinal doubleheader, as the girls welcome South Portland for the Red Riots' first-ever game in that round, while the boys try to slow the surge of Cinderella Falmouth. South Portland's boys go to Thornton Academy for another compelling semifinal.

Saturday brings a pair of terrific volleyball state finals at Southern Maine Community College. In Class A, Gorham goes for a fourth consecutive crown against surging Scarborough in what could be an epic. In Class B, Greely seeks its first championship in a decade against two-time reigning champion Washington Academy, in another potential thriller.

Next Tuesday, Scarborough will be the site for the Class A South boys' and girls' soccer regional finals. Whether or not the Red Storm will take part is still to be determined.

Wednesday brings field hockey regional finals (at Scarborough) and Class B South soccer regional finals, games which will be played in Falmouth.

On Saturday, Nov. 7, champions will be crowned in field hockey and soccer. Look for local squads to win their share of hardware.

Enjoy the weekend, everyone. See you right back here, next Friday.

Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffersports@yahoo.com