Winning Flashes in prime playoff position|[10/06/06]

Published 12:00 am Friday, October 6, 2006

It’s been a while since the St. Aloysius Flashes have been in this position at the midway point of the season.

Instead of rebuilding and trying to salvage whatever they can from a dismal season, St. Al is in the thick of a playoff race. Back-to-back one-point wins over South Leake and Noxapater have gotten the Flashes in the hunt, and they can take another big step toward their first playoff berth since 2002 by beating Nanih Waiya tonight.

&#8220We’ve got a good shot at the playoffs,” said St. Aloysius coach Jim Taylor, whose team can also surpass its win total for all of last season with a victory tonight. &#8220This would really make it a little less binding. It’s the number one factor in determining if we can make the playoffs in a better spot than fourth position.”

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The Flashes (4-2, 3-1 Region 3-1A) and Warriors (4-2, 3-1) are two of four teams battling for the last two playoff spots in Region 3-1A. Third-ranked Puckett and No. 7 Lake have separated from the pack and figure to claim the top two spots, barring collapses.

That makes the games among the teams in the second tier – St. Al, Pisgah, Nanih Waiya and Noxapater – even more important. A win tonight would give St. Al a head-to-head tiebreaker edge over Nanih Waiya and Noxapater heading into the stretch run.

Taylor cautioned, however, that while it’s fun to conjure up playoff scenarios and these early games are important, four games into a grueling nine-game region schedule is way too early to set anything in stone.

&#8220I’m by no means counting things before they happen because Sebastopol is much improved, Pisgah has a great team and Nanih Waiya is very talented,” Taylor said. &#8220We’re by no means a shoo-in. When you’re in a 10-team region you’ve got to get deep in the schedule before you start securing playoff spots.”

St. Al is at least in a position to start thinking about it, though, thanks to a strong run of late. The Flashes have won three of their last four – the only loss being a 33-28 setback against Lake – and eked out a pair of one-point wins.

Despite the success, Taylor said the Flashes can still get better.

&#8220We played a lot better game and lost versus Lake than we played in the two previous wins. If we keep making mistakes, it’s going to hurt us,” he said, adding that Nanih Waiya is good enough to take advantage of any sloppiness by St. Al. &#8220Nanih Waiya is very talented. They’ve got a lot of speed and we have to have people in the places they’re supposed to be in or we’re going to be in trouble.”