No margin for error in Division 6

You've heard this before.

"We know every year we have to win the district in order to go to the playoffs in Division 6, so every district game becomes critical," said Hermitage coach Patrick Kane.

Thomas Dale coach Vic Williams said after the Knights defeated district foe Dinwiddie: "We're in a playoff game every week."

L.C. Bird coach David Bedwell refers to the games preceding the start of district play as "preseason."

There isn't a football coach at a Division 6 school in the Central Region that hasn't emphasized that winning the district means going to the playoffs.

Tonight and next Thursday, four Division 6 teams ranked in The Times-Dispatch Top 10 will determine their postseason fate in win-or-go-home games. Top-ranked Meadowbrook (5-0, 8-0) travels to No.6 Thomas Dale (5-0, 6-2) tonight to decide the Central District title even though each still has a district game next week.

No.3 Varina and No.5 Highland Springs have to win district games tonight to set up Thursday's much-anticipated Capital title bout.

"Our kids understand if we lose, we're out," Meadowbrook coach Troy Taylor said. "These kids know Thomas Dale has had a lot of success against us."

Thomas Dale leads the series 34-11. The Knights won 18 consecutive against the Monarchs from 1985 to 2003. Meadowbrook ended that streak in 2004 on the way to winning the region and state Division 5 championships. The Monarchs, having moved up to Division 6, won again in 2005, but the Knights have won the past three.

The loss in 2007 didn't keep Meadowbrook from winning the district title, but last year's defeat did (Division 5 Dinwiddie won). The Monarchs (8-2 at the time) were fortunate to have enough Virginia High School League power points to sneak into the playoffs ahead of Deep Run, which lost one game at the wrong time: to district opponent Hermitage in the next to the last week of the season.

"It seemed like a lot of our season was spent with that game in the back of our minds, so there was a sense of relief from me when it was finally time to play the game," Deep Run coach Greg Kendall said. "Coming so close was really painful because it left us with the sense that there were some little things that we could have done that might have made a difference in the outcome."

Thomas Dale, one of the region's premier programs under Williams, hasn't been to the playoffs since winning the region title in 2002. The Knights were 8-2 in 2003 but stayed home because they lost one district game to eventual state Division 5 champion Hopewell.

"Both teams are highly motivated," Williams said of tonight's encounter. "This time in the year will make the game even more important. I know the Thomas Dale players are ready. It should be a great spectator game."

Contact Arthur Utley at (804) 649-6559