Area Elite 8 open for business
With two Saturday playoff games being played for the first time I can remember other than to see who was going to state, it almost turned out to be “Saturday Shockers” as Clear Springs let Port Arthur Memorial hang with them for three quarters before winning 71-59 along with Cy Woods needing an overtime to get by Westside
I still think the state representative will come from the top half of the bracket and like the opinions of many others, that means absolutely nothing because we aren’t playing and the game is played on the court. What I do know is this, in a one game playoff, anything can happen, ask Elsik who shocked everyone year before last and made it to state
The Manvel versus Clear Springs game is probably the one I will attend and I heard someone say this was the rubber game, it isn’t, Clear Springs has already won two games and this will be the third time they face each other. The term rubber game is used when breaking a tie, so what you can call it is the most important game because early on, I figured the winner of this game would be our representative from the region
That changed a lot after watching Bellaire clicking on all cylinders and defeating Cy Ranch almost effortlessly. The Cardinals were hitting threes with ease and their press had Ranch in frenzy. Their opponent is one of two representatives from D-17, Cy Creek who finished as the four seed and is one game away from an area F-4
The other team from D-17,Cy Woods, had to pull out all of the stops to get here and to be honest, I didn’t have them making it this far when the season began, and their losing two district games to teams who didn’t make the playoffs solidified my reasoning. Their opponent, Seven Lakes is in the position I figured they would be in two seasons ago however injuries derailed those plans yet here they are and since they are having a doubleheader at the Merell Center, I might just do that instead
North Shore has me pulling out my old movie cliches because they have definitely made it here “Against All Odds” but surprise, surprise, so did my preseason sleeper Pearland who ironically lost to one of the teams that Cy Wood lost to in district on opening day but by making it to the E-8, Pearland joins Manvel as a representative from D-22. Out of the eight teams, Pearland, Cy Creek and Cy Woods have never made it to an area Final 4, Manvel hasn’t made it to one in 5A yet they did back to back seasons in 4A