July 13, 2008

Sunday scenario for Cedar Beach: A Parkland repeat?

First off, we're doing our Morning Call Sports Wave radio show from courtside at Cedar Beach today from 10 a.m. to noon. Hope to have a lot of coaches join us. Stop by and say hello if you're out there. Unfortunately, my buddy and co-host Roger Pence won't be there. He's too valuable back at the studio. Sorry to disappoint his legion of fans who were eager to see him in person.

Please listen on 1320 and 1230 AM, ESPN Radio of the Lehigh Valley.

In response to my friend Dean "Mr. McDonald's" Beers' question on the previous post about who I like on Sunday, let's start with the premise that no team currently in the elimination (I'm using that word instead of losers) bracket has a realistic chance of winning the championship. There are some good teams left in the elimination bracket, including Chester, but there's simply too many games to play for any team to survive all of the way through.


So, the champion is going to come from one of the eight teams that begin the day unbeaten.


In one bracket, you have Easton playing Allen and Nazareth meeting Harrisburg at 10 this morning.


Nazareth may be the surprise of the tournament and you never count out Jim Hutnik and the Red Rovers, but I see Harrisburg and Allen becoming the final two in this bracket and meeting at noon


In the other bracket, Trinity plays Glen Mills and Parkland faces surprising Quakertown at 10 this morning. Glen Mills-Trinity may be the best game of the day. I see Glen Mills and Parkland advancing to the bracket finals.


Who will be the bracket winners? Well, a Glen Mills-Harrisburg final is certainly possible. They are the most talented teams here. But I think either Allen or Parkland will take advantage of the home crowd advantage and break through and get to the championship game. So, I'll go with a Harrisburg-Parkland final.


By the end of a long day, it's all about motivation and I see Harriisburg thinking about getting out of Alentown and getting back home and the Trojans thinking repeat. So, I'll go with Parkland to win its second straight Stellar title.


Then again, I thought Parkland would win the LVC title last year and we all saw had that turned out. So, Dean, take my prediction for what it's worth, which isn't much. And thanks, Dean, for those week-by-week football schedules. I'm still trying to enjoy some more of the summer before I turn my attention to the pigskin.


I'll be blogging from the beach beginning early Sunday afternoon.


The wireless connection that Andy Himmelwright of Service Electric arranged for us in the media tent has made it a joy to work from Cedar Beach over the last few days. Considering the great food, the great company and now the great wireless connection,
I'll be sorry to see this whole thing end at about 9 Sunday night.