Looking Ahead: May 6-11
May 6, 2019
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Welcome to Looking Ahead. Every Monday, we will go into detail about top games in the coming week that have our staff excited and why. Also, we will list other games that should be good ones to check out between top teams.
Now that its May, playoffs will get underway this week with Private School Conference tournaments and the Class 6 District tournaments starting on Friday in Northern Virginia.
FEATURED MATCHUPS
WCAC Semifinals and Finals
After quarterfinal Saturday's win-or-go-home format, the rest of the WCAC tournament features best of three series that open on Monday. Top-seeded No. 1 St. John's College will face Bishop O'Connell in one matchup and the other semifinal features Bishop McNamara (MD) against DeMatha (MD). The final series begins Friday and will be played at Nats Academy. The storyline to watch in the WCAC is the yearly question of whether someone else can defeat St. John's, with the Cadets having won the leage five straight years. On top of that, St. John's finished the regular season undefeated in Conference play. O'Connell has pitching depth that will allow them to challenge St. John's in the semifinal. If St. John's returns to the Championship Series, either opponent will give them a fight. McNamara has had a strong season with a bunch of wins against good Virginia teams and DeMatha has some very high-end talent that could push them to victory.
No. 19 Cosby at No. 18 Thomas Dale, Friday, May 10
A Richmond showdown on Friday is a rematch of the 2018 Region B Championship game and a possible preview of this year's game as well. Cosby won the Region championship last year and has long been one of our favorites to go deep or even win in Class 6 in 2019, but the Titans have slipped up a few times in recent weeks and have shown some vulnerability. Thomas Dale reached the State Semifinals last year and we expected them to be strong in Class 6, but the Knights had been outside of our rankings until just last week and will enter this game with a hot lineup that has them on a 10 game winning streak entering Monday's action.
GAMES TO WATCH
Monday
No. 18 Thomas Dale at James River (Midlothian)
No. 3 Hanover vs No. 4 Benedictine
Tuesday
Collegiate at Woodberry Forest
Lancaster at Washington & Lee (Montross)
Midlothian at Manchester
Ocean Lakes at Cox
Western Branch at No. 10 Hickory
Forest Park at Colgan
No. 17 Stafford at Colonial Forge
Loudoun Valley at Dominion
Millbrook at Kettle Run
Yorktown at South Lakes
Rustburg at Jefferson Forest
Wednesday
No. 25 Abingdon at Virginia
Thursday
Washington & Lee (Montross) at Essex
Christiansburg at Blacksburg
Randolph-Henry at Goochland
Cox at Ocean Lakes
No. 10 Hickory at Oscar Smith
Potomac at Hylton
Friday
Spotswood at Fort Defiance
Turner Ashby at Broadway
Atlee at Patrick Henry (Ashland)
Potomac Falls at Briar Woods
No. 12 Deep Run at No. 9 Mills Godwin
Saturday
Oscar Smith at Tallwood
2019 VA/DC HS Coverage